Castro's brother lashes out at U.S. at summit

[IndianaGreen]

Regardless of the AP's obvious bias, I totally agree with Raul Castro's remarks about American imperialism and the danger it poses to global peace.

Castro's brother lashes out at U.S. at summit
POSTED: 9:14 p.m. EDT, September 15, 2006

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) -- Fidel Castro's brother, Raul Castro, unleashed a stream of anti-American invective to leaders from two-thirds of the world's nations as Cuba assumed leadership of the Nonaligned Movement summit.

Formerly defense minister and No. 2 man in the communist-led government, the acting president said the world today is shaped by the United States' "irrational pretentions for world dominance."

"When there no longer is a Cold War, the United States spends one billion dollars a year in weapons and soldiers and it squanders a similar amount in commercial publicity," he said. "To think that a social and economic order that has proven unsustainable could be maintained by force is simply an absurd idea."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/09/15/cuba.summit.ap/index.html

[Lost4words]

1. Say what you will 'bout Castro, he makes his point.

I am kind of fond of revolutionaries anyway.

[IndianaGreen]

4. Two thirds of all the nations of the world are attending this conference

The American press coverage has focused on the attendance of Iranian President Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Chavez, characterizing the NAM as American haters.

Here is an example of American hating from Raul Castro:

The social panorama of our peoples is more terrifying every day, the first vice president continued, and deplored that an inhabitant of Sub Saharan Africa lives an average of 33 years less than someone from industrialized countries.

Eleven million children die annually, most of avoidable diseases, costing a few cents; pandemic AIDS decimates entire nations in the developing world, where almost all the 852 million starving people, 876 million illiterate adults, and 325 million children without schools live, he highlighted.

Prensa Latina

[Lost4words]

6. and all we hear from the feds is, their going to attack us?

I am sorry, I would rather be killed by anyone than be starved out of work and future by my own government!

It is BETRAYAL by your own that hurts the most.

[saskatoon]

58. fond of revolutionaries?

We NEED some here. We need another Thomas Paine, Paine rise up and let us hear again, "These are the times that try men's souls"

[pretzel4gore]

2. 1 billion a day....

fukkin cnn....

[geek tragedy]

64. Sounds like the Dr. Evil School of Math

"I demand ONE MILLION DOLLARS."

[IndianaGreen]

3. Here is a better press report of Raul Castro's speech

Cuba Urges NAM to Unity

Havana, Sep 15 (Prensa Latina) Cuban First Vice President Raul Castro reiterated on Friday President Fidel Castro´s call to unity and cohesion of the Non Aligned Movement, and defense of the poor countries´ rights to development, life, and future.

Speaking at the opening session of the 14th NAM Summit of heads of state or government, Raul Castro said the current international situation is characterized by irrational attempts at world control, and defended the validity of the non-alignment.

<snip>

After emphasizing the need to defend the rights of immigrants in the industrialized world, and the struggle against exploitation, racism, and xenophobia, he savaged the building of walls, which symbolize a new apartheid.

The head of the Cuban delegation denounced the US double standard in the struggle against terrorism and the buildup of arms, and expressed his solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples, victims of aggression by Israel, with Washington´s conspiracy.

We all know who supports the Israeli government economically and militarily, who vetoes UN Security Council resolution proposals again and again, or who obstructs the meetings of this organization to analyze its brutal behavior, he asserted.

Raul Castro insisted that non-alignment also entails combating the current world economic order, in which neoliberalism is the reason more than 300 million people, the poorest of the poor, barely account for 1.3 percent of world consumption.

Prensa Latina

[Robbien]

5. Thanks. When CNN/AP says someone is lashing out

you know automatically the piece will be a propaganda piece. Only wacko lefties who disagree with the corporate agenda are described as wildly lashing out.

[Lost4words]

7. Oh they will know when patriots really "Wildly lash-out".

I am not sure how many more Questionable elections we will have to endure, but I am quite sure there IS a breaking point.

When your enemies welcome death just to dent your armor, you are in for it.

And thats that.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

8. Rings Hollow

Coming from an unelected leader appointed by a monarch.

What was it he said about that bastion of human rights Iran?

Raul Castro briefly praised Iran and other developing nations for trying to create "a better, more just world."

[IndianaGreen]

9. You sure got a lot of room to talk. Bush appointed President in 2000

by a Scalia-led Supreme Court. Had we had democracy, we would have recognized that Gore got most votes in Florida in 2000 and Kerry in Ohio in 2004.

Raul Castro was elected Vice President by the National Assembly, a truly democratic elected body that doesn't take a dime from the Jack Abramoffs of this world. The so-called "succession" is in the Cuban Constitution, which was voted on by all Cubans. Bush ignores our Constitution!

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

15. Hello Scarecrow

We are not comparing and contrasting the two. Wrong is Wrong no matter who does it.

Raul Castro was "elected" when, 50 yrs ago or more? That's right, they submitted a slate of 70,000 candidates to be whittled down to the ones "elected" to the national assembly after they were approved by the local assemblies controled by the national assembly.

Sorry, I am not buying it, I don't care how many DU'ers claim to have been there for the elections.

[Lost4words]

16. Oh my dear old DU buddy, what a great reply that was! sweet!

And totally fact based. I am in awe by those who can site facts, I am not as sharp and have only my heart and a deep "Spiritual" (not religious) conviction of right and wrong.

US citizens were taught to hate Castro and communisium. But were never taught to be open minded.

[VegasWolf]

45. That is a great response! If the US spent as much time encouraging

an open-minded look at the world around us, and promoted education over fear then this would be a far greater country.

