NationStates Jolt Archive

In a letter read on state television, the Cuban leader suggested he will not hold onto power nor "obstruct the rise of young leaders."

Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has not been seen in public for 16 months, suggested on Monday he might give up his formal leadership posts -- the first time he has spoken of his possible retirement.

"My elemental duty is not to hold on to positions and less to obstruct the path of younger people," the 81-year-old Castro said in a letter read on Cuban state television.

Castro, who took power in a 1959 revolution, handed it over temporarily to his brother Raul in July 2006 after undergoing stomach surgery for an undisclosed illness.

Cuba's National Assembly could formalize Castro's retirement as head of state when it approves the members of the executive Council of State in March.

[...] His comments at the end of the letter read out on a daily current affairs program on television suggested Castro would not resume office but instead continue in the role of elder statesman advising the country's communist government on key issues.


(link (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/world/20071218-castro-cuba-power-letter-ailing-leaders.html))

It was apparently read on a "current affairs" programme....I'd say its a wild floor of heated debate...

That is if Castro even wrote the letter.

Which he didn't due to him already being dead.

Oh I hope it's true, because if it is the last possible justification for the embargo on Cuba will evaporate and they can finally get the trade they deserve.

This is going to be very interesting.

"Dying man admits he's dying, mixed feelings ensue"

"Dying man admits he's dying, mixed feelings ensue"

Nah, Fidel's the friekin' Highlander.

Oh I hope it's true, because if it is the last possible justification for the embargo on Cuba will evaporate and they can finally get the trade they deserve.

ayup, dumbest move the U.S could have made.

"Hey, you see that country that just had a war, has poor crops, and has a nutter for a leader?"

"yea, why?"

"Let's embargo them, driving them even farther away and giving them even more reason to side with our hated enemy."

It matters not really, I have researched this and Castro has a good line-up of consistent Marxist-Leninists to succeed him, Cuba has surely progressed too far in the building of socialism to simply fall to revisionism and bourgeois capitalism.

It matters not really, I have researched this and Castro has a good line-up of consistent Marxist-Leninists to succeed him, Cuba has surely progressed too far in the building of socialism to simply fall to revisionism and bourgeois capitalism.

It hasn't even been fifty years! :p

you' know I wonder what would happen if I asked Castro to name me as his successor?:)

No doubt those Yankee mercenaries down in that little tip of Batista dictatorship in America (Miami) will try to cause as much noise as possible when a democratic transition in socialist Cuba takes place. Of course they will not succeed, they have build the solidarity of their people for many years now, and the fraternal sense of community in Cuba is great, the Cuban people would never stand to have their democracy taken away and replaced by bourgeois dictatorship.

I suppose it's time for Nationstates to take things into it's own hands. Send Lunatic Goofballs on a wild adventure to seize power (through any means possible) in Cuba.

I suppose it's time for Nationstates to take things into it's own hands. Send Lunatic Goofballs on a wild adventure to seize power (through any means possible) in Cuba.

Haven't these people suffered enough under other USA puppets?

Oh I hope it's true, because if it is the last possible justification for the embargo on Cuba will evaporate and they can finally get the trade they deserve.

qft

you' know I wonder what would happen if I asked Castro to name me as his successor?:)
He'd send a letter back, comically saying '¿por no te callas?'

I suppose it's time for Nationstates to take things into it's own hands. Send Lunatic Goofballs on a wild adventure to seize power (through any means possible) in Cuba.

I'll need 25,000 loyal troops, several wings of B-52 bombers, one million copies of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy', and 50,000 metric tons of custard. *nod*

I'll need 25,000 loyal troops, several wings of B-52 bombers, one million copies of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy', and 50,000 metric tons of custard. *nod*

well, you have one loyal troop right here, just one question;
After you're in power, can I run the secret police? Please? :(

"Castro to be replaced by another just like him!" big news...

I'll need 25,000 loyal troops, several wings of B-52 bombers, one million copies of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy', and 50,000 metric tons of custard. *nod*

And a second one here! As Long as you pay me in hookers and beer *nods*

It matters not really, I have researched this and Castro has a good line-up of consistent Marxist-Leninists to succeed him, Cuba has surely progressed too far in the building of socialism to simply fall to revisionism and bourgeois capitalism.

That's bullshit. Everyone in Cuba HATES the fucker and his pinko buddies. The whole system will get dismantled, one way or another, because the only thing keeping him in power now is the military, and none of the other line ups have the same kind of charisma.

Everyone in Cuba HATES the fucker and his pinko buddies.

If that were true, Castro would have been overthrown a long time ago.

That's bullshit. Everyone in Cuba HATES the fucker and his pinko buddies. The whole system will get dismantled, one way or another, because the only thing keeping him in power now is the military, and none of the other line ups have the same kind of charisma.

You're both wrong.

I've been to Cuba, and most Cubans' views are far more nuanced. They criticise Castro a lot, while recognising that he does good things too. For the most part, they neither love him nor hate him.

No doubt those Yankee mercenaries down in that little tip of Batista dictatorship in America (Miami)
Eh, pardon me? But how exactly is Miami a dictatorship?

*Drives over to Miami, checks things out*

*Drives back*

Nope, 100% not a dictatorship. Do you even think about what you say?

Anyway, Castro's Cuba is terrible. I hardly think, if it "wasn't so bad, really", like the Leftists would have you beleive, that MANY Cubans wouldn't sacrifice their lives and the lives of their children dying while swimming across to Florida.:rolleyes:

I like Cuban people, Cuban culture, Cuban food and Cuban language and I know MANY here in South Florida...beleive me, they beleive they were much better off "as an American puppet".

You're both wrong.

I've been to Cuba, and most Cubans' views are far more nuanced. They criticise Castro a lot, while recognising that he does good things too. For the most part, they neither love him nor hate him.

I had a Cuban teacher who told me that if fair and free elections were held, Castro would likely win, although marginally. She said that Castro's popularity has dwindled with the younger generations because they weren't around to see what pre-revolution Cuba was like. Sure, Castro's Cuba and himself have flaws but its much better than it was before. Thats what makes him still very popular with older Cubans and unpopular with younger, idealistic Cubans.

I was going to post this, but was too lazy. Poor guy is too sick to remain in power. He is awesome beyond reason.

Good.

The country has fantastic assets in world renowned cigars and rum, an educated population, and a strategic location. They should be doing great, and the main thing holding them back is not dictatorship but the pig-headed US trade embargo.

Without Castro, the ghost of US/Cuba conflict could be laid to rest. He's a symbol of that, just as Arafat was for Israel/Palestine.

Doesn't mean it's all his fault -- a new leader would hold out at least the hope of change in relations with the US. Stand down, Fidel!

Eh, pardon me? But how exactly is Miami a dictatorship?

