December 2012

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
            1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31          

Blogs & Sites We Read

Blog powered by Typepad

Search Site

  • Search Site
    Google

    WWW
    http://accidentalblogger.typepad.com

Counter

  • Counter

Become a Fan

Cat Quote

  • "He who dislikes the cat, was in his former life, a rat."

« The Rapture of the Bees (Sujatha) | Main | UK "Pakistanis" Not Welcome in the US »

May 01, 2007

Comments

The hatred of Castro in the US is said to be driven by a group of well-organized Cuban-Americans. Why their view should have so much influence is hard for me to grasp (but then one thinks of the Israel lobby). If only it was due to our politicians' hatred of communism or liberty-hating dictators! It's tiring to even think of words to deride this rhetoric. The US has not only been perfectly cozy with cruel dictators but has often helped them oppress their own populations. Commie China has long enjoyed the most favored nation trade status while we still have this insane embargo against Cuba.

Since nationalizing US businesses in '60, Castro has outlived eight US presidents and held his own just 90 miles away. How humiliating to our power to shape the world! But our hatred of him could just be due to our dislike of dictators such as Castro, who defy us openly, refuse to tow the line, or be controlled in any way. The truth is that we prefer predictable, controllable dictators ("our own sons of bitches"), whatever their human material. Or at the very least those who cut special deals for our corporations, sustain our deadly arms industry, or give us real estate for military bases. Words seem powerless to capture this insanity.

Exactly. If only the opposition to Castro was a principled stand against dictatorship. We all know that it is not. The hypocritical pandering to the thuggish elements among the Cuban American lobby is mind boggling.

Now that the other Latin American dictator who too thumbs his nose at Uncle Sam, has gone and nationalized big oil operation in his country, what are we going to do next? Will the CIA go back into the assassination business or will we take pre-emptive military action on trumped up charges?

Castro did not turn up at today's May Day parade in Havana after all, which has everyone atwitter about his health. But the Cuban audience was probably a bit relieved that El Barbudo (The Bearded One) couldn't make it. Last year Castro praised the revolucion for three hours during his May Day address. Today, his mild mannered spokesperson took just 7 minutes to complete the speech, mostly devoted to wishing the president good health and speedy recovery. :-)


See "Confessions of a Cuban Counter Revolutionary" at www.jaylillie.com

There is an interesting anecdote about Castro in today's Washington Post which has published a few tid-bits from Ronald Reagan's diaries.

"A 1981 entry on Cuban leader Fidel Castro said: "Intelligence reports say he, Castro is very worried about me. I'm very worried that we can't come up with something to justify his worrying."

Although Reagan was the harbinger of Bush-Cheney, the old bunch was at least more realistic. I don't expect to hear any such self deprecating admissions from the current macho administration.

The comments to this entry are closed.