[citizen snips]

10. I agree

but this is coming from a country that still has a dictatorship.

[IndianaGreen]

11. We are the ones living in a dictatorship. Bush is above the law!

Bush has ordered the detention of people without charges ever been filed, no due process, and it was him that ordered the torturing of prisoners.

Bush has replaced the Republic with dictatorship!

[Spinoza]

87. But unlike Cuba

we don't have ONE man ruling our country for nearly 50 years. Since Castro took total power in Cuba and abolished genuine elections and a vigorous opposition Press and forbade open criticism of Castro and his government the United States has elected 8 separate Presidents, including 4 Democratic Presidents, and forced one President to resign his office. Let anyone in Cuba say or write in the public sphere 'Fuck Castro and Fuck his brother' (as we can all say in the U.S. about Bushie) and not be thrown in jail or harmed; let anyone in Cuba publish a (unapproved) severe critique of the Cuban government's actions in any sphere; let any Cuban openly advocate free elections without repercussions-- and I might change my mind. Until then....Fuck Castro and Fuck his brother.

[pretzel4gore]

65. if the pro usa fascists gained control of cuba

how many people would die?
a million? 5 million? how many?

[Judi Lynn]

12. India, Pakistan could resume peace talks in Cuba

India, Pakistan could resume peace talks in Cuba

Havana, Sept. 16 (AP): Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf expressed optimism that a meeting with India's leader Saturday on the sidelines of the Nonaligned Movement summit could lead to cease-fire at their common border.

``A historic opportunity like this must be seized by the leadership of the two countries to bring to a close the chapter and tension in our region,'' Musharraf said Friday in his speech to the Nonaligned Movement.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made no specific mention of Pakistan in his summit speech, which called for a renewed effort to contain nuclear weapons.

Musharraf said Pakistan is determined to resolve all its disputes with India, including the fight over Jammu-Kashmir, where Islamic militants have been battling Indian security forces since 1989 for the region's independence or merger with Muslim-majority Pakistan.
(snip/...)

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200609160924.htm

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

13. Cuba in NAM = Soviet Puppet

This so called non-aligned movement was rounded up and hosted close to 30 yrs ago, during the cold war mind you, by none other than Cuba.

How could this movement "...establish a neutral third path in a world divided by allegiances to the United States and the Soviet Union," when it was hosted by Cuba, a major Soviet ally.

Cuba was obviously used as a puppet to change the focus of the group to align itself with the Soviet Union using classic (at the time) anti-American code.

"Under the leadership of Fidel Castro, the Summit discussed the concept of an anti-imperialist alliance with the Soviet Union. Prime Minister Michael Manley of Jamaica gave a well-received pro-Soviet speech. Among other things he said, "All anti-imperialists know that the balance of forces in the world shifted irrevocably in 1917 when there was a movement and a man in the October Revolution, and Lenin was the man." Manley also praised Fidel Castro as "humane" and credited him for strengthening the forces committed to the struggle against imperialism in the Western Hemisphere."

Castro is trying to use this summit to keep his relevance. Poor Castro, he is no longer a key and important strategic pawn that merits good news anymore or wields any power in the Western Hemisphere. Maybe he can become a key Iranian base in the West and bring himself back to prominence.

[Judi Lynn]

17. Castro can become a key Iranian base? What OTHER bases does

Iran have we don't know about?

It's fairly unlikely a man of 80 is considering any sudden changes in direction. It's hard to grasp whatever it is your attempting to communicate.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

20. Trying to communicate

That Castro is searching for relevance in major world events. An alliance with Iran and joint military exercises in Cuba or Venezuela would offer that.

As it is, the only people that really care about what he says are the "exiles" in Miami and the Kool-Aid drinkers here.

[Lost4words]

29. Clean up your own house first then talk of others.

50 years of Castro has hurt Cuba less than 6 years of Bush has hurt the frickking world and that is this Kool Aid kids opinion.

8643

Do you also believe Ronald Reagan won the cold war over the Soviets. Just curious?

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

35. Ahhh the Straw Men are out in force today

You are leading down the path of "since you oppose Castro, then you must be a Fundie Righty." Well, let me correct you, WRONG.

Castro is irrelevant. By nature of Geography, Economy, Militarypower, he is irrelevant and was only relevant when the Soviets needed him as a pawn. This was his heyday. He could make the world tremble when he accepted Soviets nuclear warheads on his island.

He is at the center of a cult of personality and like all such people yearns for attention, when the world doesn't pay him attention, he needs to do something to try to get it back, like lash out a GWB. Given the state of the world today, people will listen when he lashes out at GWB, it makes for good news. This is all he has to offer. he is searching for his future role when the US elects a President that has more global popularity and regains its stature in the world due to changed policies.

When Clinton was around, no one paid Castro much attention because the global community generally liked Clinton and Castro was not going to get much traction calling him an imperialist bent on world domination, especially when his administration forcefully repatriated a little boy to Cuba.

Now he has a stage and he is using it for now and to set himself up for the future (whatever he has left).

[IndianaGreen]

39. Fidel is at the "center of a cult of personality"?

There are no statues build to Fidel in Cuba.

If you want to see a cult of personality, turn to Faux News or to CNN's morning show with Soledad and Miles O'Brien. There you will see the cult of Bush.

If Fidel is "irrelevant" as you say, why does the US goes to such extremes with the embargo and persecution of Americans that travel to Cuba? Why does the US fear Americans traveling to Cuba?