*Drives over to Miami, checks things out*

*Drives back*

Nope, 100% not a dictatorship. Do you even think about what you say?

Anyway, Castro's Cuba is terrible. I hardly think, if it "wasn't so bad, really", like the Leftists would have you beleive, that MANY Cubans wouldn't sacrifice their lives and the lives of their children dying while swimming across to Florida.:rolleyes:

I like Cuban people, Cuban culture, Cuban food and Cuban language and I know MANY here in South Florida...beleive me, they beleive they were much better off "as an American puppet".Of course the people that broke their back to leave Cuba hate it. If they were ambivalent, they wouldn't have gone through such measures. I think that the average is ambivalence. Truth is, most people do not care too deeply about politics, and don't care much more than the local media tells them.

and don't care much more than the local (STATE OWNED PROPOGANDA SPEWING) media tells them.
And perhaps here we found one of the many problems in Cuba?

In an age of propaganda and pseudo-democracy, the strongest opponents of imperial power are subject to the most ferocious attacks. One result of this is that many of the firmly held opinions about democracy in Cuba and in the United States of America bear an inverse relationship to relevant knowledge. As the Canadian scientist William Osler said, “the greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism”.

The US has run a powerful and illegal economic blockade against Cuba for almost 50 years, after its investment privileges were withdrawn. It now runs propaganda suggesting that the Cuban people need US-styled “democracy”. Well let’s look at democracy in both countries, including civil rights and participatory democracy, as well as representative democracy.

In representative democracy, Cuba is clearly ahead. Cubans have open elections for their National Assembly (as well as their provincial and local assemblies); this assembly then elects the ministers, including a president of the Council of Ministers.

In the US, there is a directly elected Congress and a president indirectly elected through electoral colleges. This president of state then appoints ministers. Yet a majority of the elected US Congress cannot block many presidential “prerogatives”, including the waging of war.

So even when the majority of the population and the majority of the Congress oppose a war, the president can still wage it. In the US, then, the elected assembly does not really rule.

In Cuba, the Constitution (Art 12) repudiates wars of aggression and conquest, and all ministers are accountable to the elected National Assembly. The president of Cuba’s Council of Ministers (falsely called a “dictator” by the imperial US president) is not above the National Assembly and has no power to “veto” a law passed by his country’s National Assembly. In the US, the president can and does veto Congressional laws.

In the US, eligibility for election to office depends on subscription to one of two giant parties and substantial corporate sponsorship.

In Cuba, there are no electoral parties and there is no corporate sponsorship. The Cuban Communist Party is constitutionally recognised to promote socialist debate and policy, but has no electoral role. Citizens need not be CCP members to be elected, and many are not. National Assembly members (whether they belong to the CCP or not) do not represent any party, but rather their constituencies. The Cuban system bans foreign powers from funding electoral representatives or parties. The US Government, accustomed to foreign intervention, claims this law is “undemocratic”.

In the US, millions of people are excluded from voting, either because they have some criminal conviction or they belong to one or other group of second class citizens (for example, Puerto Ricans, who pay tax but have no representative in Congress).

In Cuba, very few are excluded from voting, and well over 90 per cent of the adult population (those over 16 years of age) actually do vote at each election. In the US, voter participation is often around 50 per cent.

While there are constitutional civil rights in both countries, these rights are stronger under the Cuban system. Cuban citizens have the constitutional right to employment, food, free education, free health care, housing (including family inheritance), political participation, freedom of expression, personal property and freedom of religion. The Cuban state is constitutionally bound to guarantee these rights.

US citizens have the right to freedom of speech, unlimited private property and the right to carry arms. They also have the right to participate in a “market” where their education, health and general well-being is often a gamble.

By the constitution, no-one in Cuba can be imprisoned without proper charges, a trial, and the right to a defence (Art 59). Cuba’s “political prisoners” are those who have been convicted of taking money to help overthrow the constitutional system.

By contrast, in the US, thousands of people are held without charge or trial, including several hundred in the illegally occupied section of Cuba, at Guantanamo Bay. The rate of imprisonment in the US, which has more than two million prisoners, is far higher than in Cuba (or indeed any other country). African-Americans are massively over-represented in US jails. Prisoners in the US lose many of their civil rights; prisoners in Cuba keep most of their civil rights.

Institutionalised racial discrimination persisted in the US well into the 1960s. Even today, the gap between formal and effective rights is very great in the US, because there are so few social guarantees.

Cuba, on the other hand, has made great efforts to overcome the denial of effective rights on racial grounds. The Cuban guarantees of universal and free education, health care and social security have proven powerful and effective tools against social marginalisation. Educational and health standards in Cuba are similar to, and in some respects better than, those of the US. This is despite the US having an average per capita income almost ten times higher than Cuba. The US has permanent wealth and poverty. Cuba shares its ups and downs.

In the US “freedom of speech” means that a handful of private corporations dominate the mass media.

In Cuba, the media (television, radio, magazines, newspapers) are all run by public bodies or community organisations. No private individual or investment group can capture or dominate public debate in Cuba. Nor is there mind numbing, commercial advertising.

In the US mass communications are dominated by consumerism and celebrity trivia; politics is about individuals seeking public office. In Cuba, mass communications are dominated by education and cultural programs; politics is about co-ordinated social responses to social problems.

Cuba does not use state power to intervene in the affairs of others or to push international propaganda, but rather sends doctors to more than 60 countries to assist communities which have no medical services. This internationalism, recognised by the World Health Organization, contrasts with US interventionism.

The US government maintains state-propaganda stations (for example, Voice of America, Radio Marti), funds opposition political groups (through the National Endowment for Democracy, the State Department, USAID and the CIA) as well as funding pro-US academic centres and think tanks around the world.

Cuba’s human rights record is far better than that of the US. Amnesty International said the US in 2006 had “thousands of detainees … without charge or trial … deaths in custody, torture and ill-treatment … disappearances ... failure to hold officials at the highest levels accountable … [for] war crimes or crimes against humanity”. Within the US “sixty-one people died after being struck by police tasers … [and] 60 people were executed”. The Amnesty report did not address the thousands killed and maimed in the illegal occupation of Iraq.

By contrast, Amnesty’s criticism of Cuba in 2006 was mild. There were some “restrictions on freedom of expression, association and movement … nearly 70 prisoners of conscience … the government attempted to suppress private entrepreneurship. More than 30 prisoners remained on death row [but] no one was executed.”

Amnesty (whose US branch is responsible for reports on Cuba) did not note that the “seventy prisoners of conscience” had been charged and convicted of the specific offences of taking money from a foreign power to seek the overthrow of the Cuban constitutional system. Most were arrested in 2003, during a wave of hijackings, and many have since been released.

The US State Department - a fierce ideological opponent of Cuba - was forced to acknowledge in 2004 that Cuba had “no political killings ... or politically motivated disappearances", no religious repression, little discrimination, compulsory and free schooling, a universal health system, substantial artistic freedom, and no reports of torture. This contrasts strongly with the death squads and torture of dictatorial regimes trained and supported by the US throughout Latin America, for example in Chile, Guatemala, El Salvador and Colombia.

Cuban moves against homophobia and in support of gay rights have been more effective than those in the US. There is greater tolerance of sexual diversity in Cuba than in most Latin American countries and Churches which sustain such discrimination have less political influence in Cuba than in the US.

Cuba’s Centre for National Sex Education (CENESEX) since 1989 has pushed sexual tolerance, including acceptance of and support for trans-sexuals. Effective education campaigns and testing has meant that Cuba has the lowest HIV infection rate in the Caribbean region, lower than the US. Since 2001 every HIV positive Cuban has had free access to highly active anti retroviral treatment (HAART). The US has developed strong HIV-AIDS programs, as a result of pressure group lobbying, but access to health services is not guaranteed.

US backed, Cuban exile “pro-democracy” activists are mostly terrorists, as far as Cubans are concerned. For example in March 2007 the Madrid Municipal Government awarded Cuban exile Carlos Alberto Montaner the “Tolerance Prize” for his writings on Cuba. Yet Montaner is a European-resident fugitive from Cuban justice who has been on the CIA payroll for many years. He is wanted in Cuba for bombings carried out in Cuba, many years ago, and has close links to the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), which openly backs terrorist attacks on Cuba.

The Cuban Government has not moved against the celebrated “pro democracy” activist Osvaldo Payá, who was awarded the Andrei Sakharov Prize in 2002 for “Freedom of Thought” following his creation of the “Varela Project”, essentially a petition for small business rights. However Cuban television in December 2005 pointed out that Payá was receiving $1,000 a session for his classes on managing a US-backed “transition” in Cuba, held at the US Office of Interests in Havana. This is a clear breach of Cuban law, but Payá has not been arrested.

In 2005 Australian journalist Paul McGeough feted another CANF and Miami-backed “pro-democracy” activist, Raul Rivero. McGeough asserted that Rivero’s arrest in 2003 “revived memories of the worst Soviet human rights abuses” and claimed that “Rivero's crime was twofold - possession of a typewriter, and a will to dream”. McGeough did not point out that Rivero was convicted of receiving money from the US Office of Interests and the CANF, as part of quite explicit plans to overthrow the constitution and install a foreign-backed regime. Such activity is a crime in every country.

The most notorious US-backed “pro democracy activist” is Luis Posada Carriles, currently held in the US on immigration offences. The US refuses to extradite Posada to Venezuela, where he is wanted for the 1976 bombing of a Cuba passenger plane, which killed 73 civilians. Posada publicly confessed (in the US) to the bombings of Cuban tourist hotels in 1997, but was never charged. He was arrested and convicted over an assassination attempt on Fidel Castro in Panama in 2000, but was pardoned and released in 2004 by outgoing Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso, a US ally. The US government, in the middle of its self-proclaimed “war on terrorism”, refuses to consider Posada a terrorist. Such is the US support for democracy in Cuba.

The US government funds a number of “civil society”, “pro-democracy” and human rights groups, to support the US image of the world. For example, the France-based group Reporters without Borders, backed by the US National Endowment for Democracy, portrays Cuba as the single worst violator of “press freedom” in the Americas. However the International News Safety Institute notes that while no journalists were killed carrying out their work in Cuba over 1996-2006, 21 were killed in the USA, most of them murdered. (Let’s put to one side the 72 others killed in Colombia, 31 in Mexico, 27 in Brazil, 16 in Peru, 13 in Guatemala, and so on.)

On participatory democracy, the US has very poor credentials. Economic policy is regarded either as “technical”, to be managed by experts, or a province of the private corporations that dominate US social and political life. Consequently there are few debates or participatory initiatives on issues of major public concern, such as health care, access to education and military spending.

In Cuba, by contrast, there are substantial debates on public policy issues, through the elected assemblies and social organisations. For example, in Cuba’s economic crisis of the 1990s, 18 months were spent debating the introduction of major economic changes such as introducing regulated foreign investment, the development of mass tourism, adjustments to services and taxes, preservation of free health care and education.

In the US, “structural adjustment” was a formula developed by the private banks, adopted at home and enforced in debtor countries. This “technical” formula, comprising privatisation, high interest rates, cuts to social services, user pays regimes, privileges for private investors and exporters, is presented as a “fait accompli”. There is no public inclusion in a policy debate, so communities are forced to react defensively to this “technical” economic policy.

There is one final, important reason why the US cannot be a democracy. An imperial ambition drives it to dominate, invade and exploit the resources of other countries. US “defence forces” are almost exclusively deployed abroad and current US “national security” policy contemplates pre-emptive military strikes on more than sixty countries.

Like other imperial ventures, US ambitions are pursued on behalf of a small clique of private investors, at the expense of millions of poor and marginalised people within the US. Yet as the US writer Gore Vidal has pointed out, no imperial project can be mounted in a genuine democracy, or a genuine republic.

Cuba, on the other hand, has never invaded another country. It has only used its defence forces to defend its own people or to support others under attack, such as defending the Angolan and Namibian people from the apartheid South African army, in the 1980s.

Cuba has used its world class health sector to assist other countries. While the US sends thousands of troops to other countries, Cuba sends thousands of doctors. Further, more than 20,000 foreign students are studying medicine in Cuba, on fully-funded Cuban scholarships. This includes nearly 100 US students. This is one more reason why, if the word is to have any meaning, Cuba is a democracy and the US is not.

Source: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=5609

Source: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=5609

You just love that article, don't you? That's 4 times now you've cut and pasted it.

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/search.php?searchid=903251

Oh look. Yet another BS post from AP. Cuba a Democracy? *dies of laughter*

Fidel who is supposed to be recovering in a private and secret location is never shown in public for over a year and a half, letters from Fidel are read on Cuban TV, articles from Fidel are published in Granma, gets nominated for parliment and will ( or probably ) be elected to some government position.

Fidel says this and that and they never show him in public for over a year and a half, just in videos, he must have died or is very sick, what do you all think?

Will Fidel ever be seen in public again?

When?

Fidel who is supposed to be recovering in a private and secret location is never shown in public for over a year and a half, letters from Fidel are read on Cuban TV, articles from Fidel are published in Granma, gets nominated for parliment and will ( or probably ) be elected to some government position.

Fidel says this and that and they never show him in public for over a year and a half, just in videos, he must have died or is very sick, what do you all think?

Will Fidel ever be seen in public again?

When?

Oh wow, you're back again, it's like the slightest mention of Castro and Cuba brings you out of nowhere, bad grammar, spelling and all. Seriously, are you like a Cuba Study Group macro or something?