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

41. A mere puppet yet again

Despite trying to put any sinister spin by the Kool-Aid drinkers that the US is afraid of Castro, the ONLY reason that neither side of the aisle is not going to do anything about the embargo is because they both need to woo Hispanic/Latino voters. The first party that suggests in the mainstream to remove the emabargo while Castro remains in power, will lose a large swath of that bloc.

There is no fear that Castro will export any Communist ideals to the US or that he is any danger to converting the US to Communism, the fear they have is losing support LOCALLY.

[Judi Lynn]

31. What indications do you have that Fidel Castro is attempting to become

a power broker? That would seem to be an abrupt departure from his pattern of behavior.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

43. Departure

What other reason could he have to allow Soviet missels into Cuba?

He has a pattern of this behavior, at least within the LA world.

maybe you are right, maybe it isn't Castro any longer, but Hugo trying to be the new power broker in the region.

[Judi Lynn]

44. A lot of people apparently never bothered to think about it much, or

it would have left an imprint with them that the Bay of Pigs invasion preceded the arrival of missiles in Cuba from Russia to indicate Russia's protection against future invasion attempts.

You surely remember that one of the conditions of the removal of the missiles was a pledge never to invade Cuba again, don't you?

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

53. You do realize though

that the Soviets didn't care one whit about Cuba? Your statement reverses events. They did not put missiles in Cuba b/c of the Bay of Pigs invasion. Rather, the invasion gave them leverage over Castro and drove Castro to their camp even further. This was an entry point for them to advance the idea of missiles in Cuba to Castro, under the guise of US imperialism and protecting them from an aggressor nation.

The Soviets needed an effective deterrent force close to our border, like the US had in Europe and to more effect, in Turkey. The Soviets main negotiating point was the missiles in Turkey, not the safety of Cuba. Protecting Cuba was mere propaganda to legitimize their position in the UN. The Soviet threat of force against the US if they invaded Cuba was more to protect their own technicians and soldiers than the Cubans. It also afforded them a propaganda point with a Communist country so close to the US shore.

Castro was yet again an irrelevant puppet of the Soviets. Had it been Mexico, Haiti, Jamaica, whatever, the Soviets wouldn't have cared.

For the person that made the statement about the whorehouse for the US Navy, again, if you think the Soviet Navy treated the place any differently, then you are deluding yourself.

[Judi Lynn]

56. Cuba was known as "Whorehouse of the Caribbean" strictly BECAUSE

of what happened there prior to the Revolution, not after the revolution, even though idiots among the most profoundly retarded Miami "exile" reactionaries attempt to sell that to Americans.

Here's a site US/Cuba policy message board posters have found very illuminating for years, compiled during the 1950's promoting Cuba's "entertainment" industry, much of it financed by the Mafia.

The first time some of us saw it we laughed until we nearly cried, but it does show a very ugly picture.
Unfortunately, it appears many of the "thumbnails" are inoperable now.

http://cuban-exile.com/menu1/%21entertain.html
http://www.cuban-exile.com/doc_176-200/doc0184.html

On edit:

Surely you realize that after the Revolution, they closed the casinos, and the strip joints, and the brothels, don't you?

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

57. Casinos and strip joints maybe

Brothels are always a welcome service. Brothels were even run during the siege of Stalingrad in basements and holes in the ground. They catered to Soviets and Germans alike.

Communists love a good brothel as well as Capitalists. Any port city will have a brothel. Castro did not all of the sudden bring morality to the island.

[manic expression]

72. You display not a shred of knowledge

The prostitution business was minimized by the revolutionary government. The revolution has done a great amount to reduce the practice, although the "escort" business has recently become less uncommon. Of course, you probably didn't know that, so you just made some insipid reference to Stalingrad. Nice try.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

74. And you display a strong Naivety

Or is it a total blindeness to anything that is anti-*


All of your doubletalk does not say that it has been eliminated but "reduced." Well, it will be reduced natrually when the money dries up. Fewer wealthy gamblers coming to the island means that less money to blow on prostitutes (did I intend that pun?)

Assuming of course what you say is true, but given the fact that you probalbly hold that Castro is freely elected and the people keep voting for him 100%, then I see what your opinion is worth.

Have fun in Castro's wonderland.

I'm out. Better things to do than beat a brick wall.

[RangerSmith]

77. They did close the brothels

but after the fall of the Soviet Union, they let them come back big time. Cuba was considered one of the top sex destinations in the world well into the late 1990's.

It was also fairly well understood that when Cuba opened it's doors to tourism, it used it's women as bait. It was also called the Thailand of the Caribbean because of the problem of how young some of the girls were.

[killbotfactory]

88. Here's an article about it.

According to Trumbull, who conducted field research in Cuba, prostitution boomed in the Caribbean nation after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, providing an important source of currency for the Cuban economy. Castro, who outlawed prostitution when he took power in 1959, initially had few resources to combat it. But beginning around 1996, Cuban authorities began to crack down on the practice.

Although prostitution still exists, Trumbull said, it is far less visible, and it would be inaccurate to say the government promotes it.

Even when Castro made the remarks, Trumbull said, he was not boasting about Cuba's prostitutes as sex workers.

"Castro was merely trying to emphasize some of the successes of the revolution by saying 'even our prostitutes our educated,' " Trumbull said. "Castro was trying to defend his revolution against negative publicity. He was in no way bragging about the opportunities for sex tourism on the island."

On Monday, administration officials acknowledged that they did not have a source for the wording of the president's citation other than Trumbull's paper. A White House spokeswoman defended the inclusion, arguing it expressed an essential truth about Cuba.