Oh wow, you're back again, it's like the slightest mention of Castro and Cuba brings you out of nowhere, bad grammar, spelling and all. Seriously, are you like a Cuba Study Group macro or something?

And this from a guy who claims that Cuba is a democracy whereas the US is not.

And this from a guy who claims that Cuba is a democracy whereas the US is not.
You probably should revise you're knowledge of what you consider democracy to be (actually don't revise at all, you're definition is already a revision, mine is the original form). Capitalism represents dictatorship because the means of productive forces are in the hands of a minority, while in communism they are controlled by the people as a whole. 'Liberal democracy' is simply an attempt by the bourgeois to give the people a little bit more political power to keep them sated while controlling the productive economy, class struggle 101 basically.

Just to get our definitions correct to avoid further confusion, when I say democracy I mean true majoritarian equality (as the proper literal democracy is) and you mean capitalist dictatorship of production.

You probably should revise you're knowledge of what you consider democracy to be (actually don't revise at all, you're definition is already a revision, mine is the original form). Capitalism represents dictatorship because the means of productive forces are in the hands of a minority, while in communism they are controlled by the people as a whole. 'Liberal democracy' is simply an attempt by the bourgeois to give the people a little bit more political power to keep them sated while controlling the productive economy, class struggle 101 basically.

Just to get our definitions correct to avoid further confusion, when I say democracy I mean true majoritarian equality (as the proper literal democracy is) and you mean capitalist dictatorship of production.

Now I know why I never placed you on ignore. Its because you make my life so entertaining. When you actually have facts, let me know.

(link (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/world/20071218-castro-cuba-power-letter-ailing-leaders.html))

He's a bit late.

You probably should revise you're knowledge of what you consider democracy to be (actually don't revise at all, you're definition is already a revision, mine is the original form). Capitalism represents dictatorship because the means of productive forces are in the hands of a minority, while in communism they are controlled by the people as a whole. 'Liberal democracy' is simply an attempt by the bourgeois to give the people a little bit more political power to keep them sated while controlling the productive economy, class struggle 101 basically.

Just to get our definitions correct to avoid further confusion, when I say democracy I mean true majoritarian equality (as the proper literal democracy is) and you mean capitalist dictatorship of production.

In Soviet Russia, proletariat exploit YOU!!

Source: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=5609

Why do you do this? Citing a source is to establish facts held in common, as a basis for debate. NOT TO MAKE US READ SOMETHING.

Put the opinion first, though. Discrediting your own opinion by showing the faulty facts you will rely on later is ... just plain dumb. You don't win a paper hat, let alone a thread that way.

EDIT: That quote from BadIOU in your sig is a stunning piece of doublethink. A ringing disendorsement of Marxism!
"Think like this, so you won't understand anything. For the struggle!"

============

In Soviet Russia, proletariat exploit YOU!!

Yeah, I should lighten up. Think I'll go kill something ... starting with weeds.

"The US has run a powerful and illegal economic blockade against Cuba for almost 50 years"
Since you always want to be so precise about definitions: the US only had Cuba under BLOCKADE for a couple days, in October 1962; for 48 years the US has had Cuba under EMBARGO. A "blockade" is when you not only do not send ships there yourself, but also attempt to sink, board, or otherwise stop ships from other countries that go there. There is nothing remotely "illegal" about an embargo: no country is under the slightest obligation to trade with any other country. Hoxha's Albania, for example, embargoed most countries on the planet.

Now I know why I never placed you on ignore. Its because you make my life so entertaining. When you actually have facts, let me know.
Facts meaning running through you're bourgeois filter? Nice how you can't actually respond to any of my points, I think that says alot about you either way.

"Facts meaning running through you're bourgeois filter? "
This sentence does not even parse properly. And you should learn the distinction between "you're" (a contraction for "you are") and "your" (a possessive pronoun).

"Facts meaning running through you're bourgeois filter? "
This sentence does not even parse properly. And you should learn the distinction between "you're" (a contraction for "you are") and "your" (a possessive pronoun).
How about you be quiet, you obviously have nil to contribute except incessant nitpicking and stupidity.

My contribution to you is to point out that some of your factual claims are mistaken, some of your sentences incoherent, and some of your usages ungrammatical, all of which help to create the impression that, how can I put this politely? you should not be too quick to call other people stupid.

*puts hand up*

I'm bourgeois. I own a means of production. This here computer, with which I steal the labour of hard working NSGers and extract value from it.

*stands against wall*

*puts hand up*

I'm bourgeois. I own a means of production. This here computer, with which I steal the labour of hard working NSGers and extract value from it.

*stands against wall*
Not exactly what you're talking about, but I'll just let you're lack of knowledge speak for itself.

Not exactly what you're talking about, but I'll just let your lack of knowledge speak for itself.

I'll let the fact that you were corrected about the use of the contraction for "you are" only half an hour ago, but spent your time dissing the person who corrected you instead of correcting your own grammar ... speak for itself.

Let's look at Eureka Australis's contribution.

Source: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=5609

Interesting article. EA, you did not write it.
That makes it cut-and-paste spam. Sorry, that's just what we call it here.

===========

Fidel who is supposed to be recovering in a private and secret location is never shown in public for over a year and a half, letters from Fidel are read on Cuban TV, articles from Fidel are published in Granma, gets nominated for parliment and will ( or probably ) be elected to some government position.

Fidel says this and that and they never show him in public for over a year and a half, just in videos, he must have died or is very sick, what do you all think?

Will Fidel ever be seen in public again?

When?

Oh wow, you're back again, it's like the slightest mention of Castro and Cuba brings you out of nowhere, bad grammar, spelling and all. Seriously, are you like a Cuba Study Group macro or something?

100% ad hominem. No effort whatsoever to address the content of LHC's post, which is ON-TOPIC.
You also (LOL) criticize LHC's grammar and spelling.

=============

And this from a guy who claims that Cuba is a democracy whereas the US is not.

You probably should revise you're knowledge of what you consider democracy to be (actually don't revise at all, you're definition is already a revision, mine is the original form). Capitalism represents dictatorship because the means of productive forces are in the hands of a minority, while in communism they are controlled by the people as a whole. 'Liberal democracy' is simply an attempt by the bourgeois to give the people a little bit more political power to keep them sated while controlling the productive economy, class struggle 101 basically.

Content at last! Is it that Corny ad hominemed you, leaving no tricky "debating" stuff to do, that gave you this opening to go into ideological mode?
Democracy: "I know the true definition, yours is skewed." Pah.
Capitalism is dictatorship: How are the means of production controlled by "the people as a whole"? By Soviets? Worker's collectives? And how are decisions made within these controlling bodies, if you reject democracy in toto? If you want out of Capitalism, buy yourself some land and start subsistence farming. Capitalism makes your life and my life a fuck sight easier, and you're right that it buys our allegience -- it makes a damn good offer, refuse it if you want.
Class struggle 101: I must have missed that class. I wred Marx years ago, and Feurbach and so on ... and Marx's delineation of a class which owns and another which has no option but to sell its labour had some validity, back then. He couldn't properly define a "class" though, the stuff about Historical inevitability was bunk, and his guesses about the future have been shown to be laughably wrong. Wanna own the means of production? Well, instead of installing a swimming pool, go buy some shares. It's that easy!

Just to get our definitions correct to avoid further confusion, when I say democracy I mean true majoritarian equality (as the proper literal democracy is) and you mean capitalist dictatorship of production.

"Demo-cracy." Rule by the people. "Majoritarian" = "tyranny of the majority" right? You want a government elected by a majority of constituencies, with power unfettered by anything but government? Like, er ... reality?

===============

Facts meaning running through you're bourgeois filter? Nice how you can't actually respond to any of my points, I think that says alot about you either way.

"Facts meaning running through you're bourgeois filter? "
This sentence does not even parse properly. And you should learn the distinction between "you're" (a contraction for "you are") and "your" (a possessive pronoun).

How about you be quiet, you obviously have nil to contribute except incessant nitpicking and stupidity.

When you grow up a bit, you will see that deliberately cultivating hostility in prospective opponents is a spectacularly dumb thing to do. You will be rewarded with disregard by those who could teach you something, even as you attract shallow nitpickers like shit attracts flies.

And before you point to my mockery of you (the "I'm a bourgeois" comment) as hypocrisy, I will say that my mockery was funny, and yours was not. Claiming that the reason an opponent does not see things your way is because of a "bourgeois filter" is neither funny nor explanatory. Can you possibly pretend that Corneliu2 will look at his own way of thinking and say "OMG, I have a bourgeois filter! And I never even knew!"

You know what I don't like about your posts? I'm a leftist. I believe in whatever means will allow people (self-empowered, though, not uplifted by the dead hand of Marxism or empowered by some miracle of historical inevitability) to claim for themselves their autonomy, from whatever forces offer to mediate it for them and take a cut of it in the process. Whether that be governments, it be cultural leaders, or it be capitalists.

And I want that because I love change. Change in society opens many opportunities for a free thinker like myself -- opportunities not for glory, not for personal gratification, but opportunities to change. Changing oneself is harder than it appears to a young person, and it can be done only in interaction with the rest of the world, with the Other. A rigid society (including any utopia) makes that almost impossible.

You just make a mockery of that, with your ideological cant. THINK FOR YOURSELF, man!

And as to your destructive tendencies -- duh. What is injured, heals harder than before, like scar tissue. No! Grow, build on what exists -- the new growth, the growing tips of society, is where you yourself can grow and change the fastest. Get your head out of the factories of past centuries, get your fist out of that clench! DO NOT waste your youth refighting the Russian Revolution!

I'll need 25,000 loyal troops, several wings of B-52 bombers, one million copies of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy', and 50,000 metric tons of custard. *nod*
I'm in...what kind of ammo should I pack?

Hell, I'll do it for a sandwich, but it better be something good....like a panini, or rueben....extra krout plz!





damn I'm hungry....

I had a Cuban teacher who told me that if fair and free elections were held, Castro would likely win, although marginally. She said that Castro's popularity has dwindled with the younger generations because they weren't around to see what pre-revolution Cuba was like. Sure, Castro's Cuba and himself have flaws but its much better than it was before. Thats what makes him still very popular with older Cubans and unpopular with younger, idealistic Cubans.

Well put.

Good.

The country has fantastic assets in world renowned cigars and rum, an educated population, and a strategic location. They should be doing great, and the main thing holding them back is not dictatorship but the pig-headed US trade embargo.

Without Castro, the ghost of US/Cuba conflict could be laid to rest. He's a symbol of that, just as Arafat was for Israel/Palestine.

Doesn't mean it's all his fault -- a new leader would hold out at least the hope of change in relations with the US. Stand down, Fidel!

I don't think the US will be willing to talk to Raoul's administration. At least, the Bush administration won't. Judging from an article provided in another thread, Hilary "I'm more anti-communist than you!" Clinton wouldn't either.

Well even if their are revisionist elements in the CCP, which I doubt their are since Castro claimed he purged them all during the 70's (the whole Criticism and Self Criticism process), I don't think they would at all be emboldened by historical experiences. Revisionism in China caused a socialist uprising in Tienanmen and mass poverty, it caused economic destruction in the former USSR - including in some cases complete social breakdown, wars with millions dead, Russia still I believe has a declining population, not to mention the basket case the Eastern bloc after Western capitalists were finished raping it near dead after the wholesale theft (oh sorry privatization) of the country.

"The US has run a powerful and illegal economic blockade against Cuba for almost 50 years"
Since you always want to be so precise about definitions: the US only had Cuba under BLOCKADE for a couple days, in October 1962; for 48 years the US has had Cuba under EMBARGO. A "blockade" is when you not only do not send ships there yourself, but also attempt to sink, board, or otherwise stop ships from other countries that go there. There is nothing remotely "illegal" about an embargo: no country is under the slightest obligation to trade with any other country. Hoxha's Albania, for example, embargoed most countries on the planet.

Shhhh....he doesn't understand the difference nor cares for facts.

Facts meaning running through you're bourgeois filter? Nice how you can't actually respond to any of my points, I think that says alot about you either way.

HAHAHA!! WOW!! You just keep getting funnier and funnier.

"Dying man admits he's dying, mixed feelings ensue"

I lol'd:D

Well even if their are revisionist elements in the CCP, which I doubt their are since Castro claimed he purged them all during the 70's (the whole Criticism and Self Criticism process), I don't think they would at all be emboldened by historical experiences. Revisionism in China caused a socialist uprising in Tienanmen and mass poverty, it caused economic destruction in the former USSR - including in some cases complete social breakdown, wars with millions dead, Russia still I believe has a declining population, not to mention the basket case the Eastern bloc after Western capitalists were finished raping it near dead after the wholesale theft (oh sorry privatization) of the country.

Good. Massively contradictory within the one post, but some signs of free thinking there.

Is it out of the question that Deng Xiaoping and Michael Gorbachev were CIA employees? That they rose to the top positions -- with talent admittedly -- with the intelligence information of foreign powers? Most notably, the USA ... but more than that, with the carefully directed assistance of of other CIA employees?
Were simple beaurocrats of a simpler system, that of "jail the dissenters," easy pickings for a more sophisticated system, that of "manufacture consent"? Does democracy prosper by making us fools, or by making our leaders and functionaries more cunning?