"The president's point in citing Castro's quote was to highlight Castro's morally corrupt attitude to human trafficking," White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said. She pointed to two other instances in which Castro boasted of the education level of Cuba's prostitutes; in neither case was the context a direct promotion of sex tourism.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0720-02.htm

[Judi Lynn]

90. Really appreciate your article. I remember when Bush tried to put that lie

over on everyone: what an @$$hole.

This was very helpful:

Trumbull described himself as "annoyed" by the use the White House made of his project. "It is really disheartening to see bits of my research contorted, taken out of context, and used to support conclusions that are contrary to the truth," he said.

Julia Sweig, a Cuba expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, said it was one thing for an undergraduate to include an unsubstantiated quotation in a college paper, but it was another for the White House to include one in a presidential speech.

"That's incredibly sloppy, and it shows that when it comes to Cuba policy, they are willing to cut huge corners," Sweig said.
(snip)

This isn't the first time _Bush has used something taken completely out of context, found within an article by a student, either.

This particular info. is very, very helpful.

[IndianaGreen]

18. I wish we had a Soviet Union

Had we had a USSR, they would have contained Bush. We wouldn't be in Iraq today, and nearly 2,700 GIs would be alive and with their families instead of 6-feet under because of a war of choice.

As it is, Bush is unrestrained and without meds!

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

25. Yeah that's right

The Soviets were all warm and fuzzy just trying to contain US imperialism. That is what they were there for.

They stopped the US from going into Korea, Viet Nam, Grenada, etc.

You really should think about starring in a stage production of Wizard of OZ, you obviously have allot of straw to throw around.

[IndianaGreen]

30. What glorious wars were Vietnam and Grenada!

Wars on false pretenses! Are you proud of them or something? Or does it bother you that lies from the highest officials in our country led to such carnage in Vietnam, and such phony "liberation" in Grenada. I would have also mentioned Panama, but you probably think that too was a good war.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

36. Just saying

That the Soviets had no effect on US plans to invade those countries, which was the pont you made about Iraq.

Quit trying to link me to the Fundies by putting words in my mouth.

And youa re correct about Panama, I forgot to list that one, it was only a sampling.

[Lost4words]

33. I have often thought that many times. At least there was a balance.

to things during the cold war and the policy of MAD, mutual assured destruction, actually worked to limit aggression.

[citizen snips]

37. Stalin killed millions of people in the soviet union

that is a lot more than 2700

[IndianaGreen]

40. Funny, but it was William Hearst that made up the figure of 20 million

out of thin air! Hearst loved Hitler and he feared reds of all kinds, particularly the union organizer ones.

The old Soviet archives have been open since the fall of the USSR. There is no evidence that Stalin killed 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, or even the 60 million that I heard some Faux commentator accusing of the other day. Stalin was no saint, but he wasn't any bloodier than the Tsars he replaced, whose gulags he inherited.

I suppose we should mention Saddam gassing his own people, with the poison gas we gave him. This wasn't an issue when we were cheering him during the Iran-Iraq war.

The bottom line is that Americans have no room to criticize anyone. We lost the high ground a long time ago. A country that wages wars of aggression, that runs a global torture gulag, has no basis to criticize anyone, past or present.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

42. Good point

About the US losing the moral high ground. We indeed have with MUCH of the world. And yes, I believe the US had the moral high ground when compared to the USSR.

However, we here at DU are part of a Progressive debating society that should examine all wrongs for what they are. Not saying that since the US does this, then no poster on here from the US has any right to criticize Castro.

I'll let the Stalin comments(apologist rhetoric) go as that is not the subject of this discussion.

[citizen snips]

50. Stalin was a lot worse.

he stole all the peasants farm land and put it under bureaucratic control which caused thousands to starve. He even killed members of his own party. But I did believe the russian revolution was good thing but Stalin ruined it.

[IndianaGreen]

51. Believe me, the Cuban revolution was a good thing

and comparing the Cuban experience to that of the USSR is like apples and oranges.

On the other hand, is the average Russian better off today than he was under Gorby? No!

[citizen snips]

54. I believe the Cuban revolution was a good thing

but you are right there is no comparison between Stalin and Castro

[pretzel4gore]

67. who told you that?

the ussr became a nuclear power in 1949, 5 years before stalin died. stalin's grandfather was sold as a serf, and stalin himself was probably used by the okrana (the imperial secret police) in the early days before the revolution. stalin had nothing to do with the murder of the royal family in 1917; he had nothing to do with shipping lenin across europe to russia, thus making the bolshevik october recvolution inevitable (the february 'menshevik' revolution had overthrown rhe czar and empowered the duma, or parliament, which had been set up following the 1905 revolution, which really set russia on the road to...well, it coulda been so different had not russia got sucked into ww1)...stalin became boss when the ussr was nearly doomed, and many decades of propaganda have made stalin into a monster, but HOW MUCH OF THIS IS TRUE? the german nazis killed several million people, but they had to set up camps with gass chambers and crematoriums to achieve it- how possiby could stalin kill the vast numbers the liars say he did (same liars who say bush is god, and we must worship his divine arse) without leaving mountains of evidence?
millions indeed died during stalin era, but that included the revolution, the civil war, the great depression and ukranian famine, world war 2, the holocaust and the early cold war....

[citizen snips]

68. Stalin killed millions in his gulags.

he also killed Trotsky and many other communist party leaders who disagreed with his bureaucratic system which caused many food shortages.