I put this before you in the reckless way you threw out the post I quote. It is most likely wrong, but a heroic guess can have surprising consequences!

HAHAHA!! WOW!! You just keep getting funnier and funnier.

Between Us, Mine Pwns.

I don't think the US will be willing to talk to Raoul's administration. At least, the Bush administration won't. Judging from an article provided in another thread, Hillary "I'm more anti-communist than you!" Clinton wouldn't either.

Several assumptions there. Not my problem.

The persistence of Fidel gives any US admin an excuse to put off the only reasonable decision.

Reconciliation with Cuba would benefit the US. But Florida and their electoral college votes hang in the balance.

After the US election, Fidel standing down would attract attention to the utter irrationality of the US government enforced embargo. Cuba is not North Korea, it really isn't.

I nominate Judge Alex Ferrer (http://www.judgealex.com/) for President of Cuba. He's pretty fair and he'll make Cuba a better nation than it is now.

The persistence of Fidel gives any US admin an excuse to put off the only reasonable decision.

Reconciliation with Cuba would benefit the US. But Florida and their electoral college votes hang in the balance.

After the US election, Fidel standing down would attract attention to the utter irrationality of the US government enforced embargo. Cuba is not North Korea, it really isn't.

I believe the real gripe that the USA has with Cuba is that the Cuban government demands that all business done with Cuba be done according to Cuban terms. This policy will not change with Fidel Castro's death. However, since the US embargo has been sold along the lines that it's all Castro's fault, the US government may find itself under pressure to end the embargo after Castro dies. This will mean that there will bo no more US embargo, and Cuba will have emerged the victor in the battle over control of the Cuban economy.

I predict that the US government will simply pull another reason out of its neo-liberal ass to continue the embargo.

I believe the real gripe that the USA has with Cuba is that the Cuban government demands that all business done with Cuba be done according to Cuban terms. This policy will not change with Fidel Castro's death. However, since the US embargo has been sold along the lines that it's all Castro's fault, the US government may find itself under pressure to end the embargo after Castro dies. This will mean that there will bo no more US embargo, and Cuba will have emerged the victor in the battle over control of the Cuban economy.

I predict that the US government will simply pull another reason out of its neo-liberal ass to continue the embargo.

Well foreign investment or ownership in Cuba isn't allowed, nor is private wealth, so it's not really like the US would be doing anything (if the embargo was dropped) other than a simple import-export relationships, which isn't exactly strange.

Source: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=5609

Congratulations on making the worst and most hilarious post in NS history. Here is your medal.

At least include some commentary of your own instead of simply posting from a site which has opinion in its name. Try using that source on a research paper and see what grade a professor will give you.

Congratulations on making the worst and most hilarious post in NS history. Here is your medal.

At least include some commentary of your own instead of simply posting from a site which has opinion in its name. Try using that source on a research paper and see what grade a professor will give you.

Ahhh the Zionist troll reappears again, how about you go back to you're WB settlement already.

Ahhh the Zionist troll reappears again, how about you go back to you're WB settlement already.

Please try to debate with facts here instead of flames.

----------------

If I may add something to this debate, if Cuba was as good as people like you say, then we wouldn't people risking their lives to flee on unstable makeshift dingies.

There is a reason that Cuba's baseball team needs to have guards travel with them when they go to places like Mexico. The guards aren't there to protect them. They are there to imprison them. It really speaks volume about the quality of life in Cuba.

All of the above are things called facts. They aren't the ideological vitriol you spew.

Please try to debate with facts here instead of flames.

----------------

If I may add something to this debate, if Cuba was as good as people like you say, then we wouldn't people risking their lives to flee on unstable makeshift dingies.

There is a reason that Cuba's baseball team needs to have guards travel with them when they go to places like Mexico. The guards aren't there to protect them. They are there to imprison them. It really speaks volume about the quality of life in Cuba.

All of the above are things called facts. They aren't the ideological vitriol you spew.

And still you support you're position with no facts but right-wing garbage. The Cubans in Miami live in far worst conditions mind you.

And still you support you're position with no facts but right-wing garbage. The Cubans in Miami live in far worst conditions mind you.
If it is so bad, then people would not risk their lives to go out in dingies to cross about a hundred miles of turbulent ocean. I don't see people in America doing the reverse to enter Cuba. That fact alone speaks volumes about quality of life in each nation.

My facts aren't right wing garbage, they are part of a reality which conflicts with the ideological bubble constructed around yourself.

Now please go back to school and learn something about macroeconomics so you can see how a command economy like Cuba's is uber fail.

If it is so bad, then people would not risk their lives to go out in dingies to cross about a hundred miles of turbulent ocean. I don't see people in America doing the reverse to enter Cuba. That fact alone speaks volumes about quality of life in each nation.

My facts aren't right wing garbage, they are part of a reality which conflicts with the ideological bubble constructed around yourself.

Now please go back to school and learn something about macroeconomics so you can see how a command economy like Cuba's is uber fail.
Lol IDF, using bourgeois economic theory to prove a bourgeois statement is uber fail I would day. As for the so called people fleeing Cuba, they are just capitalists and traitors, the real patriotic Cubans are those that stayed to build a great socialist society while the other stayed in Batistaland to run drugs and crime rings. As Castro said, 'they did not embrace the spirit of the revolution, we did not need them, we no not want them'. God knows why anyone want would thousands of Tony Montana's running around in their country.

And still you support you're position with no facts but right-wing garbage. The Cubans in Miami live in far worst conditions mind you.

Oh brother. EA? This is by far the most ignorant post in this thread. Judging by your past posts, that's no small feat. It is not right wing garbage, it is 100% fact. Hell, even during the 1996 games, the Cubans warned of defecting and had guards there as well to make sure they didn't defect.

You sir, have just been served.

Lol IDF, using bourgeois economic theory to prove a bourgeois statement is uber fail I would day. As for the so called people fleeing Cuba, they are just capitalists and traitors, the real patriotic Cubans are those that stayed to build a great socialist society while the other stayed in Batistaland to run drugs and crime rings. As Castro said, 'they did not embrace the spirit of the revolution, we did not need them, we no not want them'. God knows why anyone want would thousands of Tony Montana's running around in their country.

Oh brother. This is so full of errors, it's not even worth my effort to hammer it. It is to easy.

Reconciliation with Cuba would benefit the US. But Florida and their electoral college votes hang in the balance.

We could just boot Florida out of the Union, something I've advocated for years.

There is a reason that Cuba's baseball team needs to have guards travel with them when they go to places like Mexico. The guards aren't there to protect them. They are there to imprison them.


Proof? And no, presence of guards isn't enough proof for your statement.

Proof? And no, presence of guards isn't enough proof for your statement.
I wouldn't bother, it sounds like totally BS to me, which is a normal thing with far-right loons like IDF lurking around.