[pretzel4gore]

69. i once believed this too

but something about the regan bush clinton bush era has shown me that the MAN is a fukking liar, and probably always has been. it undermines the stalin story, and that's just the way it is...

[citizen snips]

70. Don't Listen to Bush. Listen to Trotsky!

http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1938/1938-stalinism.htm


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trotsky

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

80. What a reason to doubt the story on Stalin. One man might be lying

So you are telling me that he is the ONLY source of the reports on Stalin's Atrocities.

Suggest you read some Vladimir Voinovich or Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. One thing about Solzhenitsyn, is that he does dispute the fact that it was Stalin who started the Totalitarianism in Russia and says that he was just continuing the path the Lenin set.

[Lost4words]

22. No, poor us for having a president with no humanity.

If castro were to run against * I would vote for the Man in the race and that wouldnt be the sissy puke now occupying the soiled house formally known as the WhiteHouse.

[rman]

75. Cuba in Angola = end of Apartheid

Cuba has been politically independent of Russia long since the end of the cold war.

[rbentxxx]

14. Not only was the spending destructive...

but at the same time period during the early 1960's the US government was so corrupt as to make plans to stage false-flag terror attacks on American soil as a pretext to invade Cuba. The plan, declassified Operation Northwoods, is surely something Castro knows about and am surprised he didn't mention.

[Judi Lynn]

19. It IS a wonder he hasn't made a lot of noise over that information, isn't

it? He'd have every right in the world to do it, more than others, considering the dozens of assassination attempts perpetrated over the decades.

Apparently if one is right-wing enough, Operation Northwoods is hallowed, patriotic planning, and the absolute filth at its core is sacred, instead, as it would advance right-wing interests.

Rules ARE for other people, we are being taught.

[IndianaGreen]

21. Cuba is in transition. Fidel is too frail to resume full duties.

Raul Castro is a reformer, but he is also getting up in age.

One factor that is ignored by the US press is that outside Fidel, Raul, and Ricardo Alarcon, the Cuban government is composed of very young people that grew up during the revolution and that have no intentions of embracing Bush's "freedom and democracy."

Ultimately, Cuba's future path will be determined by Cubans in Cuba, not the Republican Miami Cubans, and certainly not by any pretender to being "the Leader of the Free World."

[Lost4words]

24. And thats how it should be! "Viva Cuban peoples"

[Judi Lynn]

28. Glad you made that point. Right-wing propagdists prefer Americans

don't know anything about real life in Cuba, and stay fact free, and AWAY from finding out anything which would dislodge the illusion.

As long as idiots are so lazy they won't try to find out more, US policy makers are thrilled to have them believing the entire island is being held as prisoners by an old man, aided by his old little brother.

These drooling fools are simply too stupid to realize there's a connection between their ignorance of Cuba and the travel ban which prohibits general travel to Cuba by Americans.

The worst thing that can ever happen to our right-wing idiots will be the day great numbers of Americans all arrive in Cuba and start finding out just how colossal the lies are they've been fed all these years. They have truly painted themselves into a corner.

[IndianaGreen]

32. They want Cuba to become the whorehouse it was for US Navy

and the gambling mecca it was before the revolution.

As in Nicaragua during the Somoza dictatorship, the US never cared about human rights when it involved a regime that was subservient to Wall Street.

[Judi Lynn]

38. The "human rights violations" in Cuba which were condoned by the US

were staggering, for sure! The place had a filthy government, the poor were truly screwed, and the huge majority, helpless, and sitting ducks for government oppression far too vicious to accept any longer.

Too bad most right-wingers wallow in the same kind of intellectual sloth with their pResident _Bush. It would do them so much good to start informing themselves on US policy in the Americas.

They probably have no clue about the Samosas, either!

[Mudoria]

47. Good point.. nt

[RangerSmith]

78. And then there are some who refuse to

acknowledge some of the other truths as well.

We all know how right wing Human Rights Watch is, right?

Well, clearly they are.. they have issues with Cuba!

http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/

Oh damn... there is somebody besides us that enjoys torturing their prisoners...

http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-06.htm#P1420_318400

and of course all dissidents must undergo Political Indoctrination... man, if only bush could swing that here! Got to love Castro just for that, right?!

http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-05.htm#P1198_241650

And what about that other bastion of right wing Nazi propaganda, Amnesty International?

Here's proof they are clearly in the back pocket of the Neocons, too!

http://web.amnesty.org/library/eng-cub/index

Castro and bush... I mean the differences are so slight it's like twin sons from different Mothers!

[ronnie624]

81. I don't see anything

that would mark the Cuban government as a particularly egregious human rights abuser. I certainly saw nothing that could even remotely compare to the abuses committed by the United States - the slaughter of millions in Korea and Viet Nam for instance.

Perhaps you could include some excerpts from your links that would help illustrate your point.

[RangerSmith]

82. Actually, you illustrate my main point quite well

You'll accept human rights violations from Castro because you agree with his ideology, but you'll not accept it from bush because you don't agree with his ideology.

I could excerpt whats there, but why? It's pretty clear it's not about the ethics or even who is being abused, it's all about how you feel about the person doing the abuses.

[ronnie624]

83. No, really.

I can't find the cases of torture and political indoctrination you mentioned in your earlier post. I was hoping you would show them to me.

Thanks in advance! :hi:

[0007]

85. Duh? Where's the meat?

[roody]

26. Maybe he is more concerned

about Posada Carriles being let out of jail here in the US. This man takes responsibility for shooting down a Cuban airliner in the 70's and for tourist hotel bombings in Cuba. US refuses to extradite him to Venezuela to stand trial for the airliner. The Panamanian president let him out of jail there as a favor to someone just before she left office.

[Judi Lynn]

34. A favor to the Cuban "exile" community, and her friend George W. Bush

She called Miami as soon as she pardoned him and the other convicted Cuban "exile" assassins to let them know what she had done.

I was surprised to learn recently Mireya Moscoso has moved to Miami, HERSELF! Small world, isn't it?



Mireya Moscoso and George W. Bush

[roody]

61. So moscoso is a good name for her.

[Judi Lynn]

23. Who would have expected to see Bush's little buddy in Havana?

Cuba's acting President Raul Castro, right, welcomed
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the
inauguration ceremony of the 14h Nonaligned Summit in
Havana, Cuba, yesterday. Arroyo is scheduled to attend
several events around Oahu today.

Arroyo arrives in isles after meet in Cuba
By Craig Gima
[e-mail]

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo arrived in Honolulu last night on a one-day visit to help celebrate the centennial of Filipino immigration to Hawaii.

This is the only U.S. stop on Arroyo's five-nation, nine-day trip. She flew to Hawaii from Cuba, where she attended the 14th Summit of the Nonaligned Movement yesterday.
(snip/...)

http://starbulletin.com/2006/09/16/news/story07.html

[IndianaGreen]

27. The MSM wants you to obsess about Ahmadinejad

Terra! Terra!

Like I said earlier, two thirds of all the nations of the world are represented at the NAM conference, yet all we see in US media are photos of Ahmadinejad and Chavez.

Cuba is always referred to as the "communist-run island" by the AP, just as Chavez is always called a "firebrand" by our "free press."

Sorry, but I no longer respond to Pavlovian stimulii from the MSM.

[Benhurst]

46. Oh, please, please, stop!

We're the World's Only Superpower. We can stand anything but pain and criticism.

:cry: :cry: :cry:

It's not nice to bring up ugly truths.

:patriot:

We're Number One!

[VegasWolf]

48. LOL! Exactly, long live Rome! nt

[0007]

49. Raul Castro is right on target

[Judi Lynn]

52. Summit gives Cuba chance to showcase biotech

Summit gives Cuba chance to showcase biotech
14 Sep 2006 20:43:47 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Matthew Bigg

HAVANA, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Cuba is using this week's Non-Aligned summit to show off a vibrant biotechnology sector officials cite as proof of its success in defying a 44-year-old embargo imposed by the United States.
(snip)

Biotechnology is the country's fourth most important exchange earner after tourism, remittances and nickel exports and since 1989, when the Soviet Union cut aid, Cuba has invested at least $1 billion in the industry, government officials say.

"It is hard to believe that a small, poor country has developed this kind of work," Martinez told reporters. "The embargo has allowed us to find our own development and you never know what you gain or what you lose."

Cuba's system of 52 linked science institutes produced the world's first vaccine for meningitis B and has manufactured drugs including six generic antiretrovirals, a hepatitis B vaccine and a number of interferons, Martinez said.
(snip/...)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N14462869.htm

[roody]

59. These vaccines alone call for an invasion of Cuba!!

How dare they?

[Judi Lynn]

66. Right on target! You may find this interesting:

LOOKING FOR TERRORISTS IN CUBA'S HEALTH SYSTEM

By Jane Franklin

~snip~
Last May, just six days before former President Jimmy Carter was scheduled to fly to Havana, John Bolton, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, delivered a speech to the Heritage Foundation called "Beyond the Axis of Evil," adding Cuba, Libya, and Syria to President Bush's "Axis of Evil"--Iraq, North Korea, and Iran. He announced, "The United States believes that Cuba has at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort. Cuba has provided dual-use biotechnology to other rogue states. We are concerned that such technology could support BW programs in those states." On that day and the next Bolton's remarks were broadcast worldwide.

But this time something unusual happened. Although some media reported the story straight, ready to demonize Cuba once again, others asked, Where's the evidence? The Florida Sun-Sentinel brought up the question of timing, following up with an editorial that asked, "Where's the beef?" New York's Newsday called the charge of terrorism a "preposterous suggestion," noting that the upshot is that Cuba has "the most sophisticated biomedical resources in Latin America," and adding, "So what?" The Guardian of England, stating that Bolton "presented no evidence for his claims," warned that "the US threatened to extend its war on terror to Cuba." The Baltimore Sun editorialized, "It's a tired, old political line that more and more Americans are rejecting." A Chicago Tribune editorial declared that such charges, "offered without a shred of proof," begin "to look like a political stunt."

When Jimmy Carter toured the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Havana with President Castro, he made his own announcement: that during briefings before his visit, he asked the White House, State Department and CIA if there were any "possible terrorist activities that were supported by Cuba," and the answer was "`No.'"

But the White House doesn't need evidence. If President Bush and his coterie disapprove of a government, they can simply state that the regime has the potential for bioterrorism, since any laboratory has that potential. Like Joseph Goebbels's Ministry of Propaganda, the State Department can rely on the Technique of the Big Lie: repeat the lie over and over from a position of power and people will get that message embedded in their minds. The lie doesn't go away. It returns in various shapes. Last September, Wall Street Journal columnist Mary Anastasia O'Grady asked, "Is Fidel Castro busy cooking up viruses in Cuban labs to share with Islamic fundamentalists?" On Halloween night, Otto Reich, a Cuban-American who was then Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, was still embellishing the same charges to the Heritage Foundation that his Undersecretary Bolton delivered five months earlier.