Oh brother. This is so full of errors, it's not even worth my effort to hammer it. It is to easy.

That's because you have nothing to say, so go back to you're cave troll.

If it is so bad, then people would not risk their lives to go out in dingies to cross about a hundred miles of turbulent ocean. I don't see people in America doing the reverse to enter Cuba. That fact alone speaks volumes about quality of life in each nation.

Using this as a method of comparison of the superiority of the form of economic method is a fallacy. Economic immigrants, those who immigrate for greater economic opportunity, will always migrate to countries whose economies are moving faster than their home country. While economic method does factor into the decision, it is not the sole reason. Resource scarcity, infrastructure and standards of living are all additional factors that make or break that decision.

Take Mexico for example. Many Mexicans immigrate to America for jobs. Yet I am fairly sure you will not be able to label Mexico as having a command economy.

I wouldn't bother, it sounds like totally BS to me,

Look in the mirror before you start throwing stones Andaras Prime. Your rabid flinging of literary feces is a disservice to civility.

Lol IDF, using bourgeois economic theory to prove a bourgeois statement is uber fail I would day. As for the so called people fleeing Cuba, they are just capitalists and traitors, the real patriotic Cubans are those that stayed to build a great socialist society while the other stayed in Batistaland to run drugs and crime rings. As Castro said, 'they did not embrace the spirit of the revolution, we did not need them, we no not want them'. God knows why anyone want would thousands of Tony Montana's running around in their country.

I don't see any socialists jumping on a boat and moving to Cuba.

Click Stand;13306777']I don't see any socialists jumping on a boat and moving to Cuba.

Actually you wouldn't know though would you? You just said that because you randomly thought of it, without proof or anything to evidence what you have said. Nor obviously do you understand of the international brigades which go to Cuba, and international effort of Cuban doctors and permaculture experts around the region to promote socialist local sustainable living etc. Fool.

I was going to post this, but was too lazy. Poor guy is too sick to remain in power. He is awesome beyond reason.

Have to agree with this post.

Click Stand;13306777']I don't see any socialists jumping on a boat and moving to Cuba.

First off, I WOULD... but I intend to fly, later in life, depending on who gets power after Castro.

That's because you have nothing to say, so go back to you're cave troll.

LOL. You are one funny individual. I just choose not to do so because I realized that it would be pointless to point out the errors from one so brainwashed, its hilerious.

Actually you wouldn't know though would you? You just said that because you randomly thought of it, without proof or anything to evidence what you have said. Nor obviously do you understand of the international brigades which go to Cuba, and international effort of Cuban doctors and permaculture experts around the region to promote socialist local sustainable living etc. Fool.

That's why Cuban Doctors are also defecting:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/25/MNGN4O8FAC1.DTL

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/02/AR2007020200987.html

That's why Cuban Doctors are also defecting:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/25/MNGN4O8FAC1.DTL

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/02/AR2007020200987.html

Lol, keep quoting bias sources please.

Lol, keep quoting bias sources please.

Oh brother.

http://canf1.org/artman/publish/events/CANF_raises_funds_for_defecting_Cuban.shtml

http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=981

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7492240

face it AP. Your toast on the doctors issue.

Lol, keep quoting bias sources please.

Every source is biased and counter-revolutionary in your green skied world. Face it AP. No one buys your act here. Your credibility is zilch. Even devout socialists try to distance themselves from you.

Proof? And no, presence of guards isn't enough proof for your statement.

The article is one which costs money to retrieve. If you want to find it yourself, it was printed in the Chicago Tribune either the day of or a few days before game 1 of the 2005 World Series. The article was about how Cuba responded to Jose Contreras's 2002 defection by having guards travel with the baseball team and ensure that players could not flee. They were basically made prisoners in their hotels.

The article also noted that the Cuban government was threatening to throw anyone who watched or listened to the 2005 World Series in jail because both El Duque and Contreras were on the Sox.

Lol IDF, using bourgeois economic theory to prove a bourgeois statement is uber fail I would day. As for the so called people fleeing Cuba, they are just capitalists and traitors, the real patriotic Cubans are those that stayed to build a great socialist society while the other stayed in Batistaland to run drugs and crime rings. As Castro said, 'they did not embrace the spirit of the revolution, we did not need them, we no not want them'. God knows why anyone want would thousands of Tony Montana's running around in their country.

AP you are hilarious. Prove to me that all of the Cubans in Miami are Tony Montanas. They are people who feared for their lives as Castro and his men executed 10,000s who had committed no other crime than being successful individuals.

Stop throwing around words when you don't understand their definition or just think it makes you sound smart. I've mentioned this before, but you're like a little kid who just learned a new word and has to use it as much as possible to try to impress others and make your arguments appear to be based in intelligent.

(link (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/world/20071218-castro-cuba-power-letter-ailing-leaders.html))

When I read this story I was reminded of a poem by the Victorian poet James Thomson, "L'Ancien Regime, or, The Good Old Rule". Each stanza but the last starts with the question, "Who has a thing to bring/For a gift to our lord the king". The last stanza reads:

"Has anyone yet a thing
For a gift to our lord the king?
The country gave him a tomb,
A magnificent sleeping-room;
And for this it obtained some rest,
Clear riddance of many a pest,
And a hope which it much enjoyed
That the throne would continue void--
A tomb is the very best thing
For a gift to our lord the king."

Speed the day when the Cuban people give such a gift to El Jefe, may he roast in peace.

Sorry guys, it's class warfare, and in war you kill the enemy.

AP you are hilarious. Prove to me that all of the Cubans in Miami are Tony Montanas. They are people who feared for their lives as Castro and his men executed 10,000s who had committed no other crime than being successful individuals.

Stop throwing around words when you don't understand their definition or just think it makes you sound smart. I've mentioned this before, but you're like a little kid who just learned a new word and has to use it as much as possible to try to impress others and make your arguments appear to be based in intelligent.

I'd guess he's either a silly little boy who's read too many leftie tracts, or in grad school. Then again, the two aren't mutually exclusive.

I used to live in South Florida and knew quite a few Cubans, and you're spot on with your comment above.

Sorry guys, it's class warfare, and in war you kill the enemy.

That is just disgusting. Would you kill me? I'm a capitalist.

That is just disgusting. Would you kill me? I'm a capitalist.

Look at it this way: he's just given us the go-ahead to whack every red we can line up in our gun sights :mp5:

Look at it this way: he's just given us the go-ahead to whack every red we can line up in our gun sights :mp5:

I think killing in AP's book is only OK if it is ebil capitalists and the J00z who fund them.

I think killing in AP's book is only OK if it is ebil capitalists and the J00z who fund them.

of course, see, violence is fine, when you're an ebil capitalist j00. Because then, you're not a murderer, you're a "freedom fighter"

Sorry guys, it's class warfare, and in war you kill the enemy.
That's an awfully bloody sentiment...