On June 1, 2002, at West Point, George Bush delivered a message to the new officers of his imperial army, graduating, he said, "in a time of war." He warned them that, with technology, "even weak states and small groups could attain a catastrophic power to strike great nations." He told them, "We must take the battle to the enemy, disrupt his plans, and confront the worst threats before they emerge." He stated, "Our security will require transforming the military you will lead--a military that must be ready to strike at a moment's notice in any dark corner of the world." Will Cuba's medical achievements make it one of those targets?
(snip/...)

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~hbf/j/health.htm

[stepnw1f]

55. Can't Blame Raul Castro

If I were in his shoes, I'd probably say the same things. I believe he is right. The US, especially with the people in control right now, cannot be trusted and are a danger to the rest of the World. Hell... look what happened to Haiti, a neighbor.

[Cornerstone]

60. I could care less what they think

Honestly, what hypocrites. Railing at the U.S. is U.Sians (us) 'we the sensible peoples' jobs. After all, look at their own nation. People are too beaten down to the point that they 'can't' speak out aboutthe many atrocities these 'Cuban finger pointers' are doing to them.

By the way, what has Cuba done to help Africa?

[IndianaGreen]

62. Nelson Mandela is a personal friend of Fidel while Maggie Thatcher

called him a terrorist as did Jerry Falwell, who also called a phony Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Desmond Tutu.

What has America done for Africa, other than to take her children in chains into slavery?

[killbotfactory]

71. The US congress labeled him and the ANC as terrorists

While backing the pro-apartheid government. Surprise, Dick Cheney was involved.

When Rep. Dick Cheney voted against a 1986 resolution calling for the release of Nelson Mandela and recognition of the African National Congress, Americans did know this man had been waiting decades for his freedom. In a larger sense, so had all black South Africans. The tenets of American democracy -- one man, one vote -- were denied to the majority of citizens, along with the most basic economic and educational needs.

Yet Republican vice presidential candidate Cheney still defends his vote, saying on ABC's ``This Week'' that ``the ANC was then viewed as a terrorist organization. . . . I don't have any problems at all with the vote I cast 20 years ago.'' What, then, does this tell us about what information Cheney considers before he takes a decision? And what the long-term consequences are likely to be, and on whom?

By no means were Mandela or the ANC universally viewed as ``terrorists,'' evidenced by the fact that the vote on the resolution was 245-177 in favor, but still shy of the two-thirds needed to override President Ronald Reagan's veto.

http://www.commondreams.org/views/080300-102.htm

[Judi Lynn]

63. What has Cuba done to help Africa? It's a joke, right?

SECRET CUBAN DOCUMENTS ON HISTORY OF AFRICA INVOLVEMENT
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 67
Edited by Peter Kornbluh

~snip~
Conflicting Missions provides the first comprehensive history of the Cuba's role in Africa and settles a longstanding controversy over why and when Fidel Castro decided to intervene in Angola in 1975. The book definitively resolves two central questions regarding Cuba's policy motivations and its relationship to the Soviet Union when Castro astounded and outraged Washington by sending thousands of soldiers into the Angolan civil conflict. Based on Cuban, U.S. and South African documents and interviews, the book concludes that:

• Castro decided to send troops to Angola on November 4, 1975, in response to the South African invasion of that country, rather than vice versa as the Ford administration persistently claimed;
  
  
• The United States knew about South Africa's covert invasion plans, and collaborated militarily with its troops, contrary to what Secretary of State Henry Kissinger testified before Congress and wrote in his memoirs.
  
  
• Cuba made the decision to send troops without informing the Soviet Union and deployed them, contrary to what has been widely alleged, without any Soviet assistance for the first two months.
  (snip)

"Conflicting Missions is above all the story of a contest, staged in Africa, between Cuba and the United States," according to its author, which started in Zaire in 1964-65 and culminated in a major Cold War confrontation in Angola in 1975-76. Using Cuban and US documents, as well as the semi-official history of South Africa's 1975 covert operation in Angola (available only in Afrikaans), this book is the first to present the internationalized Angolan conflict from three sides—Cuba and the MPLA, the United States and the covert CIA operation codenamed IAFEATURE and South Africa, whose secret incursion prompted Castro's decision to commit Cuban troops.

Conflicting Missions also argues that Secretary Kissinger's account of the US role in Angola, most recently repeated in the third volume of his memoirs, is misleading. Testifying before Congress in 1976, Kissinger stated "We had no foreknowledge of South Africa's intentions, and in no way cooperated militarily." In Years of Renewal Dr. Kissinger also denied that the United States and South Africa had collaborated in the Angolan conflict; Gleijeses' research demonstrates that they did. The book quotes Kissinger aide Joseph Sisco conceding that the Ford administration "certainly did not discourage" South Africa's intervention, and presents evidence that the CIA helped the South Africans ferry arms to key battlefronts. Contrary to what Kissinger alleges in his memoirs, the first Cuban military advisers did not arrive in Angola until late August 1975, and the Cubans did not participate in the fighting until late October, after South Africa had invaded. The book also reproduces portions of a declassified memorandum of conversation between Kissinger and Chinese leader Teng Hsiao-p'ing to show that China had refused U.S. entreaties to continue participating in Angola because of South Africa's involvement, not because the U.S. Congress refused to allocate further funding for the covert war, as Kissinger claimed.
(snip/...)http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB67/index2.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cuba has been sending doctors to work with the poor of Africa for years:

• Cuba has sent thousands of doctors and medical professionals to serve in the poorest areas of Latin America and Africa
  
• Cuba has treated more than 16,000 victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster
  
• Cuba is organizing a health-care task force to tackle the problem of the AIDS epidemic in Africa
  
• Cuba has trained hundreds of doctors from African and Latin American nations - all free of charge
  

http://www.ifconews.org/MedicalSchool/main.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CUBA-AFRICA: Decades of Assistance and Cooperation

Inter Press Service - July 2, 2004
Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Jul 2 (IPS) - Dozens of countries in Africa benefit from medical or other assistance programmes from Cuba, and in four decades this socialist island nation has helped train around 30,000 young people from that continent in a number of specialties.