I'll need 25,000 loyal troops, several wings of B-52 bombers, one million copies of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy', and 50,000 metric tons of custard. *nod*

for the troops we'll recruit in ireland and boston, the irish are some of the toghest fighters around and i can supply the custard, but... i want to be the military chief

We could just boot Florida out of the Union, something I've advocated for years.
:mp5::mp5:
ya or just give it and new york to israel since lots of people there are jewish*this is a joke option*

That is just disgusting. Would you kill me? I'm a capitalist.

meh i'd kill you either way, i'm an equal oppurtunity killer

Look at it this way: he's just given us the go-ahead to whack every red we can line up in our gun sights :mp5:

are there any left? :confused:

That's an awfully bloody sentiment...

really cold of you AP

I'll need 25,000 loyal troops, several wings of B-52 bombers, one million copies of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy', and 50,000 metric tons of custard. *nod*

I'm in Goofballs but wont we also need one milliion copies of the rest of the series?????:mp5:

Look at it this way: he's just given us the go-ahead to whack every red we can line up in our gun sights :mp5:

I'm in Goofballs but wont we also need one milliion copies of the rest of the series?????:mp5:

You can't deliver custard with an AK / mp5.

:mad::gundge: Custard is green isn't it? Then what this stuff I just ate a bowl of?

You can't deliver custard with an AK / mp5.


Says you. A bit burnt, smelling of cordite maybe. But it's still custard.

Says you. A bit burnt, smelling of cordite maybe. But it's still custard.

*picks broken teeth and custard out of mouth*

You FROZE that, didn't you? Yeeuch!

:gundge:

I hereby nominate the non-lethal, rather comical gun smilie:
:gundge:

as the symbol for "Whatever Lunatic Goofballs would say if I was him"

... and we should lobby to have it made Custard-yellow instead of toxic-green.

... and in a nod to the subject:

"I had to say something to strike him pretty weird,
so I yelled "I love Fidel Castro, and his BEARD!" "

Sorry guys, it's class warfare, and in war you kill the enemy.

:headbang:

I'd guess he's either a silly little boy who's read too many leftie tracts, or in grad school. Then again, the two aren't mutually exclusive.

Careful about what you say about Grad School New Mitanni. I'm going into grad school and I'm no where near being a communist nor a socialist.

That is just disgusting. Would you kill me? I'm a capitalist.

If it is class warfare and thus we are to kill the enemy, does that mean we can whack him as well? I mean, that is what he is saying.

If it is class warfare and thus we are to kill the enemy, does that mean we can whack him as well? I mean, that is what he is saying.

I apologize on behalf of all leftists. Sometimes the urge for social change is no more than a yearning to change oneself. It can be embarrassingly self-destructive.

Your lot have their own problem, an urge for stability and preservation. I don't have that (yet, anyhow) so I won't comment.

I do wonder (being well drunk) where these principles come from. I will quote an adage I hope will please everyone:

"If you aren't a socialist at twenty, you have no heart. If you're still a socialist at fifty, you have no brain."

I apologize on behalf of all leftists. Sometimes the urge for social change is no more than a yearning to change oneself. It can be embarrassingly self-destructive.

No need to apologize Nobel Hobos. We all know most leftists despise AP on these forums so its ok :)

Your lot have their own problem, an urge for stability and preservation. I don't have that (yet, anyhow) so I won't comment.

My lot? I do not have a lot :D

I do wonder (being well drunk) where these principles come from. I will quote an adage I hope will please everyone:

"If you aren't a socialist at twenty, you have no heart. If you're still a socialist at fifty, you have no brain."

Nice Churchill quote. I'm not a socialist and I'm 25 and I have a heart. I had a heart at age 20 as well so I guess this quote does not go for everyone :D

No need to apologize Nobel Hobos. We all know most leftists despise AP on these forums so its ok :)
I'm still not entirely convinced he's not part-troll.

...so I guess this quote does not go for everyone :D
I bloody well hope not!

Well foreign investment or ownership in Cuba isn't allowed, nor is private wealth, so it's not really like the US would be doing anything (if the embargo was dropped) other than a simple import-export relationships, which isn't exactly strange.

For someone who so staunchly supports leftist governments in latin America, you seem to be oddly ignorant of the history of the USA and Latin America. If you werent so ignorant, you would realise that it would be very strange for the USA to have a simple import-export relationship with a developing nation in Latin America.

Click Stand;13306777']I don't see any socialists jumping on a boat and moving to Cuba.

In 1973, many Chilean socialists did just that.

That's why Cuban Doctors are also defecting:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/25/MNGN4O8FAC1.DTL

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/02/AR2007020200987.html

Your articles prove merely that they are defecting, not why they are defecting. It could simply be that Cuba has a surplus of doctors, and consequently, they don't get paid much.

If that were true, Castro would have been overthrown a long time ago.

Kind of hard when the civilian populace is disarmed and the secret police are all-pervasive.

Ahhh the Zionist troll reappears again, how about you go back to you're WB settlement already.

There's a case of the pot calling the kettle black if I ever saw one.

Kind of hard when the civilian populace is disarmed and the secret police are all-pervasive.

I keep noticing this meme on the internet that Cuba has strict gun controls, yet this does not accord with my personal experiences in Cuba. Is there a reliable source for information on gun control in Cuba that you could share with us?

I would just like to know if the Cubans with guns that I met were doing so illegally or what.

:headbang:

i sympathise with you *puts hand on shoulder*

"If you aren't a socialist at twenty, you have no heart. If you're still a socialist at thirty, you have no brain."

Fixed.

And when I was 20 I had a heart. It went out to the victims of socialism.

"If you aren't a socialist at twenty, you have no heart. If you're still a socialist at fifty, you have no brain."

AP is probably around 20 and he certainly lacks a heart. Perhaps we should send him off to see the Wizard so that he may receive one.

In 1973, many Chilean socialists did just that.


Ahh yes 1973, but that was back in the good ol' days when Cuba was full of amusement and wonder. Going there was like going down the stairs at christmas eve and opening up your first present, and you even had a leader that looked like Santa.

I fail to see the point of my own post but I also don't feel like making up a real one.

I keep noticing this meme on the internet that Cuba has strict gun controls, yet this does not accord with my personal experiences in Cuba. Is there a reliable source for information on gun control in Cuba that you could share with us?

I would just like to know if the Cubans with guns that I met were doing so illegally or what.

Google is your friend.

Google is your friend.

The only thing I can find is a whole bunch of anti-gun control blogs saying that the USA shouldn't have gun control because Cuba has it, but no apparent evidence for such an assertion. I was thinking that since you made the claim, you would have a source, as I was unable to find one.