Medical assistance, which began in 1963 when Cuba sent health brigades to Algeria, has been extended to more than 20 nations, 16 of which are included in the Integral Health Programme, which also encompasses seven countries in Latin America and two in Asia.

"Cooperation in that field is still the most important. By the end of 2003, we had 2,574 collaborators in Africa, most of them in the area of health," Milagros Franco, the Ministry of Foreign Investment's director for Africa, told IPS.

The aid has had a strong impact. According to official statistics, infant mortality in areas where Cuban medical professionals provide assistance has plunged: from 59 to 7.8 per 1,000 live births in Ghana, from 48 to 10.6 in Eritrea, and from 131 to 35.5 in Equatorial Guinea.

The assistance includes training of health workers in the areas where Cuban doctors provide their services and of health professionals in institutes in Cuba.

Havana has also helped set up medical schools in Gambia and Equatorial Guinea, and Cuban professors teach in medical schools in several countries, including Ethiopia, Uganda and South Africa.

Cuba has diplomatic ties with 53 African nations and provides assistance to 51. Although the greatest emphasis is put on health and education, cooperation also includes the areas of sports, construction, agriculture and urban planning.
(snip/...)

http://www.aegis.com/news/ips/2004/IP040703.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another of Cuba's areas of endeavor for years has been creating low cost drugs for third world countries which can't afford the expensive drug costs of drugs produced in the U.S. and Europe. These drugs are being used in Africa by people who couldn't afford them otherwise.

That could be considered "helping" Africa, as well.

[rman]

76. Can't really blame people for not knowing, this was never on CNN

And if it was, then only once very briefly, so that it was easy to forget while the MSM can claim they are objective.
So much hidden history, that's our Matrix.

[Mika]

79. Thanks for the info on Cuba's global irrelevancy, Judi.

Thanks for the informative post on Cuba's assistance in Africa.

It seems that, to many Americans, Cuba's long record of assisting disaster stricken people in all corners of the world is irrelevant and not worthy of positive recognition. Such a shame to have such a mindset about a small Caribbean country struggling as best as it can (and doing so quite well) to pull itself out of the mire of a century of US hegemony and abuse - and at the same time, coming to the aid of so many others in great need also.

Cuba is, indeed & in deed, an anti model.

Learn from Cuba

[roody]

73. Right on Raul.

Que vivan los medicos Cubanos.

[Judi Lynn]

84. New article from a Charleston paper:Seeing Cuba: Life isn't easy -- but it

Monday September 18, 2006
Seeing Cuba: Life isn't easy -- but it isn't bad
by Michael Lipton
For the Daily Mail

~snip~
Except for the most basic information, most of the articles and travel books I read were of little use.

The thieves and pickpockets on the famous Malecon (a walkway, road and nightly hangout) that runs along the coast and the bike-riding purse-snatchers on the Prado (a beautiful marble, tree-lined walkway that leads from the Malecon to the country's capitol) never materialized.

Police stood on nearly every corner, yet, unlike the imposing, machine gun-wielding police I've encountered in Russia and Argentina, they appeared completely benign, at least for foreigners.

Likewise, price-gouging cabbies were nowhere to be found. Ditto with scam artists, crooked moneychangers and the assortment of pests that usually descend upon Anglos in Third World countries. And no one we saw appeared to be hungry, malnourished or homeless.

In short, Havana was perhaps the safest, most tranquil and "human" city I've visited.
(snip)

As we sat at a cafe and tried to imagine the grandeur of the city in the 1920s and 1930s, a young man approached our table.

"I love your people," he exclaimed, "but I hate your president." We smiled and invited him to sit down and drink a beer.
(snip/...)

http://www.dailymail.com/story/Life/+/2006091834/Seeing+Cuba:+Life+isn't+easy+--+but+it+isn't+bad/

[ronnie624]

86. Thanks for the interesting read.

I would love to visit Cuba, and I probably would if I wasn't so afraid I might find myself being tortured at the hands of Fidel Castro. ;)


But perhaps the most telling comparison between the two societies came when we returned to Nassau.

In the Nassau airport, I asked if there was a way to avoid the $25 cab ride into town. Everyone I spoke to was unfriendly, rude and just plain not helpful. Strange, I thought, we just left a country where people are supposed to be miserable and oppressed and they were, to a person, congenial and helpful. Here, in a country whose stock in trade is "don't worry, be happy," it was completely the opposite.

Once outside the airport, it was easy to see why people were grumpy. It was as if we never left the United States - we saw KFC, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, malls, strip malls, sprawling mansions and characterless hotels.

On one hand, there is an island that has kept its culture, a strong sense of nationalism and a way of life that is simple, though not easy. Then, 200 miles away, capitalism has had its way with another island. And the result isn't pretty.

[ellisonz]

89. I wonder what this meeting was like:

"Though he's made no formal appearances at the summit, a pajama-clad Fidel did meet separately Thursday with friend and political ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan."