Expressions of sympathy have poured in from around the world from fellow murderous dictators and fellow climate warriors like Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, for the death of the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on the death of former Cuban President Fidel Castro:
“It is with deep sorrow that I learned today of the death of Cuba’s longest serving President.
“Fidel Castro was a larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century. A legendary revolutionary and orator, Mr. Castro made significant improvements to the education and healthcare of his island nation.
“While a controversial figure, both Mr. Castro’s supporters and detractors recognized his tremendous dedication and love for the Cuban people who had a deep and lasting affection for “el Comandante”.
“I know my father was very proud to call him a friend and I had the opportunity to meet Fidel when my father passed away. It was also a real honour to meet his three sons and his brother President Raúl Castro during my recent visit to Cuba.
“On behalf of all Canadians, Sophie and I offer our deepest condolences to the family, friends and many, many supporters of Mr. Castro. We join the people of Cuba today in mourning the loss of this remarkable leader.”
President Obama’s eulogy was sympathetic, if a little less enthusiastic than Prime Minister Trudeau;
We know that this moment fills Cubans–in Cuba and in the United States–with powerful emotions, recalling the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation
Read more: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/president-obama-fidel-castro-death-170615139.html
Murderous Syrian tyrant Bashar Assad joins Prime Minister Trudeau and President Obama in mourning the Cuban climate warrior.
… Syria President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday hailed Fidel Castro’s “legendary resistance” to the embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba in a statement marking the death of the revolutionary leader. “The great leader Fidel Castro led his people’s and his country’s struggle against imperialism and hegemony for decades,” Assad, whose government is facing US sanctions, said in a message of condolences.
“His resistance became legendary and inspired leaders and people all over the world,” he said in the letter addressed to Castro’s brother Raul, who is president of Cuba. “Cuba, a friendly country, was able thanks to its leaders to resist against the toughest sanctions and most unjust campaigns in our modern history,” Assad said, referring to the US embargo on the island. …
Fidel Castro’s brother Raul, the thug who inherited the Cuban dictatorship from his ailing brother, is committed to continuing Castro’s battle against Climate Change and any political dissidents, artists and homosexuals who have so far escaped Cuba’s brutal extra judiciary punishment of such offences.
Remarks by President Obama and President Raul Castro of Cuba in a Joint Press Conference
…
More broadly, we’re moving ahead with partnerships in health, science, and the environment. Just as Cubans and American medical teams have worked together in Haiti against cholera, and in West Africa against Ebola — and I want to give a special commendation to Cuban doctors who volunteered and took on some very tough assignments to save lives in West Africa in partnership with us and other nations. We very much appreciate the work that they did. Our medical professionals will now collaborate in new areas, preventing the spread of viruses like Zika and leading new research into cancer vaccines. Our governments will also work to protect the beautiful waters of this region that we share.
And as two countries threatened by climate change, I believe we can work together to protect communities and our low-lying coasts. And we’re inviting Cuba to join us and our Caribbean and Central American partners at this spring’s regional energy summit in Washington.
…
President Raul Castro on Climate Change;
President Raul Castro Warns on Consequences of Climate Change
Cuba´s President Raul Castro, denounced today here that the global temperature rise will compromise first, integrity and physical existence of many countries and island nations, and will produce serious consequences to the Third World.
Key Remarks of President Raul Castro at Rio+20
“Despite the milestone that marked the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, emissions of carbon dioxide increased by 38 percent between 1990 and 2009”, said Raul Castro speaking at the plenary session of the Summit United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio +20.
…
President Obama and President Raul Castro’s remarks echo Fidel Castro’s earlier commitment to fighting climate change in 2012.
Fidel Castro warns of climate change
Havana – Cuba’s iconic revolutionary Fidel Castro warned that the world was on an “inexorable” march into the abyss this year because of climate change and the threat of nuclear war.
In an article published on Thursday – Castro’s first since November 2011 – the 85-year-old retired leader also took aim at the United States and at gas shale “fracking”, a new source of fossil fuels condemned by environmentalists.
He did not, however, address rumours of his death, which were denied by an official Cuban blogger after they surfaced on Twitter earlier this week.
“Many dangers threaten us, but two of them, nuclear war and climate change, are decisive and are drifting further away from a solution,” he wrote in an article entitled “The March Towards the Abyss.”
…
Read more: http://www.news24.com/World/News/Fidel-Castro-warns-of-climate-change-20120106
Some Cuban exiles in Miami, who seem hung up on how many of their relatives and friends were brutalised and murdered by Castro and his thugs, are distracting attention away from Castro’s climate warrior legacy.
Castro was a mass murderer
President Obama said this about the death of Fidel Castro: “History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular character.”
And I say “Fidel Castro was a mass murderer who ordered the killing of thousands of innocent Cubans, in order to scare and control the rest of the Cuban population.”
He had a peaceful death, but in his final days he should have experienced a lot of suffering; he should have been dragged through the streets of Havana, like Mussolini in Italy, and then hanged.
…
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article117295703.html
President-elect Trump also criticised the Cuban dictator’s reign;
“Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights”
Read more: http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/11/26/eu-chief-juncker-praises-hero-fidel-castro/
Some critics have mocked Trudeau’s heartfelt eulogy for his fellow green on Twitter, completely ignoring Castro’s strong stand against global warming.
https://twitter.com/FowlCanuck/status/802592021131259904
It is with a heavy heart that we mourn the passing of Saddam Hussein. His advancements in chemical research live on. #trudeaueulogies
— The Count (@TheCountDM) November 26, 2016
Jack the Ripper was a permanent influence on the lives of many economically deprived White Chapel women. #trudeaueulogies
— Regulus de Leo (@RegulusdeLeo) November 26, 2016
https://twitter.com/Integralmathyt/status/802599390623899648
https://twitter.com/realMaxRenn/status/802608014842855424
https://twitter.com/RenegadeMinds/status/802607939617980416
https://twitter.com/TheC0zmo/status/802607935130046465
Despite the criticism, I’m confident that Fidel Castro will be remembered by the liberal elite as one of their own – someone who stopped at nothing to address the twin problems of overpopulation and carbon pollution, by murdering lots of people, especially people who disagreed with him, and by doing everything in his power to halt harmful economic growth, by shackling his country’s economy to the grinding misery of decades of communist stagnation.
But a President Hillary wouldn’t have done Fidel any favors,… cause apparently he didn’t ever
pay outdonate any money to hercriminal syndicatecharity foundation.The world’s
globalistssocialists are really showing their true colors as of late...Trump has set their world on fire, and they were too cheap to hire firefighters !
Firefighters hell…all they could afford was 3 guys and a keg of beer
Trump has done no such thing. The Blue Garbage Babies have set fire to the Coastal People’s Republics. After Jan 20 the Green Blob should start feeling the pain of starvation as their grant, subsidy, and mandate sustenance is withdrawn. There will be fires but they will be fires of panic and frustration in self destruction.
Yes the world is on fire with enthusiasm, by self-determinants, now amplified with the death of a tyrant. Death has a way with stopping tyrants.
Trudeau ( Canada’s progressive tyrant) is a pig. He is a pig, raised by pigs, empowered by pigs, and elected by pigs, the stupid, and the self interested. He has be caught in a serious pay to play scandal involving the Chinese. We’ll be able to soon say good-bye to yet another liberal pig.
Wasting beer on a fire? That’s downright criminal.
Me thinks he’s talking about . . used beer, Mark ; )
Hopefully they have the good sense to first filter the beer through their kidneys.
For the bien-pensants, Trump’s usurpation of the White House (Clexit) was the left hook, straight upside the jaw, in the right-left-right combo that is 2016 AD.
After Brexit and Clexit, the last thing they needed was news that el Comandante was dead and unceremoniously cremated.
BrExit + ClExit + CastrAtion = Annus Deplorabilis.
Oh great, another conspiracy theorist. Fact free and deeply ignorant, Donald Trump is your President
Yes, John–keep that head of yours shoulder deep in sand; spew that Liberal bilge you’ve swallowed by the gallon; enjoy lying to yourself until reality no longer defines your existence. If you work really, really hard, you’ll find it is YOU who is free of facts and so deeply ignorant that there’s no redemption; such is your downward spiral into irrelevancy.
Three cheers, John A for exposing denier ignorance. And here’s another ignoramus, Nikita Kruschev, with his cable to Castro in early November 1963:
‘In your cable of October 27th you proposed that we would be the first to carry out a nuclear strike against the enemy’s territory. Naturally, you understand where this would lead us. It would not be a simple strike, but the start of a thermonuclear world war……First of all, Cuba would have burned in the fires of war….without a doubt the Cuban people would have perished heroically’. (sic!) (sick!)
And yet another dodo, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevera on the missile crisis:
‘Here is an electrifying example of a people prepared to suffer nuclear immolation so that its ashes may serve as a foundation for new societies’
AS IF!! Pity old Fidel ain’t here to defend himself, eh?
Or – is it?
But a President Hillary wouldn’t have done Fidel any favors,…
====
Of course she would have…no different than Obama
The progressives (communists) in this country wanted to keep him propped up, just like the rest of the communists of the world…
To show the world how successful their agenda/ideology is……..
Look how they promote his/Cuba’s education, medical, etc….and ignore the firing squads, torture, prisons, oppression, neighborhood spies, lack of food, drugs, prostitution, etc on and on…everyone gets a rice cooker
And what do the same progressives/communists promote in this country?……education and medical
Teach them to read…so you can control what they read/think
…control their medical…and you’ve got them
Cuba Archive is dedicated to commemorating the people that Castro and his thug regime murdered during their 56-year and on-going reign of terror.
They feature pictures and biographies of the murdered. The preamble to their “Truth and Memory Project” says, “There is profound unawareness of the huge cost in lives of the Cuban Revolution. By gathering and telling the story of its victims, we hope that people and nations will understand the abhorrent nature of the Cuban regime and feel compelled to support the people of Cuba in attaining their rightful freedoms.” I’ve sent them support.
Castro’s 2001 statement to the Plenary Session of the 105th Conference of the Interparliamentary Union, in Havana, precedes the Truth and Memory preamble. He declares that no one in Cuba had ever been murdered or tortured. Just travel around Cuba and ask anyone.
I’m sure the secret police would be happy to lead the investigational tour.
Cuban’s medical system only worked well for the elite and those tourists who could afford to pay cash.
For the Cuban people it was a disaster. Patients were advised to bring sheets with them, as the hospitals were constantly short of basic supplies.
Latitude,
MarkW claims that “Cuban’s medical system only worked well for the elite.”
But as more details emerge of Castro’s final hours, the more we learn how badly it failed him in spite of all his power (or perhaps, ironically, because of it).
The old creep’s most trustworthy and Latin-America-literate obituary so far is at CN, highlights of which include:
_______________________________________
‘In an increasingly divided world, Fidel ruled for all Cubans—whoever they voted for’
Today, the island nation’s favorite son died doing what Cubans loved most: regaling them with an anecdote about his youthful adventures, which not only held a baseball stadium of working Cubans captive for three hours and counting, but seemed to be building up to a substantive point (something to do with either a new socialist ornithology or the end of the Studio System, according to those present).
Fidel’s penchant for dramatic mid-word silences (with which he regularly kept a crowd in suspense for 120 minutes or more) is thought to have delayed the diagnosis of death.
“At first we thought what everyone thought: Fidel is just pausing for effect,” said Dr. René Vallejo, one of the Revolutionary’s retinue of physicians, explaining why doctors had waited so long to approach the slumped-over figure.
“It was only after 7-and-a-half, 8 hours of this [reverent hush], with the first signs of rigor mortis, that we knew it was safe to interrupt.”
An epidemic of whooping and dancing—a normal reaction to bereavement in many cultures—spread outwards from Havana at the speed of rumor.
[…]
Party-controlled television stations have announced that the next 32 to 35 days of spontaneous popular solemnity will be overseen by a special “Party Planning Committee.”
Party organizers will release fireworks every night for the next 40 nights to remind Cubans to continue mourning.
Meanwhile […] residents of Miami, Florida are expected to keep reveling ’til dawn in sympathy with their cousins across the Gulf.
It is instructive to note that despite the Left’s fulsome praise of Cuba’s World class healthcare system, he had to import a Spanish surgeon to operate on his not-cancer.
Spanish Doctor: Fidel Castro Does Not Have Cancer
Published December 26, 2006 Associated Press
MADRID, Spain – A Spanish surgeon who flew to Cuba last week to help treat Fidel Castro on Tuesday denied reports that the Cuban leader was suffering from cancer and insisted that he was recovering slowly but progressively from a serious operation.
“While respecting confidentiality, I can tell you that President Castro is not suffering from any malignant sickness,” the Spanish doctor said, adding that he could not give precise details on the nature of his condition.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/12/26/spanish-doctor-fidel-castro-does-not-have-cancer.html
Nor was that the first time he had to avail himself of medical expertise from a filthy capitalist state, apparently.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/fidel/castro-health.htm
http://www.haciendapub.com/articles/fidel-castros-medical-care-socialized-cuban-paradise
“recognized his tremendous dedication and love for the Cuban people who had a deep and lasting affection for “el Comandante”.”
I have to say thats pushing things too far somewhat.
How is this for a suitable eulogy?.
” For these reasons, whilst many of us are far too decent to gloat the death of the man, we reserve the right to refuse mourning him as a national hero and work towards the day when we can burst champagne corks at the demise of his brutal legacy.”
Well – believe it or not this is part of a eulogy for Margaret Thatcher. http://www.scriptonitedaily.com/2013/04/08/the-alternative-eulogy-to-thatcher-dead-in-body-alive-in-spirit/
I think she was the best PM Britain had since Churchill and the only one ever to stand firm against the encroaching socialism.
It appears the communist element in Britain and around the world would disagree with me.
I guess this places Trudeau where he belongs 🙂
Cheers
Roger
http://www.thedemiseofchristchurch.com
Thanks Eric. Hard to express our disgust with our PM Trudeau. We have the worst imaginable “leaders” in Canada and Alberta at the moment. Not good times here. We must survive 3 more years of their brutal socialist dictatorships and absurd and immoral climate regulations that could potentially (quite literally) kill Alberta.
Trudeau, I am sure, is the laughing stock of most of the world’s leaders including socialists. An embarrassment to ALL reasonable Canadians.
Clive
Alberta
There are lots of people in Canada and America who lived in actual brutal socialist dictatorships. You should find some and talk to them. You need a sense of perspective.
As an example, consider the GDR. Nobody would dare express political opinions because the Stasi was probably using at least one member of your family as an informer.
Three years from now you get to vote and throw the bums out. Trudeau Jr. will go the same way as his father. We’re already hearing about Liberal fundraising scandals. Gott im Himmel, these people are stupid.
Canada just put an old woman in prison for disagreeing with the official holocaust story…
I think they understand brutal diktats well enough.
I assume you refer to Monika Schaefer. I can’t find a link that says she has actually been sentenced.
What I’m asking for is perspective. Things aren’t perfect. One of my former students attracted a lot of police attention because he was a radical. However, as far as I can tell, he was never actually charged and still walks the streets free. That wouldn’t have happened in the GDR or Soviet Union. He would have gone into something like Lubyanka. He would have been tortured. He would have been killed or sent to Siberia.
Calling Canada and America ‘brutal socialist dictatorships’ is just wrong. Calling them perfect would also be wrong. It’s all about perspective.
I agree with commieBob. “Brutal socialist dictatorships” is definately overstating the case. While these countries may be, or are, heading in that direction, there is little brutality at this point. Imprisioning people for saying things the government doesn’t like is wrong—public torture of these individuals is brutal. There is a difference, in spite of years of Progressives arguing that spanking and assault are the same thing. There are degrees and deliberately exaggerating does not help one’s cause.
I also live in Alberta. While the NDP are anti-Alberta, anti-personal freedoms, and is attempting to brain wash our children and bully parents, I think calling them ‘brutal socialist dictatorship’ is a little overboard.
PS, Dave: in Canada, our freedom of speech is much more limited than the US version. Hate speech is no allowed in Canada. The old woman may well have broken the law.
HI Jeff,
Per “Hate speech is not allowed in Canada” …
How does this work? I see some surprisingly nasty web comments on small dead animals and other Canadian sites; what does a person have to say to get the attention of the speech enforcers … is there a rule, a policy, or is it just that certain speech/commentary that gets enough hyped attention will be subject to enforcement action.
Hate speech is always defined as any speech the government disagrees with.
She may have broken the law, but it was an immoral law.
..notice how the communists have re-branded themselves as liberals/progressives…
and gotten away with it
They are not liberals or progressives…they are communists/fascists
News media, politicians, ‘activists’, etc
They are all telling on themselves now….pay attention
First thing they do is create chaos
I’ve seen a poster of Lenin with the red hammer and sickle and allegedly ‘progressive’ in Russian. I thought the ‘progressives’ began with Sanger and the ‘self-identified’ genetically elite. Eugenics and socialism/communism control of the ill-bred masses are the corner stones of the progressive movement and have been for over a century.
I’m not disagreeing with you, I just think the roots run deeper into the past.
+1 They’ve already completed the ‘divide and conquer’ in America.
Morning, Steve,
It would be interesting to trace the origins and evolution of ‘progressive’ as a political term. I suspect it goes way back before Sanger’s day. For example, I recently came across a similar term in Bancroft’s History of Mexico (vol XI) (my bold)
112 MAXIMILIAN, EMPEROR OF MEXICO.
fostered by the clergy, and manifested partly in flam
ing circulars against the French and their adherents
or tools. 81 It also caused a split among the conserva
tives into progressionists and retrogressionists, the lat
ter joined by the devout, and by such men as Anievas,
assistant government secretary, who now resigned,
and later by Estrada, 32 but the former readily winning
over a host of republicans, owing to the liberal policy
pursued with regard to church affairs, leniency in con
fiscation, and other matters.
Make that Volume VI
With you Clive. What an absolute embarrassment to our country.
FYI, trying to help get those pipelines through to the West Coast. Unfortunately, the lower mainland is the San Fran of the north when it comes to faux environmental idiots and you obviously know about the dolt we have at 24 Sussex.
You forgot to Mention Ontario.
A person’s attitude towards Fidel Castro also seems to be an indication of what they think about the United States. As Fidel’s major acheivement since 1959 had been defiance of the US, anyone who thinks that is a good thing has a soft spot for him. He is also an indicator of the sheer hypocricy of the progressives, who claim to value human rights, but always seem to give Castro a pass.
The only thing Fidel Castro endorsing climate change is likely to do is reenforce Trumps dim view of the subject.
The ONLY reason Fidel Castro was a climate warrior was the barrels of Climate Reparation Cash he was salivating over receiving from his little buddy in the USA, Pres B.O.
That’s right, Bryan, it’s all about the money.
So sayith: Tom Halla
To understand Castro’s Cuba one has to look back to the pre-1959 years when Cuba was a country of two (2) classes of citizens, ……. the very, very rich and politically powerful citizens …….. and the very, very poor and highly mistreated citizen “slaves” being forced to work for the rich elite.
And therein was the root cause that aided Castro’s overthrow of the highly corrupt Batista Dictatorship.
And when the very, very rich and politically powerful citizens REALIZED that Castro was going to “win” ……. they quickly grabbed all of their money and valuables and fled to Florida.
And the US politicians, primarily in Florida, quickly recognized those rich Cuban immigrants as a great source of “political” cash donations and thus welcomed them to Florida with praises and open arms.
And to keep those very, very rich Cuban immigrants happy, appeased and donating more cash money …… those elected US politicians had to disagree with and oppose Castro’s government.
And thus the reason that the United States government launched an unsuccessful attempt to remove Castro by assassination, economic blockade and counter-revolution, including the Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961.
Sounds familiar, right? It quickly reminds one of Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Viet Nam, etc.
US Politicians et el wanted to dictate how Castro was to run his government, …… but Castro refused, ….. and therefore he had to be eliminated by any means possible.
Revisionist history strikes again.
If you think that people living in Little Havana are “very, very rich” you live in some weird alternate universe.
The universe where current Cuban system of 2 class of citizens – the ruling class that is very, very, powerful and everyone else who are nothing and live in squalor is somehow better than before…
Revisionist? How about ignorant fantasy. Castro replaced a corrupt regime with a brutal dictatorship within months of achieving power.
Lying lefty history…taught to this stooge no doubt in our public education system.
You forgot Castro, very very rich.
From PBS, hardly a conservative mouthpiece… http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/castro/peopleevents/e_precastro.html
“…Cuba’s capital, Havana, was a glittering and dynamic city. In the early part of the century the country’s economy, fueled by the sale of sugar to the United States, had grown dynamically. Cuba ranked fifth in the hemisphere in per capita income, third in life expectancy, second in per capita ownership of automobiles and telephones, first in the number of television sets per inhabitant. The literacy rate, 76%, was the fourth highest in Latin America. Cuba ranked 11th in the world in the number of doctors per capita. Many private clinics and hospitals provided services for the poor. Cuba’s income distribution compared favorably with that of other Latin American societies. A thriving middle class held the promise of prosperity and social mobility…”
There were lots of problems with racism and inequality, true…those seem to exist everywhere. The rich all fled? No. Castro’s revolution was supposed to instill a moderate and democratic government. It was supposed to be free of military leaders. Then one-by-one all of Castro’s promises to his supporters evaporated. You either supported his communist dictatorship or you went to jail.
The Bay of Pigs and any number of issues the US had with Cuba centered around communism and the Cold War. What’s next? You’re going to tell us that the Vietnam War was about getting political support from all of the “very, very rich” people who left Vietnam for the US?
Sam, you are very very wrong…
..Michael, you are right
Prior to Castro….Cuba had a very large middle class
Samuel C Cogar November 27, 2016 at 7:35 am
I have nothing other than supposition here, but I’m wondering if there’s a deeper story that maybe someday a revisionist will uncover. My proposal is that Castro became somehow convenient to US politics and therefore remained. You could always get a vocal block of South FL. voters if you tried anything to normalize ties between the countries. Look at assassinations and coups that the CIA has initiated around the world. You couldn’t get one in a country 90 miles away with a huge number of exiles living in your own borders. 600+ assassination attempts are BS to me; I think your odds of survival get pretty slim (or your security forces are way way above average). Then there’s the oddest relationship between adversaries that I think I ever seen “Guantanamo Bay”. I think if Castro had ever been serious about closing the bay he could have found international support and simply offered the US start evacuating and we’re going to start mining the access points. I think the US became convenient to Castro. Quid Pro Quo.
I’m not offering any defence of Castro’s policies. I’m hoping that as you sow, shall you reap. All that I’ll add is the sow/reap applies to both sides.
He was eliminated by natural causes, at the age of 90. Damn those American imperialists!
Here are the places where the US has intervened militarily since 1900. How many of them have good governments now? What possible reason is there to think that American influence would have resulted in good government?
1900 China US forces intervene in several cities.
1901 Colombia/Panama Marines land.
1902 Colombia/Panama US forces land in Bocas de Toro
1903 Colombia/Panama With US backing, a group in northern Colombia declares independence as the state of Panama
1903 Guam Navy begins development in Apra Harbor of a permanent base installation.
1903 Honduras Marines go ashore at Puerto Cortez.
1903 Dominican Republic Marines land in Santo Domingo.
1904-1905 Korea Marines land and stay in Seoul.
1906-1909 Cuba Marines land. The US builds a major naval base at Guantanamo Bay.
1907 Nicaragua Troops seize major centers.
1907 Honduras Marines land and take up garrison in cities of Trujillo, Ceiba, Puerto Cortez, San Pedro, Laguna and Choloma.
1908 Panama Marines land and carry out operations.
1910 Nicaragua Marines land in Bluefields and Corinto.
1911 Honduras Marines intervene.
1911-1941 China The US builds up its military presence in the country to a force of 5000 troops and a fleet of 44 vessels patrolling China’s coast and rivers.
1912 Cuba US sends army troops into combat in Havana.
1912 Panama Army troops intervene.
1912 Honduras Marines land.
1912-1933 Nicaragua Marines intervene. A 20-year occupation of the country follows.
1913 Mexico Marines land at Ciaris Estero.
1914 Dominican Republic Naval forces engage in battles in the city of Santo Domingo.
1914 Mexico US forces seize and occupy Mexico’s major port city of Veracrus from April through November.
1915-1916 Mexico An expeditionary force of the US Army under Gen. John J. Pershing crosses the Texas border and penetrates several hundred miles into Mexican territory. Eventually reinforced to over 11,000 officers and men.
1914-1934 Haiti Troops land, aerial bombardment leading to a 19-year military occupation.
1916-1924 Dominican Republic Military intervention leading to 8-year occupation.
1917-1933 Cuba Landing of naval forces. Beginning of a 15-year occupation.
1918-1920 Panama Troops intervene, remain on “police duty” for over 2 years.
1918-1922 Russia Naval forces and army troops fight battles in several areas of the country during a five- year period.
1919 Yugoslavia Marines intervene in Dalmatia.
1919 Honduras Marines land.
1920 Guatemala Troops intervene.
1922 Turkey Marines engaged in operations in Smyrna (Izmir).
1922-1927 China Naval forces and troops deployed during 5-year period.
1924-1925 Honduras Troops land twice in two-year period.
1925 Panama Marines land and engage in operations.
1927-1934 China Marines and naval forces stationed throughout the country.
1932 El Salvador Naval forces intervene.
1933 Cuba Naval forces deployed.
1934 China Marines land in Foochow.
1946 Iran Troops deployed in northern province.
1946-1949 China Major US army presence of about 100,000 troops, fighting, training and advising local combatants.
1947-1949 Greece US forces wage a 3-year counterinsurgency campaign.
1948 Italy Heavy CIA involvement in national elections.
1948-1954 Philippines Commando operations, “secret” CIA war.
1950-1953 Korea Major forces engaged in war in Korean peninsula.
1953 Iran CIA overthrows government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. Read More
1954 Vietnam Financial and materiel support for colonial French military operations, leads eventually to direct US military involvement.
1954 Guatemala CIA overthrows the government of President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman.
1958 Lebanon US marines and army units totaling 14,000 land.
1958 Panama Clashes between US forces in Canal Zone and local citizens.
1959 Haiti Marines land.
1960 Congo CIA-backed overthrow and assassination of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba.
1960-1964 Vietnam Gradual introduction of military advisors and special forces.
1961 Cuba CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion.
1962 Cuba Nuclear threat and naval blockade.
1962 Laos CIA-backed military coup.
1963 Ecuador CIA backs military overthrow of President Jose Maria Valesco Ibarra.
1964 Panama Clashes between US forces in Canal Zone and local citizens.
1964 Brazil CIA-backed military coup overthrows the government of Joao Goulart and Gen. Castello Branco takes power. Read More
1965-1975 Vietnam Large commitment of military forces, including air, naval and ground units numbering up to 500,000+ troops. Full-scale war, lasting for ten years.
1965 Indonesia CIA-backed army coup overthrows President Sukarno and brings Gen. Suharto to power.
1965 Congo CIA backed military coup overthrows President Joseph Kasavubu and brings Joseph Mobutu to power.
1965 Dominican Republic 23,000 troops land.
1965-1973 Laos Bombing campaign begin, lasting eight years.
1966 Ghana CIA-backed military coup ousts President Kwame Nkrumah.
1966-1967 Guatemala Extensive counter-insurgency operation.
1969-1975 Cambodia CIA supports military coup against Prince Sihanouk, bringing Lon Nol to power. Intensive bombing for seven years along border with Vietnam.
1970 Oman Counter-insurgency operation, including coordination with Iranian marine invasion.
1971-1973 Laos Invasion by US and South Vietnames forces.
1973 Chile CIA-backed military coup ousts government of President Salvador Allende. Gen. Augusto Pinochet comes to power.
1975 Cambodia Marines land, engage in combat with government forces.
1976-1992 Angola Military and CIA operations.
1980 Iran Special operations units land in Iranian desert. Helicopter malfunction leads to aborting of planned raid.
1981 Libya Naval jets shoot down two Libyan jets in maneuvers over the Mediterranean.
1981-1992 El Salvador CIA and special forces begin a long counterinsurgency campaign.
1981-1990 Nicaragua CIA directs exile “Contra” operations. US air units drop sea mines in harbors.
1982-1984 Lebanon Marines land and naval forces fire on local combatants.
1983 Grenada Military forces invade Grenada.
1983-1989 Honduras Large program of military assistance aimed at conflict in Nicaragua.
1984 Iran Two Iranian jets shot down over the Persian Gulf.
1986 Libya US aircraft bomb the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi, including direct strikes at the official residence of President Muamar al Qadaffi.
1986 Bolivia Special Forces units engage in counter-insurgency.
1987-1988 Iran Naval forces block Iranian shipping. Civilian airliner shot down by missile cruiser.
1989 Libya Naval aircraft shoot down two Libyan jets over Gulf of Sidra.
1989 Philippines CIA and Special Forces involved in counterinsurgency.
1989-1990 Panama 27,000 troops as well as naval and air power used to overthrow government of President Noriega.
1990 Liberia Troops deployed.
1990-1991 Iraq Major military operation, including naval blockade, air strikes; large number of troops attack Iraqi forces in occupied Kuwait.
1991-2003 Iraq Control of Iraqi airspace in north and south of the country with periodic attacks on air and ground targets.
1991 Haiti CIA-backed military coup ousts President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
1992-1994 Somalia Special operations forces intervene.
1992-1994 Yugoslavia Major role in NATO blockade of Serbia and Montenegro.
1993-1995 Bosnia Active military involvement with air and ground forces.
1994-1996 Haiti Troops depose military rulers and restore President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to office.
1995 Croatia Krajina Serb airfields attacked.
1996-1997 Zaire (Congo) Marines involved in operations in eastern region of the country.
1997 Liberia Troops deployed.
1998 Sudan Air strikes destroy country’s major pharmaceutical plant.
1998 Afghanistan Attack on targets in the country.
1998 Iraq Four days of intensive air and missile strikes.
1999 Yugoslavia Major involvement in NATO air strikes.
2001 Macedonia NATO troops shift and partially disarm Albanian rebels.
2001 Afghanistan Air attacks and ground operations oust Taliban government and install a new regime.
2003 Iraq Invasion with large ground, air and naval forces ousts government of Saddam Hussein and establishes new government.
2003-present Iraq Occupation force of 150,000 troops in protracted counter-insurgency war
2004 Haiti Marines land. CIA-backed forces overthrow President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Bear – November 27, 2016 at 9:07 am
Bear, will you be claiming the same thing about Donald Trump, ……. come next April or May, 2017?
Samuel: while I tend to agree with your narrative, it is an incomplete narrative. While I agree that Batista was a highly corrupt Dictatorship, you failed to mention Castro’s brutality. Quite reminiscent of Lenin’s RED Terror.
I see we have another victim of socialist indoctrination.
First off, yes there were rich people and poor people in Cuba prior to Castro. However it wasn’t worse than most other countries in the world.
As to your absurd claim that all of those who fled Castro were super rich. Reality and history both refute you. Not that you care.,
As to your attempt to tie Cuba to Iraq et. al. That’s just your paranoia and utter ignorance rearing its pathetic little head again.
It really is fascinating how so many people believe that everything that bad that happens must be the fault of the US.
MarkW – November 28, 2016 at 9:37 am
MarkW, one of the things that I really care about ……… and which also really pisses me off and I become highly irritated with those persons who are devious, dishonest, disingenuous liars and/or claimers of “untruths” for the sole purpose of “covering their own asses” for their touted stupidity on subjects they want to fool people into thinking they are knowledgeable of.
Mark, that was a dastardly intentional lie on your part ……. when you accused me of “ claiming that all of those who fled Castro were super rich ”.
Mark, here is EXACTKLY what I posted, to wit:
“And when the very, very rich and politically powerful citizens REALIZED that Castro was going to “win” ……. they quickly grabbed all of their money and valuables and fled to Florida. ”
Thus it was a dastardly intentional lie you uttered …… that surely made you feel better in knowing that it would probably harm my creditability and get you some hi-fives and rah-rahs from your likeminded friends.
Iffen the US hadn’t tried to KILL Castro immediately after Batista and his super rich friends vacated Cuba …….. then US relations with Cuba would have been 100% different …….. and Cuba would be supplying 90+% of the sugar for US consumption.
Hardly ‘revisionist’ – simply the usual teeth grinding quackspeak of the commies and their acolytes in power in the West.
Real revisionist history would have to take account of a few facts. Firstly, that in those days, Cubans travelled widely, especially to the US, where they outspent American visitors going to Cuba. So, freedom is one and indivisible, for when the rich lost their rights, so did the poor.
Secondly, despite the inequality and corruption, industry and employment was in a heck of a better state than today, when it is non-existent. This is because rich people mainly do not leave the money in the bank to rot. They spend it on goods and services provided by the poor. We see what happened in Cuba when this this function was lost .
Finally, it is simply beyond any belief that 20% of a country’s population fled because they were rich (the latest twist in this story is that ‘they were all criminals’). O, of course! If in any country, anywhere,2% of its people flee, it’s a minor but serious catastrophe. But 20%!!? Good grief!
Do me a favour Sam – put the kettle on and have a nice cup of tea, there’s a good lad. And take one of these, it’ll calm you down…And throw the Guevera t-shirt in the bin!
So sayith: kolnai – December 1, 2016 at 5:40 am
So what are you saying, kolnai, …… that the poor Cuban citizens were way better off when they were subsisting on a “70% starvation diet and no health care or education” ……. than they are now with their subsisting on a “75% starvation diet and free health care and education”?
Also sayith: kolnai
Yup we did, kolnai, …… and that “function” was immediately lost or STOPPED, ….. and not because all the filthy rich Cubans fled the island with all their “chests of money”, …….. but because the US Federal government IMMEDIATELY declared an embargo on all goods, products and money transfers to or from or between the US and Cuba ….. and also instituted a “travel ban” preventing any and all US citizens from going to Cuba to spend loads of cash money on Cuban cigars and lavish “tropical vacations”.
It was one hell of a lot cheaper for American tourists to enjoy a “2-week vacation” on/at the Cuban beach resorts than it was for them to vacation on the US east coast or the Gulf coast.
“YUP”, it was a lot CHEAPER for American tourists ……. and a lot RICHER for the Cuban citizens.
But the US politicians, the sugar cartel in south Florida and the US coastal resort owners sure as hell didn’t care about anything except their “funded interests” ……. and they paid dearly to insure their “interest” wasn’t terminated.
GEEEZUS, most anyone in the US could be arrested if caught with Cuban cigars.
“The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on the death of former Cuban President Fidel Castro:
“It is with deep sorrow that I learned today of the death of Cuba’s longest serving President.”…..
Longest living TYRANT maybe….? I am so embarrassed to be living in Canada right now…
I am at a loss for words…All I can think of is stuff that would get me banned again ! Time to move back to the U.S……..
Marcus: Take a holiday in Cuba first before all our American friends are allowed to go with us in the near future. 😉
I need a break from Trudeau Junior and the NDP Notely Crew in Alberta.
In Canada, there is an obvious difference in yardsticks by which Liberals and Conservatives are measured,
The collective face palm of Canadians registered on the Richter scale on this latest of a long list of faux pas from our designed-by-committee Prime Minister.
Notely?
The real idiot tyrant is Wynne.
Castro was a POS in the 60’s and remains one at his death. Junior has no clue.
He said he was going to implement communism. For those on the left this excuses everything.
MarkW, ….. was that before or after …… the US clamped an embargo and travel ban on Cuba?
Got to love our Hair Apparent.
Obama North.
More evidence one can’t cure stupid.
Hopefully this pretty vacant excuse for a “leader” and his handlers will do for Canadian Liberals what Obama has done for the Democratic Party.
Just as with the concerned ones, weeping and gnashing their teeth over CAGW/CC, the current Prime Minister is impossible to parody.
In his own words, “The budget will balance itself.”
There is a very good chance Western Canada will separate by the time these fools are done saving us from Climate Change and saving us from producing anything of value as well.
Fake News is exemplified by our CBC.
After all these years of their falsehoods and omissions, I did not know there was any other kind of news.
..I find it hard to believe that any intelligent life form, living North of the American border, would actually want it to get colder..! …… N.U.T.S.
I find it hard to believe any intelligent life form living North of the American border (or anywhere else) would actually believe humans have any control over the weather (and by extension, climate—the average of weather).
Me too R.C., you’d have to selectively ignore the evidence that disproves Human culpability and focus tightly on the media-fed doom-spin. It also helps to have a pious faith in in anti-humanism and a condescending righteousness that accompanies being in “the consensus”.
@Marcus
November 27, 2016 at 4:42 am: It is the ‘intelligent’ bit that is the problem, as in idiot savant….
Idiot Savant implies that there is something they are good at.
“Hopefully this pretty vacant excuse for a “leader” and his handlers will do for Canadian Liberals what Obama has done for the Democratic Party.”
Let’s hope you are right. The socialists are killing their nations.
Hey, they knew he was a Liberal when they elected him.
And Harper was literally Hitler, don’t ya know?
Look on the bright side. With Trump pushing a ‘buy American’ policy, Canada will have to find a way to build a real economy that’s not just a cheap manufacturing base for American companies. We won’t do that with Liberals in power.
May his Judgement be commensurate with the pain and suffering inflicted on his victims, and their families.
Yes, may Castro receive in the afterlife exactly what he gave in life. It can’t get much fairer than that. He deserves to get what he gave. Everyone deserves to get what they gave.
I’m getting a mental picture of JFK and Bobby standing on the side of the chasm, smiling and waving as Fidel falls past them.
I would support a law that when murderers are executed, they should die as their victims died.
Obama: “History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular character.” Estimates of victims of his brutal reign of terror range from 10,000 to 100,000, including 5,600 Cubans in front of firing squads and another 1,200 in “extrajudicial assassinations.” See http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB113590852154334404
I’ll see your Fidel Castro and raise you a Papa Doc Duvalier!
Nah, unfortunately for the liberals Papa Doc died before it became fashionable to be a green dictator. And “Papa Doc” sounds kindof establishment – nowhere near the positive PR spin of monsters like Che Guevara and Castro.
Not sure why you are trying to rope Che Guevara into this. He fought in a civil war against a puppet dictator in a country dominated by the US Mafia. Once the war was over he left. Never forget it was the fact that America used cuna as a playground that led to all the problems in the first place.Castro was a bastard but what was going on before was even worse and a classic example of modern slavery.
..Andy in La La Land……..”Che Guevara was an international terrorist and mass murderer.”
http://www.therealcuba.com/?page_id=32
Andy in Epsom~ yeah, we could tell by the way Che murdered nearly 4000 people personally, and over 23,000 total in cahoots with other ‘freedom’ fighters.
One has to ask, …… is both Eric and Marcus in La La Land, ……. given the implication they both preferred the Batista Dictatorship ……. rather than the Castro regime.
To wit:
Before the PC and Internet …… you pretty much had to believe whatever the Politicians and News Media reported …… and they NEVER ever reported anything bad about Batista or his corrupt and repressive government.
Samuel C Cogar – Nobody here excuses previous dictator. But Castro was even worse evil than Batista. And you are absolving him of murder and tyranny he perpetrated on his people for almost 60 years.
Che Guevara was a “resistance fighter” in the same way that Charles Manson was a Social Justice Warrior.
Regarding Charles Manson: “is”, not “was”.
Udar – November 27, 2016 at 9:12 am
Udar, you sure as hell are touting excuses for Batista’s dastardly deeds he perpetrated upon the poor people of Cuba.
Udar also sayith:
And just how in hell would you know? Were you taught that in the US schools? Were you brainwashed into believing it by your RICH Cuban elite parents or family members that had to get the hell out of Cuba before Castro arrested them? Or did all the BS agitprop being touted by the US State Department and money-hungry politicians convince you that Castro was a really bad guy?
Maybe you believe that Fidel Castro and Donald Trump are “like two peas in pod”.
Udar also sayith:
So what, Udar, ……. as long as there were, was, is, people who were intent on murdering Castro and/or perpetrating acts of tyranny against the Cuban government then Castro had a 100% God given right to “respond inkind”.
Udar, you and your like-minded friends are absolving the US Government, …. dozens n’ dozens of elected members of the US Congress, ……. dozens n’ dozens of elected Florida Legislators and Governors, ……. the sugar cartel on the US Gulf Coast, …… tens of thousands of Cubans in South Florida & elsewhere …… and various other US corporate entities ….. of attempted murder, tyranny, armed invasions, boycotts, embargos, etc., etc., against the Cuban government for the past 60 years.
Udar, the really, really, really poor Cuban people of yesteryear …… now enjoy FREE healthcare, FREE college education and don’t have to work as prostitutes in the hotels and on the streets ……. or as slaves in the rich elite households or in the sugarcane fields.
It’s probably not as good of life as you are living ……. but it sure as hell is a lot better than it once was in Cuba.
Samuel Cogar bloviated things like :And just how in hell would you know? Were you taught that in the US schools? Were you brainwashed into believing it by your RICH Cuban elite parents or family members that had to get the hell out of Cuba before Castro arrested them? Or did all the BS agitprop being touted by the US State Department and money-hungry politicians convince you that Castro was a really bad guy?
I was taught about Castro in school in former USSR. So, I’m sorry to say, I was being brainwashed, but in completely different direction than you think. Fortunately, it didn’t stick. I know he was really bad guy, because I learned about it from his friends.
Now, the rest of your incredibly incoherent screed is essentially that it’s USA fault for Castro’s brutal repressions of his own people. I got it. You really, really like the guy. You really really hate USA. But facts are the facts – he was a dictator. May he rot in hell for eternity.
And about his vaunted free healthcare – I know very well what free healthcare means in socialist countries. Pray you are not on recieving end of that “free” healthcare when you get really sick.
One more thing, Mr. Cogar, you said that “Udar, you sure as hell are touting excuses for Batista’s dastardly deeds he perpetrated upon the poor people of Cuba.”
Please show me where I did. Give me a quote where I said anything good about Batista. I am very serious on this, either put up or shut up.
Samuel, that’s a pretty pathetic debate technique. To claim that unless one supports one side, that means you support the other.
Regardless, the facts show that Cubans under Batista were much, much better off than they were after Castro took over.
Udar – November 28, 2016 at 8:02 am
Udar, sorry to say, but, …… your former USSR “brainwashing” is still intact and it manifests itself in your posted commentary ……. which in itself pretty much explains your utter ignorance of the Cuban Healthcare System which Castro is/was responsible for.
“DUH”, even the WHO and the Huffington Post disagrees with your silly ranting n’ raving, to wit:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/salim-lamrani/cubas-health-care-system-_b_5649968.html
Samuel Cogar says: “dar, sorry to say, but, …… your former USSR “brainwashing” is still intact”
So Samuel, it is your opinion that I believe that Castro is great man? Do you even know what USSR means? Or meaning of word “brainwashing”? Based on your completely incoherent ramblings, I’m not sure you know what any of those words are. I suggest investing in dictionary.
Also you say : “even the WHO and the Huffington Post disagrees with your silly ranting n’ raving”
Yes. Which is why Castro chose to use foreign doctors to attend to him – I guess that “excellent” system was not excellent enough for El Commandante.
I also noticed that you’ve chosen not to respond to my other question -here it is again:
you said that “Udar, you sure as hell are touting excuses for Batista’s dastardly deeds he perpetrated upon the poor people of Cuba.”
Please show me where I did. Give me a quote where I said anything good about Batista. I am very serious on this, either put up or shut up.
Because you accuse me of something I didn’t do and then refused to address that, I can only have one conclusion – You, Sir, are a lier. Either apologize for your lie or prove me wrong.
Udar – November 29, 2016 at 6:59 am
Udar, just what was it that prompted you to post such a stupid assed statement as the above verbiage is?
You probably wouldn’t tell me even iffen you knew …… so I will just attribute your silly statement to you lefty liberal socialist mindset.
Udar, I know what you have been misnurtured/miseducated [brainwashed] into believe is actual, factual historical events ……. but “your believing that Castro is/was a great man” is not one of your beliefs …….. unless you want to admit that all of your previous postings on his subject are “untruths”.
Udar claimith:
Udar, were any of those foreign doctors that Castro chose to attend to him …… citizens of the United States? …………… If not, why not, …… Udar, ……. please explain.
Udar also claimith:
GEEEEZUS, …. Udar, ……. your feigning of “ignorance n’ stupidity” is “a dog that won’t hunt”. Your posted “Batista excuse” should be obvious to most any learning-disabled person,
Here is your “Batista excuse” that you posted, to wit:
You claimed therein that you WERE NOT posting an “excuse” for Batista’s dastardly deeds, ……… BUT YOU SURE AS HELL DID ……… when you sided with Batista by claiming he was “a lesser evil than Castro”.
Just like a parent making excuses for the criminal acts of their children ….. by claiming that “My little Johnny is not as bad as the kid that lives down the street”.
Udar also saidith in an above posting:
So what, Udar, me pretty damn sure that you are absolving the US government of murder and tyranny that it has perpetrated on its people (citizens) (murders, robbers, rapists, embezzlers, traitors, terrorists, etc., etc.) for the past 200+ years.
Udar, JUST WHY IN HELL are you “badmouthing” Castro for doing the same exact thing that ever country on the face of this earth is GUILTY OF the same actions?
It tiz your kind that DEMANDS that General Petraeus be locked-up in prison …… and that Hillary Clinton be left alone to run free on the streets of America.
Mr. Cogar,
At this point I’m pretty sure you have real issues with reading comprehension.
After I told you that I learned of Castro in USSR, you told me that “your former USSR “brainwashing” is still intact”.
Now, since Castro was USSR’s best friend, the only brainwashing that could have stuck was that he was a great man. Now, do you really think I believe that? Do you really think I have, as you say “lefty liberal socialist mindset.”?
Based on your completely puzzled reaction, you have no idea what USSR is. Or what “brainwashing” suppose to do. I suggest to buy a dictionary, it could be a great investment.
Of course, you believing that I am “lefty liberal socialist” and hate Castro at the same time can only mean that you have no idea what “lefty liberal socialist” means. Or who Castro was (a hint – he was a communist – which is a synonym of lefty liberal socialist).
And that brings us to one final thing – your really weird belief that by my saying that “Castro was even worse evil than Batista”, I somehow “sided with Batista”.
I don’t think you understand what “sided” means either. Or “Batista”. Or “with”
In conclusion, I think that you reside in insane asylum and your nurse should really cut down on your internet access. I don’t think it’s good for your well-being.
Udar – December 1, 2016 at 4:58 pm
Still “talking trash”, ……. huh, ….. Udar?
GETTA CLUE, ….. Udar ….. the USSR’s never had any “best friend” or “best friends”.
When Germany (Hitler) reneged on their pre-WWII agreement the United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) never again trusted any country or its leaders. Two (2) times was two too many.
Udar, educate yourself on “why you are what you are” by reading this published commentary …… that is titled “A View of How the Human Mind Works” ……. because it is quite obvious that you are completely ignorant of the evolutionary biological fact that …… “You are what your environment nurtured you to be”.
And quit mimicking all of those “cutie comments” that you and your like-minded peers think are utterly important to any and all public discourse.
Cogar –
Weird how human mind works. You, after hitting Wikipedia and studying up on former Soviet Union, decided to share your wisdom with us, specifically that “USSR’s never had any “best friend” or “best friends”.
Which is completely irrelevant to the topic that I was referring to – i.e. that Castro was thought to be great man in Soviet schools, and which you apparently unaware of.
I understand that it is critical to your weird worldview to make this irrelevant comment, because you can not make relevant one.
Just quit it, will you? Take some nice medicine, stay away from computer and go to safe place. You’ll feel so much better…
Udar, ….. iffen you had “clicked-on” that hyperlink and read the commentary then you would no longer be parroting such asinine comments.
Only a highly miseducated person would refer to a “biological self-programming supercomputer” as being something weird.
“Of all of the things that you have lost, …… you surely must miss your mind the most. “
I’ll see your Papa Doc and raise you a Mousy Dong
You had to go and mention the Chairman…
Papa Doc was just a plain old fashioned dictator. He never pretended to be doing it for “the people”.
All of the eulogies could be written by msm as headlines , brilliant just brilliant .
The climate change issue is irrelevant in Cuban politics.
The statement above:
“Some Cuban exiles in Miami, who seem hung up on how many of their relatives and friends were brutalised and murdered by Castro and his thugs, are distracting attention away from Castro’s climate warrior legacy.”
is insensitive and almost insulting, even if it’s intended as sarcasm.
By the way, those of us who oppose the Castro family dictatorship aren’t only “in Miami”. We have three Senators and four congressmen in Washington. My oldest grandson is with the USA Army in South Korea, my sister lives in Boston, I have cousins who live in and own a piece of a new car dealership in Atlanta, my youngest daughter is a therapist in the Dallas area, and so on and so forth.
I think Castro was a monster. My statement was a mockery of fools who are trying to say nice things about a nasty tyrant. If I was in Miami I would be celebrating along with the Cuban exiles.
In several regime changes, America has killed 250,000 CIVILIANS, wounded ~ two million, displaced 5 million and destroyed several countries – but that doesn’t count?
Hey Eric,
The party is still going on. C’mon down! Folks are gathering at all hours in front of Versailles on Calle Ocho, pounding pots and pans and dancing to salsa music. While Havana has nine days of mourning we are having nine days of celebration.
Tonight, Fidel is smoking a turd in Hell.
It really is fascinating how socialists actually seem to believe the lies that they tell each other.
Adrian, every one of those claims has been disproven. Not that you care.
sarcasm and satire often get the point over better than straight reporting. Eric was obviously mocking Castro and that he gets a free pass from the liberal elite because of his global warming credentials
tonyb
Credentials? He don’t need no stinkin credentials.
“By the way, those of us who oppose the Castro family dictatorship aren’t only “in Miami”.”
Fernandoleanme, given the fact that you “oppose the Castro family dictatorship” …… then would it be correct to say that you and yours “totally agreed with the Batista family dictatorship”?
“We have three Senators and four congressmen in Washington.”
So tell me, just why in the world would your kinfolk, ….. three (3) Senators and four (4) Congressmen, …… hate Castro and love Batista? It’s gotta be the “money”, right, ….. because Castro or Cuba has no direct effect on Congressional actions that affect the US populace.
Samuel
Are you saying Castro was good because Batista was bad, doesn’t sound like you.
Mr Cogar–you have read too much pro-Castro spin. Even the center-left New York Times, in Sunday’s obit of Fidel, admitted that pre-Castro that Cuba had the largest middle class in Latin America. There are several million Cuban exiles in the US, out of a population of less than 20 million. I really, really doubt that the ruling class was that numerous.
Pre-Fidel Cuba was a political mess, but so was most of Latin America, and that situation has existed in most countries since the Spanish left. One of my grandfathers was the son of a political refugee from Mexico over a hundred years ago (his father’s side lost), and Mexico is still a mess politically.
Samuel, you show the black/white thinking typical of those who have severe personality disorders and other mental illnesses. To say that someone who opposed Castro must have supported Batista is idiotic. Batista was bad (the vast majority of people alive today were not even alive when he was in power, btw) Castro was worse!
What made Castro so bad is that he was JUST ANOTHER BATISTA. How can that never have occurred to you???
@ Bob boder
Bob, don’t be “talking trash” to me, OK.
Castro set out to do “a good thing”, ……. to depose Batista and his utterly corrupt Dictatorship and to FREE the Cuban populace of a life of turmoil, hardships and political persecution. But what Castro quickly found out was that the US government, its elected politicians, corporate interests, US gangsters and the Cuban rich n’ powerful “dearly loved” the Batista regime and IMMEDIATELY set out to murder, kill and or depose Castro …… and re-instate Batista (or an equivalent) as Dictator of Cuba. And that really, really, really, REALLY pissed-off Castro ……. and the rest is history.
Tom Halla – November 27, 2016 at 9:31 am
Mr. Halla, I was most probably in my mid 30’s before I ever seen a copy of the New York Times newspaper, let alone read an article published in one.
On the contrary, I have been reading about Castro and Cuba ever since the mid-1950’s when I was in High School and delivering Newspapers to earn spending money. And in September 1958 I began my Freshman year of College and I was still reading about Castro, Cuba and the Revolution. And in those early days there was very little to none ….. either pro or anti “Castro spin” being publishes in local or regionl newspapers.
Also sayith: Tom Halla
NO FECES, ….. Tom H, ……… but that is now, …. the present. …… 2016, ……. but not in 1957, 1958, 1959 or 1960.
Also sayith: Tom Halla
Mr. Tom, …… please tell us, ….. just how big does the “ruling class” hafta be ….. to maintain control of the people. Which Russian was it that said …… “one (1) man with a gun can control one hundred (100) men without guns”?
Here Tom, some non-NYT enlightenments for you to ponder over, to wit:
Batista was bad, ergo Castro must be good.
Simplistic and wrong. Just what I’ve learned to expect from socialists.
Samuel, it doesn’t matter what Castro claimed he was setting out to do.
What matters is what he did.
What he did was take a country with a thriving middle class and impoverish it, killing 10’s of thousands of those who disagreed with him.
He turned Cuba from an open society to a massive prison and gave orders to kill anyone who tried to escape.
MarkW – November 28, 2016 at 9:49 am
MarkW, just what the hell is the reason that you REFUSE to comprehend or understand about the context of this quoted statement that was/is posted here>
Or maybe you prefer to “run n’ hide” in hopes I’ll forget about it?
“DUH”, nigh onto nineteen (19) years {1940 to 1959} of trying to survive Batista’s ironfisted repressive requiem ……. and you are trying to convince the world that Batista actually created a thriving Cuban middle class.
HELLS BELLS, …… the Iraqi citizens were treated far, far better under the rule of Saddam ……. than the Cuban citizens were treated under the rule of Batista, ……. but the US Politicians decided that only Saddam and Castro needed to be killed.
This mad crazy world is adolising a despotic tyrant while demonisinga democratically elected US president-elect
Yes Pete, that aspect is more than a little concerning. It’s totally upside down. To hear the rubbish being broadcast on radio today, especially our Australian ABC, is sickening, and utterly astonishing in its eulogising of this dictator. What’s going to be next? The canonisation of Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot et al?
Adolf was dog-loving Vegan Green. All he was trying to do was save the planet by eliminating all those people who didn’t understand how massively important accepting German rule as part of muliticutural diversity was.
It’s just more proof that the left has always been strongly in favor of elitiist totalitarianism, and HATES true democracy whenever it threatens to upset their favorite little apple carts.
I think my Maximum Leader, Justin “Juicebox” Trudeau, has just jumped the shark. And it’s about time.
I didn’t vote for him. My reason, although unpopular with the left, was that a failed elementary school teacher was probably not up to the task of Prime Minister.
But what do I know. I like Steve Harper.
You’re next Raul. And soon I hope.
Not only did he raise literacy levels but he also told you what you can and can’t read.
Mr. Castro made significant improvements to the education and healthcare of his island nation.
==================
During Castro’s rule, thousands of Cubans were incarcerated in abysmal prisons, thousands more were harassed and intimidated, and entire generations were denied basic political freedoms. Cuba made improvements in health and education, though many of these gains were undermined by extended periods of economic hardship and by repressive policies.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/26/cuba-fidel-castros-record-repression
There is one little catchy-watchy with the high literacy resulting from free education in Cuba. Only 2% of Cubans have the internet.
I’ll see your Fidel Castro and raise you an Augusto Pinochet.
See your Pinochet and raise you two Mbasogos.
Sorry old chum.
Full house:
Somosa, El Salvador.
Déby, Chad.
Noriega, Panama.
Karimov, Uzbekistan.
Marcos, The Phillipines.
King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia…..or is that a Royal flush?
Robert Mugabe
Pol Pot
gotta lurve those left leaning heroes..
Ceausescu, Romania.
A list of some other great socialist
Mao
Stalin
Hitler
Pol pot
Ho chi min
Mauro
Chavez
Any North Korean leader
All right this is getting boring.
charles nelson: Somosa, El Salvador.
Too many of these guys, people get confused. You refer, no doubt, to Somoza in Nicaragua. : > )
Yes indeed Augusto Pinochet another US puppet put in place after a democratic election that US didn’t like.
” He rose through the ranks and was appointed Commander in Chief by President Salvador Allende in 1973″
http://www.biography.com/people/augusto-pinochet-9441138
Andy in Never Never Land, you truly are delusional…
Oh my, the rats are angry about people openly discussing Castro and communism.
Can’t tell Andy—are you just angry the US is so powerful since according to you, they run the entire planet, except maybe a group or two of natives in some jungle? You seem to believe the US is all-powerful and global in its power, running everything. A very interesting viewpoint, if it weren’t so warped.
Pinochet saved Chile from becoming yet another Socialist South American banana republic basketcase and after putting its government and economy on an even keel relinquished power by calling a democratic election.
Chile is still the most prosperous and stable nation in South America.
No wonder the “Progressives” hate his guts.
It really is odd how simple minded most socialists are.
America has tolerated the election of many socialists around the world.
The people of Chile were upset because after being elected, Allende started implementing changes that he had promised he would not do during the election. (Gee, a leftist lying in order to win an election. What a surprise.)
Augusto Pinochet stopped Salvador Allende from declaring himself President for life and taking Chile into a Cuban style Communist hell. Unlike Cuba’s Castro, Pinochet returned Chile to democratic rule after fighting a communist insurgency and winning. Chile today is a thriving economy and society that far outstrips Castro’s Cuba.
Under any metric you wish to use, Chile is a more free, successful and open society that Cuba. The Chilean people also have the democratic right to elect their government and criticize that government via a free press.
“After 25 years in power, he was put under arrest, but died in 2006, before he could be tried for alleged human rights violations.”
You lie. Pinochet left power via a civil society and open elections and left Chile in peace, the most prosperous nation in South America
I posted the following circa 2005.
We discovered a mine in Jujuy province in northern Argentina at about 13,000 feet elevation. That project took me to Argentina and Chile circa 1992, two years after Pinochet stepped down in Chile.
The Generals regime in Argentina, authors of the Dirty War, had gone ten years earlier. The mothers of the many thousands of “disappeared” young adults were still demonstrating in the Plaza de Mayo, carrying large pictures of their murdered kids.
The Argentinian Generals killed about ten times as many people as Pinochet’s henchmen, and other regimes in South American killed about ten time as many people as the Generals.
Only about ten percent of the countries in the world have ~decent governments – the remainder are some form of dictatorship, some benevolent but many just brutal thugs who live the good life while their people live in various levels of poverty.
As I tried to explain to our friends in Tunisia during Arab Spring, as the hot war raged in Libya next door:
“You don’t usually get to choose between good and bad, you get to choose between bad and worse. Just because you throw out somebody bad doesn’t mean you’ll get somebody better.”
Let’s call this post a small tribute to the hundreds of millions of innocent people who died due to government-inspired violence in the 20th Century.
Regards, Allan
___________________________________________________________________________
SOB’s come in all shapes and sizes, and will always be with us.
While the sidebar summary was well-written, space limitations restricted it to just a handful of countries.
For example, Pinochet was an SOB, but his regime killed fewer citizens (a few hundred to a few thousand) than many other regimes in South America, a fact that is almost never reported in the Canadian press.
Today, Chile is by far the most prosperous country in South America, and human rights and rule of law are also better than in other Latin American countries.
Estimates of the number of young leftists tortured and killed in Argentina’s “Dirty War” range from 10,000 to 30,000, and in some other countries it was in the hundreds of thousands.
The Canadian press has always portrayed Pinochet as the worst SOB in South America, but based on the evidence, he was the best of a bad lot.
Pinochet is routinely vilified for his regime’s brutal actions and the assassination of Salvador Allende. What we do not know, thankfully, is how many people Allende’s Communist regime would have tortured and killed.
Maybe we could use Fidel Castro’s Cuba as a proxy. Scholar R.J Rummel estimates the casualties of his regime at 73,000, with one study estimating over 119,000 and several others suggesting significantly lower figures.
But that torture and killing is apparently OK with the Canadian press (and the Trudeau’s), because Castro is a lefty.
I’ll call your hand of junk cards. Pinochet left power after making Chile free and open. Castro leaves Cuba a corrupt police state, worse off than when he stole power. Lefties hate freedom and embrace tyranny at every opportunity.
Your final statement simply is not true. SOME Lefties embrace tyranny, just as George HW Bush embraced global narcotics trafficking with the Cali Cartel and Manuel Noriega to provide dirty money for CIA black ops. That does not make all right wingers drug dealers, does it? It is just that Allen Dulles, Tes Shackleyband many others in the since 1945 DID.
Rhys, what it makes you is a liar. Bush never embraced the drug cartel.
Augusto Pinochet raised the standard of living in Chile and voluntarily stepped down when he lost a plebiscite. The number of disappeared under Pinochet is only a tiny fraction of those who died under Castro.
PS: Just because one man is bad is not evidence that someone else isn’t bad.
http://testing.therealcuba.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/cubanmemorial.jpg
The Cuban Memorial displayed at Tamiami Park, Miami, Florida: Each cross bears the name of a victim of Castro the brothers’ genocide against the Cuban people
And this is just the documented victims.
Not the first time Obama will have chanced waking up with fleas, euphemistically speaking.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjYTbFJUUac&w=560&h=315%5D
The Cuban people have Fidel to thank for returning the death penalty to Cuba. Apparently this has given Cuban’s a lasting affection for “el Comandante”. Nothing like having your neighbors and family members lined up and shot for speaking out against Castro to convince you to say how much you love Fidel.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro (1926-2016) established the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere after leading an overthrow of the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959.
The 1940 Constitution of Cuba banned capital punishment for peacetime offenses, but the penalty was officially reinstated by law as well as in practice following the Cuban Revolution, in 1959. Sources suggest many more have been executed since 1959, compared to official statistics.
If you have an hour to watch, Stefan Molyneux’s “Truth about Fidel Castro” will arm you with facts when discussing things with your less informed leftist friends.
https://youtu.be/2EhlTI0fte0
Stefan Molyneux – another fact-averse conspiracy theorist
No, John… if you actually watched the video, you’d see all of Stefan’s facts are meticulously backed with actual data and quotations.
BTW, Leftists’ penchant for calling anyone with a differing opinion a “conspiracy theorist” is a brainwashing tactic developed by a Leftist called Cass Sunstein…
Anyone that’s well read giggles and eye-rolls when they hear the phrase used because they realize the person repeating it is obviously a brainwashed sycophant…
Just thought I’d give yo a heads up, John…
So there are no conspiracies, huh? The Official Story is always the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? That’s even more ludicrous than the ruling elite are actually reptilian space aliens in disguise, or the moon landings were faked, or government agents infiltrate internet forums to discredit critics and stifle dissent, or . . . uh, wait . . . scratch that last one.
Notice how Dav09 tries to change the subject. SAMURAI never said that there were no conspiracies.
What he said is that leftist try to discredit anything they disagree with by calling it a conspiracy.
Notice how Dav09 tries to change the subject.
SAMURAI said nothing about there not being any conspiracies. He merely commented on a well documented tactic that is often used by you socialists.
Notice the comical lack of reading comprehension exhibited by MarkW.
For the record:
— The comment by SAMURAI @November 27, 2016 11:43 am was not visible when I posted my comment;
— I fully concur with said comment by SAMURAI;
— At least a third of the comments I’ve ever posted on WUWT make it explicitly clear that I’m about as far from being a socialist as it’s possible to get.
So you are claiming that the comment that was posted 4 hours before yours was not visible when you posted.
If that’s the story you want to use to defend yourself. Go ahead.
How could Canadians have elected this barking mad, vacuous donkey as their PM? He sounds like a bum fluff version of UK’s Labour leader (?) Jeremy Corbin.
You would expect more common sense from the average five year old than these pair of numbskulls.
And Corbyn said: “From building a world-class health and education system, to Cuba’s record of international solidarity abroad, Castro’s achievements were many. For all his flaws, Castro’s support for Angola played a crucial role in bringing an end to apartheid in South Africa and he will be remembered both as an internationalist and a champion of social justice.”
And in return there is the hashtag #forallhisfaults as everyone brings up examples from Ghengis Khan to Hitler. For example “#ForAllHisFaults Hitler made the trains run on time and allowed free travel for minorities.”
Comparing Justina Trudeau to a 5 year old is an insult to 5 year olds every where !!
“How could Canadians have elected this barking mad, vacuous donkey as their PM?”
The same way Tony Blair won in the UK in the 90s. Low-information voters saying “it’s time for a change, innit?”
ngard2016
Trudeau is not barking mad. Stop over-reacting. He says what the pollsters tell him will get the best reaction. That is how he got elected. He is of the sort that is ripe for overthrow by the voters if someone runs a campaign that addresses directly the concerns people actually want dealt with. For example it was announced today that 60,000 homes in Ontario were disconnected from the grid this year because of the inability to pay their gigantic electric bills. Welcome to wind-o-nomics, Liberal style.
The ‘poll thing’ is easily shown by simply tracking the polls and the responses he gives. If the polls say different, so does he. If the polls are confused, so are his double-responses. The great problems arise when the suppression by political correctness of what really matters goes overboard. The response is to tell pollsters lies which then leads to mis-statements about the issues. Sound familiar?
It helped Trudeau to have a corrupt and lazy, directionless out-going PM and crew. They are titled ‘conservatives’ but in the US would be considered flaming Sanders Leftists. So instead, rejecting the NDP and other ‘out there’ nutters, and with the Rhino Party being in demise (which would have easily out-polled the Greens) people rattled to the centre of the spectrum. Again.
If you want the PM to change his tune, whisper different answers to the pollsters. They rule, for now.
By the way, when justine’s alleged father died a few years back, I was telling people how there was fireworks and dancing in the streets in Alberta. I was soundly rebuked by someone in Vancouver who was too young to remember how toxic and damaging trudeau’s reign was to Canada in general, to Alberta specifically. They have been raised to revere that commie, and that’s pathetic.
Statement by the Prime Minister of Canada on the death of former Cuban President Fidel Castro
“On behalf of all Canadians, Sophie and I offer our deepest condolences to the family, friends and many, many supporters of Mr. Castro.
============
the correct term for Mr Castro’s supporters is firing squads.
I quess that the Prime Minister of Canada would have said the same sort of thing about the passing of Adloph Hitler as “President” of the German people. Mr. Castro was not reelected ever so often via totally free elections. Mr. Castro was a powerful dictator kept in power by a police state. He did not serve the Cuban people but rather the Cuban people served him. Mayby someday the Cuban people can be be both free and prosperous and not slaves to a dictorial government.
Pope Francis
“Upon receiving the sad news of the death of your dear brother, His Excellency Mister Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, former president of the State Council and of the Government of the Republic of Cuba, I express my sentiments of sorrow to Your Excellency and other family members of the deceased dignitary, as well as to the people of his beloved nation,”
This continues the fascination of recent Popes with Fidel
Remember the historic meeting with Pope John Paul the second.
I think that they see in him a truly moral person who always defended the rights of poor people.
It is remarkable that the white dove of peace rested on Fidel’s shoulder in his inaugural Havana speech.
A sign that will not be lost on Catholics throughout the world
I would not be surprised that Pope Frances attends the state funeral of Fidel Castro
Bryan, As an ex RC I have learned the people at the top of that entity are largely extremely “progressive: ( I cringe at that misnomer) They have some of the most regressive mentalities you can imagine.. Although the people at our level are very community minded and in most cases very decent people I cannot say that for the Vatican.
I no longer consider myself a Catholic.
From what I have read, the Pope is getting ready to come to an agreement with China under which the Chinese government gets to have a say in who is promoted to Cardinal or Bishop.
Something the Catholic Church has fought against for a generation.
Climate warrior? ¿En serio?
An article in which Fidel Castro is dragged in because amongst all his other achievements and crimes he may actually not have rejected climate science?
This is really a shabby piece of work.
I don’t think any of the North Korean leaders have actually ever rejected AGW, if you want to continue on this line of articles….
Climate science should be debated on the science, not politics and by smears by association.
For shame sir! This website can and should do better!
I’m with you Griff.
The politicisation of science is the greatest fault of the Left…let’s not fall into their grimy old trap.
Griff,
I do agree with you. This has no place on a scientific blog. Castro was a dictator and a murderer like any other dictator. He just replaced another dictator and murderer (Batista) who was not any better…
If he was for or against (C)AGW has little to do with what he did for or against his people on all aspects of life…
Just be VERY THANKFUL that the USA dodged a Castro like bullet by not electing Hillary Clinton.
“Climate science should be debated on the science”
We are waiting !!!
▪ DiogenesDespairs elselskin • 14 hours ago
Here is some of that “fast-growing body of science.” Crucial, verifiable facts – with citations – people need to know about human-generated carbon dioxide and its effect on global warming.
The fact is, there has been global warming, but the contribution of human-generated carbon dioxide is necessarily so minuscule as to be nearly undetectable. Here’s why:
Carbon dioxide, considered the main vector for human-caused global warming, is some 0.038% of the atmosphere[1]- a trace gas. Water vapor varies from 0% to 4%[2], and should easily average 1% or more[3] near the Earth’s surface, where the greenhouse effect would be most important, and is about three times more effective[4] a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. So water vapor is at least 25 times more prevalent and three times more effective; that makes it at least 75 times more important to the greenhouse effect than carbon dioxide[5]. The TOTAL contribution of carbon dioxide to the greenhouse effect is therefore 0.013 or less. The total human contribution to atmospheric carbon dioxide since the start of the industrial revolution has been estimated at about 25%[6]. So humans’ carbon dioxide greenhouse effect is a quarter of 0.013, works out to about 0.00325. Total warming of the Earth by the greenhouse effect is widely accepted as about 33 degrees Centigrade, raising average temperature to 59 degrees Fahrenheit. So the contribution of anthropogenic carbon dioxide is less than 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit, or under 0.1 degree Centigrade. Global warming over the last century is thought by many to be about 0.6 degrees Centigrade.
But that’s only the beginning. We’ve had global warming for more than 10,000 years, since the end of the last Ice Age[7]. Whatever caused that, it was not human activity. It was not all those power plants and factories and SUVs being operated by Stone Age cavemen while chipping arrowheads out of bits of flint. Whatever the cause was, it melted the glaciers that in North America once extended south to Long Island and parts of New York City[8] into virtually complete disappearance (except for a few mountain remnants). That’s one big greenhouse effect! If we are still having global warming – and I suppose we should presume we are, given a 10,000 year trend – it seems highly likely that it is still the overwhelmingly primary cause of continued warming, rather than our piddling 0.00325 contribution to the greenhouse effect.
Yet even that trend-continuation needs to be proved. Evidence is that the Medieval Warm Period centered on the 1200s was somewhat warmer than we are now[9], and the climate was clearly colder in the Little Ice Age in the 1600s than it is now[10]. So we are within the range of normal up-and-down fluctuations without human greenhouse contributions that could be significant, or even measurable.
The principal scientists arguing for human-caused global warming have been demonstrably disingenuous[11], and now you can see why. They have proved they should not be trusted.
The idea that we should be spending hundreds of billions of dollars and hamstringing the economy of the entire world to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is beyond ludicrous in light of the facts above; it is insane. Furthermore, it sucks attention and resources from seeking the other sources of warming and from coping with climate change and its effects in realistic ways. The true motivation underlying the global warming movement is almost certainly ideological and political in nature, and I predict that Anthropomorphic Global Warming, as currently presented, will go down as the greatest fraud of all time. It makes Ponzi and Madoff look like pikers by comparison.
[1] Fundamentals of Physical Geography, 2nd Edition
by Michael Pidwirny Concentration varies slightly with the growing season in the northern hemisphere. HYPERLINK “http://www.physicalgeography.n…” http://www.physicalgeography.n…
[2] ibid.
[3] HALOE v2.0 Upper Tropospheric Water Vapor Climatology Claudette Ojo, Hampton University; et al.. HYPERLINK “http://vsgc.odu.edu/src/Conf09…” http://vsgc.odu.edu/src/Conf09…. See p. 4.The 0 – 4% range is widely accepted among most sources. This source is listed for its good discussion of the phenomena determining that range. An examination of a globe will show that tropical oceans (near high end of range) are far more extensive than the sum of the earth’s arctic and antarctic regions and tropical-zone deserts (all near the low end). Temperate zone oceans are far more extensive than temperate-zone desert. This author’s guess of an average of 2% or more seems plausible. I have used “1% or more” in an effort to err on the side of understatement.
[4 NIST Chemistry Webbook, Please compare the IR absorption spectra of water and carbon dioxide. ] HYPERLINK “http://webbook.nist.gov/” http://webbook.nist.gov/
[5] Three quarters of the atmosphere and virtually all water vapor are in the troposphere. Including all the atmosphere would change the ratios to about 20 times more prevalent and 60 times more effective. However, the greenhouse effect of high-altitude carbon dioxide on lower-altitude weather and the earth’s surface seems likely to be small if not nil.
[6] National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. HYPERLINK “http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/cl…” http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/cl…. The estimated 90ppm increase in carbon dioxide, 30% above the base of 280 ppm, to a recent reading of 370 ppm, equates to just under 25% of present concentration, the relevant factor in estimating present contribution to the greenhouse effect.
[7] Oak Ridge National Laboratory http://www.esd.ornl.gov/projec…
[8] New York Nature – The nature and natural history of the New York City region. Betsy McCully http://www.newyorknature.net/I…
[9] Global Warming: A Geological Perspective John P. Bluemle HYPERLINK “https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/Ne…” https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/Ne… This article, published by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency, is drawn from a paper by the author in Environmental Geosciences, 1999, Volume 6, Number 2, pp. 63-75. Note particularly the chart on p.4.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Wikileaks: Climatic Research Unit emails, data, models, 1996-2009 HYPERLINK “http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Clim…” http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Clim….
See also HYPERLINK “http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…” http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new… and
HYPERLINK “http://online.wsj.com/article/…” http://online.wsj.com/article/… and, more diplomatically: HYPERLINK “http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12…” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12…. Et al.
ADDENDUM
What initially troubled me was the aberrant behavior of the climate research unit at East Anglia University, which has been the main data source for AGW arguments. They initially refused (!) to reveal their algorithms and data on the grounds that they were proprietary(!!). They responded to critics with ad hominem attacks and efforts to block their publication in scientific journals. Now, as I am sure you know, this is not how one does honest science, in which you PUBLISH your data and methodology and invite critical comment to ferret out error or oversights. It took the now-famous Wikileaks “Climategate” to pry loose the data and expose their machinations. Yet despite the devastating blow these revelations should have to their credibility, the AGW “cause” has taken on a life of its own.
Fundamentally, the argument seems to rest on a logical fallacy, post hoc ergo propter hoc – after this, therefore because of this. We see a rise in temperature and a rise in (principally) carbon dioxide, and therefore conclude one must have caused the other. It does not necessarily follow at all. There can be other causes entirely behind both phenomena, and as you see above, almost certainly there are. Beyond that, I have encountered numerous assertions of fact that cannot add up given the physical properties of water vapor and carbon dioxide that go unchallenged. One-sided arguments proliferate and people arguing the other side are frequently denounced as being employed by business interests rather than rebutted on the merits.
In sum, I have not come lightly to the conclusion that the AGW argument as it applies to carbon dioxide is largely untrue and certainly does not account for more than a very small, nearly negligible part of the phenomena we are seeing. The implications of widespread assertions of and belief in such an untruth are staggering, and potentially enormously destructive. It is unwise indeed to let oneself be stampeded in this matter, and stampede is clearly what many have been and are trying to induce.
I can understand politicians behaving this way; a carbon tax or carbon trading regime would allow enormous revenues to fall into their hands. I can understand “Progressive” ideologues; it logically leads to enormous expansion of government power over industry, the economy, and the daily life of individuals, which they regard as a good thing. I understand the environmentalists; they want to shrink the size and impact on the environment of modern civilization. But responsible citizens need to put aside such considerations.
Repost
Right on Griff!
We should make more people aware if how war, genocide and brutal repression of the academia plus economic destruction – which is so characteristic of the Progressive Left -is the only way we will reduce emissions by the simple expedient of removing all the people who don’t agree with us.
WE are not holocaust deniers are we Griff? We celebrate the holocaust – that nice mr Hitler was an animal loving vegan.
If we hadn’t been so reactionary, we would have had a proper European Union 70 years ago!
His position, like that of many / most third-worlders, was likely largely determined by the potential payoff and the absence of any cost to their own economies:
Read site policy and respect the site owner for allowing content that offends you.
“Read site policy and respect the site owner for allowing content that offends you.”
Yeah, we don’t need more censorship. If you don’t like an article, skip over it and find something you do like. How hard is that?
Trying to take politics out of climate science is a waste of time. The Left put politics into it, and it has to be opposed in some manner, and will be, so there you go.
” The Left put politics into it”
The left basically manufactured this whole ‘settled science’ as a means to an end. Now they must actually defend it with something more than a ‘Cook’ed up consensus and personal attacks on dissenters.
It’s not your website. If you don’t like Anthony’s policies, go read something else.
Griff
Are you always a troll?
Maybe he only is on ever other day?
He appears to be a troll on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays but not any other days
He’s only a troll on days that end in ‘y’.
“About Watts Up With That? News and commentary on puzzling things in life, nature, science, weather, climate change, technology, and recent news by Anthony Watts”
It is notable that the current leading climate consensus troll at this web sight wishes to limit discussion about tyranny and dictators. He pretends that so called “climate change” is merely about the science. How he reveals himself with his false moralistic posing
..Hey Griffy, want some cheese to go with that whine ?
“Climate science should be debated on the science”
Hehehe!
You’re funny!
I always like it when some butt head is a GUEST at the blog of someone else and feels he has the right to tell them what the content/context of their blog articles and discussions should be. Typical! I would say go away Griff but your posts are so pathetic that they add a level of humor here.
RAH, Grifter’s attitude is typical of the
Fascist“Liberal” Left and their uncontrollable need to censor all speech and thought that doesn’t agree precisely with their own bigoted, narrow, twisted world view, no matter where it may be.But, as you correctly observe, his astonishing level of scientific illiteracy combined with his absolute assurance of his absolute knowledge is a never-failing source of merriment!
Fantastic idea Griff, perhaps you could convince Michael Mann et al about that very FACT that climate science should be debated on the science and not have that debate DENIED by claiming consensus
Funny how Griff wants to disassociate AGW from any dictator when that dictator is no longer useful
Fido is dead, long may he stay so.
Stephen, I just wish ( as many do) it would have happened sooner, like about 60 years ago.
Be careful what you wish for. In an alternate time line, Batista might have talked the Russian command into launching missiles. (or not)
If it had been Bautista, there never would have been any Russian missiles.
Bautista was no US puppet, but he was smart enough to realize that his islands wealth was based on trade with the US.
It really is extraordinary to see this fawning over someone whose claim to fame has been to subject the Cuban people to 50 plus years of poverty and terror. This proves, as some have already noted, that amongst us in the better-off world are those who want to emulate this tyrant. How strange then that electorates flirt time and again with policies whose destination will deliver them into a regime like Cuba or Venezuela. This I find wholly incomprehensible!
Our self declared best and brightest have betrayed us by corrupting our education system, filling our bureaucracies with over paid ideologues, and now as we see in the totally fabricated “fake news” crisis, openly seek censorship of all others who do not toe the line.
Not to mention the tens of millions killed in Cuba-backed proxy wars and general terrorism in Africa and South America resulting from Castro’s actions as a catspaw of the Soviet Union.
Don’t forget the carbon footprint of all those 1950s cars they’re still driving. I doubt their fuel economy is as good as a Prius.
Or are they just Potemkin Cars with Soviet 1.0-litre fours replacing the old V8s?
I seem to remember an article noting some of the Detroit Iron in Cuba was converted to using S. Korean made diesel engines and transmisions intended for light trucks (lorries to the Brits).
From my post written circa 2000-2005:
[excerpt]
I’ve also been to Cuba, and it is a cesspool of poverty and degradation (Trudeau boys, please take note).
What is truly interesting is that there are still apologists for Castro and Cuba here in Canada, even as Fidel himself has recently admitted that Cuba is a failed state.
They are probably the same “useful idiots” who said that Communist East Germany was a good model for Canada to emulate. I seem to recall several former [Canadian] NDP leaders who tried to sell us that line of BS (the names Broadbent and Lewis come to mind).
I travelled to East Germany, going through the Berlin Wall at Checkpoint Charlie in 1989, shortly before the Wall fell. East Germany was a cesspool too. While not as materially poor as Castro’s Cuba, it was an even more vicious police state where neighbour spied upon neighbour, and nobody felt safe from the Stasi secret police. Those who tried to escape were shot, and often allowed to bleed to death in “no-man’s land” between the many barbed-wire fences that formed “the Wall”.
Epilogue
The last person to be shot and killed while trying to cross the border from East to West Germany was Chris Gueffroy on February 6, 1989. He was 20 years old. Rest in peace, kid.
From another of my posts written circa 2000-2005:
You appear to be a big fan of the murderer Fidel Castro and his bosom buddy Pierre Elliott Trudeau (aka PET).
PET, the little fart (bilingual pun), died of prostate cancer.
This clearly proves that God exists, and has a wry sense of humour.
RAH wrote:
“In 1985 one could still look over the wall into E. Berlin in places and see buildings with WW II scars.”
In July 1998 there was still evidence of WW2 damage in downtown East Berlin.
In comparison, cities that were levelled by Allied bombing in West Germany were completely rebuilt. Some areas, including the century-old “New” City Hall and Glockenspiel at Marienplatz in Munich were lovingly re-created in their original pre-war magnificence.
If anyone has any delusions about how poorly socialism/communism really works, you would have lost them quickly had you travelled with me on business to Cuba, East Germany and the Former Soviet Union in the past few decades.
Regards, Allan
.
HI All en,
I also visited DDR in 1963(?) twice, one through Checkpoint Charlie and the second, very unofficially. On the second one, I joined two Canadians and a couple of South Africans in VW van in Switzerland to tour up through Scandinavia. Coming down from Denmark, a little inattention resulted in us taking a road that we soon realized was off the beaten track, but a kilometre stone saying ‘Berliner 100km(?), encouraged us to continue.
We went through the most bleak bombed out towns and cities having had, zero clean up and repairs until we came to the northern outskirts of Berlin where at a major checkpoint we were surrounded by military with machine guns. They took the driver who spoke German for interrogation for several hours. They brought him back, put an armed soldier in the front passenger seat and directed us back the way we came. I think the Swiss plates and our obvious stupidity won the day. But a look at that sorry landscape was a lesson in Totalitarian political economy.
I think Trudeau Jr. visited Cuba with his daddy as a toddler. Merkl should definitely know better having been a stasi officer, IIRC.
In 1985 one could still look over the wall into E. Berlin in places and see buildings with WW II scars.
HI Gary and thank you for your post.
Ronald Reagan was correct – East Germany was a sh!thole, part of the Evil Empire..
Regards, Allan
Also posted circa 2005:
I’ve also been to Cuba, once, also a business trip. Nice people, Terrible Government.
Cuba is not as openly repressive as Honecker’s East Germany, but I am sure that those who express dissent have a life that is interesting and short.
I am not easily fooled by the “Potemkin Villages” of communist regimes. Apparently our Canadian socialist leaders, the Lewis’s and Broadbent, WERE fooled by these deceptions. They were, and remain, imbeciles.
In Cuba, everything, even basic foods, are in short supply. People were used to being hungry. Everyone was thin, except Fidel and Raul. Prosperity in Cuba is having a relative in Miami who sends you stuff.
We hung out with the band at our hotel, and they took us to the local watering holes where Cubans partied. We had a good, clean fun time. But it was clear that Cubans lived in extreme poverty, and prostitution with tourists was commonly practiced, even by decent young women who were helping to feed their hungry families.
Cuba’s normally joyful society has been deeply degraded by Communism under Fidel. He is a true bastard.
In East Germany, things were much worse. People weren’t always hungry, but they were always afraid. Afraid of me, because of my western clothes – just talking to me could land them in prison. But most of all, afraid of the Stasi, the East German secret police.
We were driven by the Stasi from Tegel airport in West Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie into East Berlin. The contrast was startling. It was Friday night and West Berlin, then one of the great fun cities of the world, was popping. A quick stop at the Checkpoint, and then a sharp left/right turn onto Unter den Linden, the main street extending from the Brandenburg Gate.
What a contrast! Ours was the ONLY vehicle on the entire street, and there were NO pedestrians. There were eight little police kiosks on each contiguous city block – to keep potential defectors away from the western embassies and the Wall.
The Stasi lived well – but everyone, including the Stasi, were always afraid. The stress must have been overwhelming.
You wonder who would want to run such repressive, horrible regimes. Psychopaths, I suppose
*******************************
Potemkin Village.
Origin:
1935-40; after Prince Potemkin, who allegedly had villages of cardboard constructed for Catherine II’s visit to the Ukraine and the Crimea in 1787.
I went into East Berlin in the early 1990s. We entered through the Brandenburg Gate, to be met with a huge gold-colored statue of a Russian soldier outfitted in greatcoat and machine gun. The statue apparently was there to remind East Berliners of their saviors.
The faces of all the decrepit buildings near the gate were liberally pock-marked with WWII bullet holes. Buildings were falling down, literally. Many had interior courtyards, with structural beams broken and leaning, and the lower floors missing the facing walls. People lived in the upper floors, up rickety stairs, often as squatters in grubby wrecked rooms. Often the squatters seemed to be artists, with their accumulated works — some rather bizarre — stacked in the courtyards.
This was all 45 years after the end of the war. We wondered whether those buildings were left in that state as a warning against thoughts of rebellion.
The Cuban use of so called fossil fuels is insignificant.
The climate there ensures that they have no winter fuel bills to worry about.
Perhaps Fidel’s climate policy was to advise the USA to get the most expensive fuel so as to screw up their economy.
Not such a daft policy from his perspective.
Lets look at some of his other policies
1. Free Health Service for all (achieving Scandinavian levels of care).
2. Free Education for all producing the most literate country in all the Americas
3. No drugs problem – perhaps the only country in the Americas to rid itself of this curse.
No wonder then that some Cubans who grew rich under Batista on the Casino, Mafia, drugs and prostitution trade have now moved to Miami.
The so called ‘Scarface Generation’ now rejoice!
Not true. If you disagreed with Castro, or were gay, or were deemed wrong, you got no health care, no education, no job and no housing. So not “for all”. And the health care and education was paid for by the miserable, poor people of the USSR, without their consent.
And then Cuba only survived on free oil from Chavez, who similarly repressed his people.
Anybody can spend other people’s money and claim to be a saint. Only fools and morons agree with them.
True, life for the peasants outside the cities is borderline stone age.
Lucky them, but the same can be said for all the Caribbean islands. I do not think Castro has much to do with it.
An outstanding achievement. It would be even better if they could afford extras like antibiotics and vaccines.
Again, laudable. Much better if they had a free society in which to utilize their free educations.
Roving death squads murdering all drug users, drug dealers, alleged users and alleged dealers. Some might consider the program to be a bit extreme. Leftist activists might even cry “human rights abuse” if tried in the US or Canada.
No doubt about it. Havana ca. 1955 was the status tourist destination, full of glamour and glitz. The place for the rich and famous to go to see and be seen. And, of course, it had it’s dark seamy underside as well. In other words, it had more than a passing resemblance to Las Vegas.
It sounds like Vote Bernie!
Bryan
And all those wonderful things with just the small cost of freedom. By the way prisoners get free education and medical too. As for drugs are you arguing for a police state to eliminate drug use with it death penelties and 100% border control?
Your naive thinking is entertaining.
“2. Free Education for all producing the most literate country in all the Americas”
Who told you that? Castro?
Bryan….drugs are a big problem in Cuba. It’s one of the main routes for getting drugs into this country.
Everyone in Cuba would have starved years ago if the other communist countries had not decided to make Cuba the poster child for successful communist countries. They have propped Cuba up for decades.
Latitude
It depends on how serious the Government is in tackling the problem
http://lexingtoninstitute.org/issue-2-cuba-responds-to-growing-drug-problems/
A war hero General was not spared when it emerged that he attempted to run drugs
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/14/world/cuban-general-and-three-others-executed-for-sending-drugs-to-us.html
Contrast that with the out of control situation on the USA/Mexican border
On the Mexican side the police have lost all control as they are heavily outgunned by the Drug cartels
Only the army is capable of matching their firepower
Some parts along the USA side of the border are heavily saturated by the same gangs
No wonder Trump got the endorsement of the US border guards for his “Wall” policy
A war hero General was not spared when it emerged that he attempted to run drugs…
Nope, Ochoa was another Castro paranoia…he was executed because Castro considered him a threat.
The rest were put in prison…
Having an open border with Mexico…is the most insane thing I’ve ever seen
A war hero General was not spared when it emerged that he attempted to run drugs…
That’s not the whole story…..Ochoa was running drugs with Raul (Castro’s brother) behind Castro’s back. Castro was running drugs with another group. Ochoa was executed because of Fidel’s paranoia. Fidel didn’t want him to have any power. Fidel didn’t trust him and felt if he was alive..he could use his drug connections to over throw Fidel. That’s why he was executed..and the rest got prison.
A war hero General was not spared when it emerged that he attempted to run drugs…
That’s not the whole story…..Ochoa was running drugs with Raul (Castro’s brother) behind Castro’s back. Castro was running drugs with another group. Ochoa was executed because of Fidel’s paranoia. Fidel didn’t
want him to have any power. Fidel didn’t trust him and felt if he was alive..he could use his drug connections to over throw Fidel. That’s why he was executed..and the rest got prison.
the most literate country..
Bryan, this would be called a “Castro two-fer”…
One he could brag about and wag in people’s faces…..
….and two, control what people think
When you teach them to read, and control what they read…..you can shape shift them/mold them the way to want them
Our own schools and media are trying as hard as they can to pull that off right now…….
Castro was a Scarface who took over the country. Prostitution? It’s the main draw for tourism. Castro once bragged about the college educated prostitutes in his country.
Bruce you say
“Castro once bragged about the college educated prostitutes in his country.”
Could you give a link to support your assertion?
I don’t think you can!
..that was easy
* “One of the greatest benefits of the revolution is that even our prostitutes are college graduates.” — Castro to director Oliver Stone in 2003 documentary “Comandante.”
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-cuba-castro-quotes-factbox-idUKKBN13L04M
Bryan,
Yes, one can become a doctor or engineer for free but then you look for work in the tourist trade if you want to make a living.
Health care was good if you were part of the leadership, or a tourist who could pay cash.
For the people it was always awful.
Free education. The US has had that for 100 years. Same with many other Latin American countries.
However what good is free if it is bad and inaccurate?
No drug problems.
1) Nobody has the money to buy drugs.
2) The US could get rid of our drug problem is all dealers were shot on site and users locked up.
Posted in 2014:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/09/26/odd-dept-of-homeland-security-testing-programs-for-climate-change-as-national-threat/#comment-1749191
The degree of polarization in USA politics is extreme and destructive – it appears both the far-left and far-right are insane.
In Canada we have a far-left that is as crazy as the US version – Thomas Mulcair and Justin Trudeau are doctrinaire imbeciles who have a reasonable chance of seizing power from the first competent government we’ve had in generations. Mulcair and Trudeau rely upon the George Carlin principle: “You know how stupid the average person is, right? Well half of them are stupider than that.”
Our Canadian government is centre-right and our Prime Minister {harper] actually puts the country first. Amazing, and rare.
As I see it, the USA has an opportunity to revitalize its economy through cheap energy from shale fracking, but Obama is so beholden to global warming fanatics and other imbeciles that he is incapable of leading this initiative. Better luck next time, my American friends…
Regards to all, Allan
In Trump, the real Trump, not the Castro mourning left caricature of Trump, we have a moderate leader who is not under the thumb of the corrupt leftist oligarchy. He is one of the few available.
Hunter,
“In Trump, the real Trump, not the Castro mourning left caricature of Trump, we have a moderate leader who is not under the thumb of the corrupt leftist oligarchy. He is one of the few available.”
Perhaps I am confused by your statement above as it sounds like you believe Trump is ‘mourning’ Castros death. In fact, it is just the opposite. He said, from above article:
President-elect Trump also criticised the Cuban dictator’s reign;
“Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights”
“Better luck next time, my American friends…”
We finally got lucky, Allan. Maybe some of that luck will rub off on our friends, too. 🙂
Fidel Castro was truly a monster and Cuba is marginally better off now that he has gone on to his just reward. Unfortunately, another Castro is left in charge of the dictatorship.
I realize it may not be popular here, but I would like to point out that it is the nation-state itself that is the problem. Some are better than others, certainly, but all are a gang of thieves writ large. There has never been a truly good government and there have been many, many truly horrific ones.
The least horrible governments have been those with the weakest central governments. At least a Peru does not invade countries on the other side of the world who could not do them any harm even if they wanted to do so. Peru just does not have the ability to mount the attack.
The early USA had a weak central government and the various governors and city mayors were far more important to the citizens than the president. Some refer to such times as the “golden age”. But even then we can find horrific, inhuman crimes committed by governments at all levels.
Castro was one of the worst, most brutal, corrupt dictators but he was just an over achiever in evil. There is great evil in any government you look at.
Mark
Well stated
The problem is not the “nation-state”, the problem is the humans who want to run them.
As long as there are governments, there will always be awful ones.
A weak government that merely protects people from each other (Real crimes, not the millions of made up ones we have today. Such as theft and assault/murder.) is the best that we can hope for.
PS: If a city has a corrupt government, moving to the next city over is not that big a deal.
I hate to disagree, but the problem is the nation-state. The state lives by taking from the people by force and the power that the few at the top have is way more than any human can handle. Power corrupts after all. The state is force. Recall that Mao said that all government flows from the barrel of a gun.
Notice that Ireland made it up to perhaps 9,000 years with an anarchy. There have been other examples.
https://markstoval.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/1000-years-of-irish-anarchy/
https://markstoval.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/9000-years-of-anarchy-in-ireland/
No, Mark, what Ireland had was a large group of petty rulers who never managed to unite enough to deal with the Norse or the English. Both my grandmothers were part Irish, one an Irish nationalist, and the old country was very romantic but a lousy place to actually live. I suppose we will have Somalis making similar claims about the old country in the future.
It wasn’t anarchy, it was more like tribal government. There is never, no government.
We will just have to disagree since i can see neither of you have ever studied what an anarchy is, nor what the monks wrote done when they got to Ireland. I would hate to have your delusions shattered on my account. Carry on …
But one thing I have to say. There is one hell of a difference between a functioning society and a nation state. If you don’t know the difference, then we don’t need to talk. After all, I don’t try to explain the difference to young kids either.
Castro was certainly an anti-democratic dictator who cared little for human rights who much in common with East European socialist dictators.When I was a student I campaigned against him on many an occasion. However, and there is always a however, there were two sides to the story.
No-one endured more vilification, and no-one survived more assassination attempts. In the face of 50 years of sanctions and persecution, he achieved the best literacy rate in the Caribbean, plus one of the best health services in the world. Including infant mortality better than Florida and much of rural USA – plus the donation of emergency health support to countries hit by disaster including ebola, earthquakes and more. No, he was far from perfect. As Castro said, we talk about Human rights, but sometime we also have to discuss the rights of humanity.
But while human rights in Cuba aren’t perfect, they’re no worse than many countries in the world – just different. Russian human rights are not great at present, but Putin contributed a great deal to the Election of Trump so we are unlikely to hear much about Russian rights, Latin American right wing dictators had horrendous human rights records where hundreds of thousands were killed or disappeared, but we hear little of the US support for those particular psychopaths.
In reality we view the behaviour of such dictators on the left and right through the prism of our own prejudices, not through any objective or humanitarian measurement. That’s normal, but it is a very poor informant as to whether a regime is right or wrong.
Garth
Don’t think it’s hard “a regime” is always bad. When a persons life and freedoms is beholden to his/her governments whims then evil is present.
Other than accusations from the left what proof do you have that Putin contributed to trumps victory over his freind Hillary, you no the person who reset our relationship with Russia, the person who gave away 25% of our uranium reserves to Putin for cash, the same person who took direct contributions to her fondation from Putin?
If your claiming Wikileaks Farange already said it wasn’t the Russians and even if it was do you have problem finding the truth out from those emails?
Doubt every claim of achievement made by the Castro regime. They lie about everything.
Of course they do.
Cuba is almost as left as San Fran Nan.
Fidel Castro was one of the half dozen or so most evil, bloodstained tyrants of the 20th century.
The number of deaths in Africa and South America resulting from his work as the primary agent of Soviet proxy wars against the West will never be counted, but certainly run into tens – perhaps hundreds – of millions. In that he certainly surpassed genocidal filth such as Pol Pot.
The World is a vastly better place for his passing.
Putin contributed a great deal to the Election of Trump so we are unlikely to hear much about Russian rights
Is it your opinion that all those “stupid white voters” just listened to Putin? Were there pro-Trump advertisements on TV paid for by Putin? Donations from Russia to Trump campaign? How exactly did he contributed to Trump election?
Please show some support for this statement – but please don’t use the silly story about “secret” dns traffic between Trump and Alpha bank, it’s so stupid it’s embarrassing.
And we pretty much know about Russian rights.
In any event, there is only one side to this story – a brutal dictator had died. Good riddance
Garth
Putin contributed to Trumps election?
Any evidence of that?
You mean to say he turned on the one person in the world who understood him and rest our relationship with Russia? The same person that gave him control of 25% of our uranium reserves for a mere donation to a private charity and few bucks to some personal freinds and relations? The same person that Putin has been financing for years?
Oh that’s right our great media says it so I forgot.
Most of those achievements were nothing more than propaganda. I’ve already documented some of the many refutations for the claims about Cuba’s medical and education institutions.
As far as donating medical services, that was never true. Cuba sold those services, the countries that received them paid Cuba for the services the doctors provide.
Human Rights aren’t perfect? Sure, getting arrested for disagreeing with the government is just a minor blip on the road to perfecting society????
And now we get to the core of it. You are an idiot.
The claim that Putin was helping Trump is often claimed, and eagerly believed by those who have no ability to think for themselves. Such as yourself.
BTW, intelligent people are capable of realizing that just because someone isn’t a communist, doesn’t mean that they are therefor a right wing dictator.
Justin Trudeau’s tribute is appalling. Fidel Castro was an enemy to Western values, an enemy to free speech and an enemy to human decency.
It shows the mindset of the Global Warming advocates like Justin Trudeau. They are, at heart, Authoritarian despots who aim to impose upon society their world view without criticism and at our expense.
No freedom loving person in Canada should be under any impression that Trudeau is a classical liberal. He is a Socialist in heart, spirit and politics…. No Canadian should vote for this man or his party again. He has shown Canada his true colours.
The leftists are truly appalling.
“It shows the mindset of the Global Warming advocates like Justin Trudeau. They are, at heart, Authoritarian despots who aim to impose upon society their world view without criticism and at our expense.”
Exactly right, and that’s why they admire Castro, because he did something they wish they could do: have absolute power over people.
Trudeau’s hardly made a secret of his dictator fetish: “There’s a level of admiration I actually have for China because their basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around on a dime.”
Is there any evidence that the Chinese dictators have turned around their economy? Much less on a dime.
China’s economy is much better than it was a few decades ago. The reason for that improvement is because the Chinese dictators started allowing low levels of capitalism.
What on earth is the matter with Canadians, electing this horrible man?
Ron, Just as the MSM tried to elect Clinton in the USA, They succeeded in Canada, the MSM in Canada flooded the news with anti conservative mumbo jumbo including climate change. The result: Trudeau in Ottawa, Notley ( NDP ) in Alberta and Wynne (liberal) in Ontario. In BC the left loonies are stopping real development of new harbors, pipelines and so on.
Say after me: Left wing (socialist) murderers good; Right wing (national socialist) murderers bad. Left wing …
A bit paradoxical! There are a lot of people who say the opposite. The reality is all oppressors are bad, left, right, up down, West or East. The trick is to be consistent in our condemnation, and look at all aspects of the persons crimes or achievements.
Garth agreed, except you don’t see mainstream people on the right making heros out of dictators. Can’t tell you how many Che, Castro, and even mao tee shirts I have seen in my life.
Young people in University ted to do these things like wear Che tea shirts, but it’s government backing for the likes of Salazar, Samoza, Castro, Augusti, Pinochet and the rest of those psychopaths who killed millions that gives them power. If they did not have the backing of countries like the US, Russia and the UK they would probably remain agitators on the fringes of politics, but we give them what they want. As recently as 1999 when it was clear what had happened in Chile under the Generals, Thatcher was still entertaining Pinochet and treating him as a hero and left wing politicians were paying homage to Castro.
When we condemn these creatures, we also need to take a good hard look at what else our own governments have been up to and how involved they were on both sides.
Garth
So the fact that liberal universities teach kids to revere socialist dictators has no effect on the policies our governments follow? When our “leaders” legitimize them has no effect?
Your making excuse.
The trick is to stop lefty revisions to history.
Gareth, what choice did the west have once the Soviet Union started creating communist revolutionary movements throughout the world?
Repeat after me: Socialists and National Socialists are both Left Wing and are both really, really bad.
+100
+1000
National socialists, are still socialists, so they are left wing.
It turns out that the climate consensus warriors are the cutting edge of the lefty community. After all in the modern era, it was the climate concerned who led the way in rationalizing the silencing of views counter to their agenda by dismissing the skeptics, pretending that skeptics have no evidence, and by denigrating their right to even exist. Now we see the lefties of the world expanding on this technique. A new category of thought crime has been fabricated out of whole cloth by the left. Using false claims about “fake news”, fleeing all discussion about issues, and blatantly calling for criminally prosecuting those who they have decided are guilty of this new thought crime. Climate change obsessed thugs have led the way for this.
“A new category of thought crime has been fabricated out of whole cloth by the left. Using false claims about “fake news”, fleeing all discussion about issues, and blatantly calling for criminally prosecuting those who they have decided are guilty of this new thought crime. Climate change obsessed thugs have led the way for this.”
This one may backfire on them, hunter. The conservative news media are now calling MSM news stories “fake”, which they are, so the Left can raise this issue, but the Right has plenty of ammunition to prove the MSM is more guilty than anyone when it comes to fake news stories.
The Left can probably list a few dozen stories they can point to as being fake, and some of them are, but that pales in comparison to the list that could be generated of the fake news stories put out by the Leftwing News Media, which would number in the thousands. Yeah, let’s compare lists. The MSM is the source of nearly all the fake news stories out there.
Seems to me,TA above, our MSM will have more difficulty pointing to true news amongst their product.
Fake News is a spectacular self inflicted wound and we need to rub the salt in.
Climategate exposed the mendacity of our “Press” for all to see.In the climate discussion.
Trumps campaign allowed the Presstitutes to show all.
Probably the same percentage who vote Liberal(In Canada) trust their broadcast news.
Press credibility is one with virginity.
The right can raise the issue, but the left has set itself up as the arbitrator of what is and isn’t fake.
When number 2 beats number 3 but can only do so by a field goal in double overtime, that says to me that the rankings are about right. It makes no sense for Michigan to have fallen two places.
That was supposed to be a response to TA in the comment thread above this one.
As I have written elsewhere: Obama did not come to praise Castro, nor bury him, but hear the sound of his own voice.
Obama not only likes to hear his own voice, he likes to talk about himself a lot, too. Do you think he is a little self-centered?
I think that Castro is one world leader that deserves to have Obama speak at his funeral.
It would be an eulogy full of “I, Me, My”s.
Certainly one of his greatest achievements was to have sugar rationing in a land that sugar cane is a major crop.
I wonder what part of “denial of fundamental human rights” do progressives not understand?
It could be they do understand and like the idea of denying fundamental rights to people who disagree with them. Like in Climate science, I am sure Gavin from NASA would love throwing the climate “deniers” into the gulag for crimes against the state..
That’s Obama’s way of not criticizing Castro, Dean.
That Ohio State-Michigan football game was a heck of a game! 🙂
I feel sorry for the worms, bacteria and maggots that will have to consume the rotting flesh of this tyrant.
He’s being cremated. Worms and etc. are safe.
Of course: if the list below
http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/dictat.html
is correct, so Fidel Castro indeed belongs to these dictators who let many people die.
30,000!
But Worall’s title lets you think Castro has been comparable with Mao Zedong or Hitler or Stalin. Even with Saddam Hussein you couldn’t manage to compare him without tremendously diminishing what Hussein did!
Bindidon
So dictators that can take your life with no cause should be judge by how many they indiscriminately kill? What number is acceptable?
Yeah, and by that count, Charles Manson must really have been a pretty good guy, right? I mean he didn’t even kill 10 people all told, did he?
He only had population of 11 million to work with. If Cuba was the size of China, he would have killed about 3 million people. Not as much as Mao, I grant you that.
Mao, Hitler and Stalin had a lot more people to work with.
In some ways the US protests against human rights in Cuba are paradoxical. In themselves they are positive and indicative of good government. However the US maintains a detention centre in Cuba where the neither Magna Carta nor US constitution is adhered to. There are prisoners there who have never been charged with any crime and who’s status in unclear. They have been tortured and denied the most basic of human rights.
It’s stuff like this that tends to undermine US concerns for human rights and make it seem hypocritical. A bit like Putin claiming to care about civilian lives while massacring children in Aleppo. The sad thing is that it give Islamists ammunition to use in brainwashing by pointing out the divide between what the US says, and what it actually does.
If these people in Guantanamo are enemy combatants, treat them as such. If they are criminals, prosecute them. But don’t just treat them like inmates in a Stalinist gulag then complain about human rights a mile down the road. Its hypocrisy at its worse.
Typical lefty liar pretending that Guantanamo detaining terrorists caught in the fields of battle are the equivalent of Castro and Che murdering terrorizing, suppressing stealing and censoring their own people and those in other nations.
Think about what you said. Do you really find terrorist on battlefields? Isn’t that sort of missing the point of terrorism?
Gareth
Yes if they are in civilian clothing or hiding behind civilians they are illegal combatants
When you are fighting a terrorist state, like the Taliban, then certainly you find terrorists on battlefields.
Gareth you aren’t worth a cup of warm spit
You are as stuck on stupid as those tools who think the World Trade Center was blown up by preplanted explosives: you’re not worth the trouble.
Typical mendacious Lefty bollocks.
You really haven’t a clue, have you?
Garth
Now you have totally gone of the rails, magma carta and the constitution only apply to citizens. However the Ganeve convention does apply, however it afford ZERO protection to combatants who do not fight in uniform, attack civilians or who hid behind civilians. The convention was designed to civilize war by forcing combatants to adhere to the rules of war, if they did so they were afforded protection and had rights, if they didn’t they have ZERO rights.
Thanks Bob, by the way, there is an ‘e’ in my name. Gareth, not Garth. Old Celtic name!
My point is that human rights are applicable to everyone. I’m a bit of a radical, but I also believe that the Magana Carta and US constitution also have a universal application. I know that horrifies Hunter and Carweazle and seems to upset you Bob, but I am not talking about rules of war or the Geneva convention.
Castro was not at war with the people he executed. They posed no risk to him.
The US is not at war with the people in Guantanamo bay ( If they are, they are subject to Geneva) so these people should be treated according to the law of the country they are detained in.
Habeas Corpus may seem like a fiddly detail to be ignored when convenient, but that is exactly what Castro did.
If contravening these things is seen as criminal with regard to socialist Dictators, surely the same rule should apply to the US? Or are there special rules in place applicable only to non US governments?
Gareth–as to the status of the prisoners at Guantanamo as per the Geneva Convention. There are several versions of the convention, with one version from the 1980’s that the US never ratified that gives much higher status to guerillas. The older version that the US did sign on to classifies them as “unlawful combatantants” subject to summary execution. The other problem is that the US has not formally declared war since WWII, but the Congressional authorization for the use of millitary force is not readily distinguishable from a declaration of war, unless one wishes to lawyer the issue.
Tom Halla.
I am not discussing the Geneva convention. I do not think t has any bearing on the illegal imprisonment of individuals in Guantanamo bay because as far as I can see, they are not prisoners of war, but others have argued from a perspective of the GC and I respect that. See my post above to various posters.
I’ll repeat this as it seems to have got lost.
The US constitution states that:
“The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.”
Amnesty International state that:
“The United States’ detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have become emblematic of the gross human rights abuses perpetrated by the U.S. government in the name of terrorism.
At Guantánamo, the U.S. government seek to hold detainees in a place neither U.S. nor international law applied.
But no one can be held outside of the law.”
All people have the right to a fair trial and the right to be free from arbitrary detention. These are rights that are guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the U.S. ratified in
1992.
It is difficult to accept criticism of the human rights failings of a regime on an Island which you share, when you are also contravening human rights in a blatant manner. I wonder if anyone recalls how they felt when Iran detained Americans without charge or trial after invading their embassy?
If it makes me a stupid lefty due to defending human rights, Magna Carta and the US constitution, I can live with that.
p.s. Usar and Hunter. You look like you would have settled in well with Castro judging by your responses to my posts. I’m just glad you and your boys don’t have the opportunity to take me outside for “re-education” 🙂
If they are, they are subject to Geneva…
Then just execute them…because that’s what it says
Gareth
The law is the law it doesn’t matter what you want it to be or what you believe. You miss the point of the Genieva Convention, it is to protect the rights of the innocent in times of war from the warring parties. Your advocation for the rights of those who ignore these rules risk innocent non-combatants every where.
Bob Boder, when will you speel the Ganymede Convention correctly? 😉
Michael
Sorry sydlexai is emssing ithw my pselling again, I hate space aliens anyway
“The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.”
The United States’ detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have become emblematic of the gross human rights abuses perpetrated by the U.S. government in the name of terrorism.
At Guantánamo, the U.S. government sought to hold detainees in a place neither U.S. nor international law applied.
But no one can be held outside of the law.
All people have the right to a fair trial and the right to be free from arbitrary detention. These are rights that are guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the U.S. ratified in
1992.
Bob I suggest you read the 14th amendment, the constitution does not “only apply to citizens”:
“Nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Geneva convention rules don’t apply to terrorists in Guantanamo.Treating those people correctly would involve executing them on the spot. There are absolutely no hypocrisy here.
Bit of info for you to consider Udar
“The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.” (US constitution)
Amnesty International state that :
The United States’ detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have become emblematic of the gross human rights abuses perpetrated by the U.S. government in the name of terrorism.
At Guantánamo, the U.S. government seekt to hold detainees in a place neither U.S. nor international law applied.
But no one can be held outside of the law. Just because they in Cuba does not negate legal procedures.
In addition,
All people have the right to a fair trial and the right to be free from arbitrary detention. These are rights that are guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the U.S. ratified in
1992.
If the US ignores these points, it is not in any position to criticise Dictators who do the same.
Gareth, what you are argueing is that war should be covered under civil due process for crimes. What I argued was that the salafists in Al Queda declared and made war on the US, and the US declared war on them (an authorization for the use of millitary force is a bloody declaration of war to anyone but a leftist or the Guantanamo prisoners defense lawyers). That theme, that terrorism should be treated as an ordinary criminal offense, was expounde by George Soros, among others, in 2001-2. A rather silly anti-war theme.
The Geneva convention is irrelevant in this case. It’s a bit like arguing whether the Iranian hostages in the 80s were subject to it.
I am arguing for human rights and fundamental law. I’ve tried posting more detailed rationales but they are not being published for some reason.
No-one should be indefinitely detained without charge, prosecution of reason for the imprisonment.
The US constitutions states that:
“The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.”
Amnesty international also say:
The United States’ detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have become emblematic of the gross human rights abuses perpetrated by the U.S. government in the name of terrorism.
At Guantánamo, the U.S. government sought to hold detainees in a place neither U.S. nor international law applied.
But no one can be held outside of the law.
All people have the right to a fair trial and the right to be free from arbitrary detention. These are rights that are guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the U.S. ratified in
1992.
Gareth
Again you miss the point! They specifically lose all rights because they behave in an uncivilized manor, to give them rights removes the deterrent and destroys the purpose of the law. It’s no different then pulling a gun on a soldier and point it at them at that point your rights cease and you are subject to summary action.
In any civil situation I would on your side.
Garteh, you quote from Constitution: The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.
Well, you do understand that constitution does not apply to enemy troops fought outside of the USA? And inside of the USA, it does provide for suspension of habeas corpus, so no problem there as well. Unless you believe that US constitution applies to everyone everywhere in the world, that is.
As far as Amnesty International goes, I didn’t know their opinion was the law of any kind. They think that we abusing terrorist’s rights by keeping them in jail without charge or trial. Well, I have news for them (and you) – the Geneva Convention allows for detention while hostilities taking place. And I do not remember hostilities being over, so they can legally rot in there for as long as islam wages jihad on us. And convention on Human rights have same limitations – it doesn’t apply to combatants at war.
But according to any conventions and agreements, those terrorists, who are not soldiers in uniform, could have been summarily executed, and it would be perfectly legal and just.
Quick question for you all who support the detainment of people captured during the Afghanistan invasion. I’m told they are illegal combatants who have no rights because they were not fighting in uniform. How do you know that? They have never faced legal process involving a trial where witnesses or evidence can be examined. I also don’t accept that anyone ever loses the most basis of human rights. The writers of the Constitutions agreed and felt that the points they were making were applicable to all of humanity.
If the Iranians tortured and imprisoned US citizens for life in a grim prison how would you feel? Especially if these were US citizens found in Afghanistan not in uniform. Allegations are not a foundation for harsh penalties. There has to be due process of law and justice. I don’t doubt that most of these people are nasty types who deserve all they get, but maybe, just maybe not all. And we will never know that unless there is some process of law involving a trial to establish the facts. This is what Nuremberg was about, even though
those Nazis richly deserved summary execution. We would never accept other countries treating our citizens in this way, and we should set an example if we claim to be in the right.
Gareth Phillips: “I’m told they are illegal combatants who have no rights because they were not fighting in uniform. How do you know that?”
Because I know some of the people who captured them.
Some of us get our information from the REAL WORLD Gareth, not from the bleeding heart SJWs of the Guardian and the BBC.
Hi Udar, I seem to be having problems posting again, apologies if this is duplicated.
Quick question for you all who support the detainment of people captured during the Afghanistan invasion. I’m told they are illegal combatants who have no rights because they were not fighting in uniform. How do you know that? They have never faced legal process involving a trial where witnesses or evidence can be examined. I also don’t accept that anyone ever loses the most basis of human rights. The writers of the Constitutions agreed and felt that the points they were making were applicable to all of humanity.
If the Iranians tortured and imprisoned US citizens for life in a grim prison how would you feel? Especially if these were US citizens found in Afghanistan not in uniform. Allegations are not a foundation for harsh penalties. There has to be due process of law and justice. I don’t doubt that most of these people are nasty types who deserve all they get, but maybe, just maybe not all. And we will never know that unless there is some process of law involving a trial to establish the facts. This is what Nuremberg was about, even though
those Nazis richly deserved summary execution. We would never accept other countries treating our citizens in this way, and we should set an example if we claim to be in the right.
Gareth, you are still trying to provide due criminal process in a war. As it is a different situation, any notion of due process is not relevant.
US national and constitutional law, as well as international law, recognize the difference, and provide different rules.
The notion that an enemy combatant should be provided a fair trial before he is shot is manifestly silly, even if one faction on the left has been pushing that theme for years.
Gareth Phillips
November 28, 2016 at 2:50 am ….
“I also don’t accept that anyone ever loses the most basis (basic?) of human rights. “…
No Gareth, when they commit atrocities upon innocent women and children, they become creatures that are lower than the worst animal. They have lost their right to be treated as a Human !
Gareth,
While Founders did say that all men are created equal, the constitutional rights and protections are only reserved for USA, not for the rest of the world, which I think should be pretty obvious.
As far treatment of enemy combatants – you missing the point. Rules of war allow detention until hostilities end. Which is what is happening here. Summary executions, while legal in case of those terrorists, are not being proposed or discussed. They are being detained. Get back to me after we are not at war with violent jihad as to why they still in detention, if they still are.
And comparing conditions at Guantanamo with what Iranians or other terrorist-supporting nation would do to our people is just silly. I don’t know what is your definition of mistreatment is, but those people get much better treatment that they deserve.
I think you make a fair point Udar in saying that the US is still at war ( as indeed many countries are ) with these violent Jihadis, which tends to justify the detainment of combatants until the war is over. But I refer back to my original point, how do we know they are combatants? They could have been non combatants of one sort or another, mistakes have been made. That it why it is vital to have legal process wherever people are detained. POWs don’t have access to this process I agree, but people who state clearly that they are not combatants and never have been, should have their cases heard.
With ref to treatment, hopefully you are right and they are treated in a civilised manner. But it is acknowledged by all sides that torture has been used in the past, and the President elect states that he would have no problems in using it again in the future.
The US is a powerful nation that leads the world in the struggle for human rights. As a result it has to show the world it also applies those rules to itself as well as others. Mr.Trumps call for Human rights to be improved in Cuba and political prisoners released from detention will fall on deaf ears if the US refuses to follow the same principle in Guantanamo bay. If they are POWs, treat them as such, if they are criminals, put them on trial. Let justice be seen to be done as well as done.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp
Gareth, you say how do we know they are combatants? They could have been non combatants of one sort or another, mistakes have been made
Military decides what they need to do, and there are no mechanism for appeals. Like it or not, it’s what it is. This is war and it’s not pretty. We either trust our military and intelligent communities or not. But giving those people our constitutional rights is not a solution.
Coming back to treatment – it doesn’t matter. Whatever treatment is, our enemies will always say it’s bad. I see no reason to try to bend over backwards for someone who doesn’t negotiates in good faith. Do you seriously think that if we let them all go and close Guantanamo it would have made a slightest difference in Castro’s treatment of its dissidents? Before you say anything, consider that we only put terrorists in there in 2001, and Castro was murdering and jailing Cuban’s for 30 years before that.
I must confess Udar that I would prefer to be held in Gitmo than in one of Castro’s establishments. I used to protest against Castro as a student, I thought he was an unsavoury character to say the least, and his record on human rights was appalling. The thing I think we always have to bear in mind is that how we treat our enemies, is the way our forces or civilians may be treated in future. We may be in a situation where aid workers are being held without trial, and get a response from some Mullah or other to the effect that they have been deemed spies or been guilty of sabotage and that is that. We have to trust the word of that countries military or government. If we protest, they may point at Gitmo and say , If it is ok there, it should be fine here.
Hopefully that all not happen. But I believe we may be entering a dark time in human history, and interesting times may be ahead.
Gareth, you say We may be in a situation where aid workers are being held without trial, and get a response from some Mullah or other to the effect that they have been deemed spies or been guilty of sabotage and that is that.
They do that anyway already. That is my point. No matter what we do, no matter how well we treat those people, they do not reciprocate. They always find an excuse to justify what they doing. It goes all the way to Barbary Wars, where the reason muslim countries attacked, robbed, killed and enslaved American sailors was simply because they could.
If we turn this conversation to Castro, you might notice that despite all this “thawing” of relationship between USA and Cuba, they have not changed their behavior one bit, in fact they insist of behaving just like they did for the last 50+ years. I guess we can agree to disagree, but in my opinion giving reprieve to despots only emboldens them.
“Gareth you aren’t worth a cup of warm spit
You are as stuck on stupid as those tools who think the World Trade Center was blown up by preplanted explosives: you’re not worth the trouble.”
Gosh Hunter, with responses like that to anyone who opinion differs from your own, there is a place for you in governments like that of Castro and Pinochet ! These authoritarian government just love psychopaths who are prepared to attack anyone who differs ever so slightly from the accepted truth. Go for it, you will fit right in!
ps I think the World Trade Centre was destroyed by evil people from the Middle East to who could not tolerate any dissent from what they thought was true. Ring any bells?
They are being treated like prisoners of war. In fact they are treated better than most prisoners of war.
This may be worth a read, despite its lurid headline . It kind of shows how the US is in many ways as trapped as the prisoners in Gitmo, and how ordinary military staff do their best when they are on a hiding to nothing.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/terror-torture-and-torpor-inside-guantanamo-bay-with-the-forever-prisoners-20141211-125m1z.html
So sad about Fidel’s passing… sad it didn’t happen sixty years ago.
Castro: No moriré hasta que Estados Unidos sea destruido!
*Trump elected president*
Castro: Adiós camaradas…
Castro really was worse than we thought! Totally corrupt! There’s still one more Castro to go… and I mean go!
Trudeau joins the other stalwarts of the left in their enthusiastic appreciation of the power grabbing value of AGW. Whether overtly brutal dictators like Castro or velvet gloved power mongers like Trudeau, they are united In their taste for totalitarian government. For our own good, of course. Let’s see how it plays when Trump is through gutting it.
The left are so seriously f’d up in the head it’s pathetic. Good grief.
It is time for the human race to kick out all of the dictators. Every last one of them.
And their defenders
I was looking for the source to the quote, “You are known by the company you keep” (possibly Aesop’s Fable?) and was reminded of an even better one, and one more suitable to a science-based site: “Birds of a feather flock together.”
In the present case, true Leftists support all Leftists, regardless of their previous deeds. If you want to know what a Leftist is capable of, just look at the past actions of those they idolize.
Rod Everson: “In the present case, true Leftists support all Leftists, regardless of their previous deeds.”
Of course they do. Always have, always will.
As the old saying goes, “there are no enemies on the Left”.
Mods
Why are some of my post disappearing?
ditto…mine too
Bob, You are wasting precious words, please keep your words to a minimum… 😉
Many of mine too Bob.
Mine too
Obama: “the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation” — plausible deniability. “altered” can be good or bad. Very clever.
Every climate change action advocate, I have ever met, seems to me, to be another Fidel clone. They talk the same, look the same and walk the same. Pure ideology with zero realism makes for a toxic brew. People’s lives have no importance to such. GK
Justin Trudeau is backtracking?
Trudeau defends comment on Fidel Castro’s death, says he didn’t intend to ignore human rights
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the former Cuban president Fidel Castro was a dictator, but that does not mean it was inappropriate to acknowledge his achievements at the time of his death.
Trudeau said the statement Saturday was meant to mark the death of a former head of a country with which Canada has had a long relationship.
Speaking in Antananarivo, Madagascar, where he is attending the summit of la Francophonie, Trudeau said he understands that some people who had been affected by the Castro regime would view things differently.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/national/trudeau+defends+comment+fidel+castro+death+says+didn+intend/12441045/story.html
And H!tler invented the freeway, universal gun control, was an environmentalist, vegetarian and loved dogs. Acvirding to the Pope Francis, Obama and Trudeau standards of eulogy, those mitigating factors should have tempered the rather harsh comments about his demise in1945. Our modern leaders are so sophisticated!
Fidel Castro spent his life acquiring and retaining power. He never showed any hint of caring about anything else, other than shedding crocodile tears at appropriate times.
That he was a “climate warrior” is very telling.
So will they cheer when dictator Robert Mugabe dies. too? DIctators are dictators and none are to be admired. Their brutal tactics to retain power oppress people and hold back entire cultures. Castro supposedly wanted to create “Utopia” in Cuba. Sounds like he failed miserably. Good riddance.
All attempts to create utopia are doomed to fail. Because they all have to work with real humans, not ideal humans.
MarkW: “All attempts to create utopia are doomed to fail. Because they all have to work with real humans, not ideal humans.”
But Socialists don’t believe in human nature!
First, Trump wins, then Castro dies! I tell ya, the Democrats haven’t been this mad since we freed all of their slaves!
wws: “First, Trump wins, then Castro dies!”
Don’t forget Brexit!
The times they are a’changing!
And it looks like the Italians are going to vote against increasing the power of their EU-loving government in their referendum next week. Which should lead to a new election, and an anti-EU government.
2016 is going to go down as a great turning point in the history of the world. And 2017 may be greater still.
What a wonderful time to be alive.
Indeed Cat Weazle, the far right have won stunning victories across the world. If Marie La Pen wins, which would not remotely surprise me, UN security council would be governed by Trump, La Pen, May, Putin, and whoever China nominates. As far as I can see, May is the only right of centre figure, the rest see left wing tendencies in Mein Kampf. Life could get very interesting. I wonder how governance by the far right worked out last time they had the opportunity ? Obviously concern with climate change will end, but what else will change?
..LOL…I guess, from your Extremely “Far Left” position, any one that doesn’t agree with you would seem “Far Right” ??…N.U.T.S. !
Socialists are centrists, and anyone to their right is far right.
Gotcha.
@GP:
“UN security council would be governed by Trump, La Pen, May, Putin, and whoever China nominates. As far as I can see, May is the only right of centre figure, the rest see left wing tendencies in Mein Kampf.”
As well they should since ‘Mein Kampf’ was a source from which sprang the NAZIs. ‘NAZI’ is the German acronym for the National Socialists that Hitler founded. Socialists are the group to which ‘left wing’ points. That makes it a very natural inference.
Don’t forget the victims that were shot in the water as they swam in the bay towards the U.S. base.
…..Justin
Many Cubans are also here in Spain. As a friend pointed out today, how can a country with a population of 11 million people need over 200 prisons? Why did excellent bloggers like Yoani Sanchez have to avoid the Cuban authorities? Because she tells the truth about daily Cuban life, with all the issues regarding not being able to raise a voice that is not party line, like the neighbourhood spies, like housing being allotted based on toe-ing the party line rather than contribution (for example by doctors). People who could not get by in the city moved to the country where they live a subsistence existence. There may have been free health care but no drugs available, no basics available, like tooth paste. And people are lauding a guy who brought that about?
Cuba has the second highest incarceration rate in the world at 510/100,000 which is way too high. Unfortunately the country with the highest rate is the US at 716/100,000, most states exceed the Cuban rate!
I can see why someone in Spain would be shocked since their rate is ~130/100,000.
“And people are lauding a guy who brought that about?”
They don’t care, because every leftist ‘useful idiot’ expects to be a Commissar after the Glorious Revolution, not a dead body in a ditch (as is their usual fate when the Great Leader decides he needs to purge anyone who might support a revolution against him).
Besides, Cuba is a leftist utopia. Anyone spreading ‘fake news’ goes to jail. And just think how much larger the Carbon Footprint would be if they were living more than a subsistence existence. They don’t see it as a failure, they see it as the future for the world.
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/castro%20island.jpg
Justin Trudeau:
“While a controversial figure, both Mr. Castro’s supporters and detractors recognized his tremendous dedication and love for the Cuban people who had a deep and lasting affection for “el Comandante”.
Kind of like Jim Jones’s tremendous dedication and love for his people:
(you only have to listen to the first 20 seconds…I haven’t – couldn’t – listen to the rest of it).
https://archive.org/details/ptc1978-11-18.flac16
In a strictly numeric sense, Castro was a minor character — compared to Hilter’s estimated 12 million intentionally killed, and Stalin’s 9 to 23 million (history is still counting). Mao’s policies killed as many as 45 million.
But, he was our local character, and his relationship with the USSR during the cold war gave him power and money to spread discontent and communist ideology throughout Latin America as a bought-and-paid-for puppet of the Soviets.
Calling him a Mass Murderer gives him too much credit.
“In a strictly numeric sense, Castro was a minor character…”
The death toll resulting from his action as a Soviet catspaw in untold proxy wars in Africa and South America runs into many tens of millions, and the damage continues to this day in many states, Zimbabwe for example.
Catweazle,
if Castro was such a pillock, then why did millions of ordinary North Koreans dim their lights last night in mourning?
Anyone can “honor” Fidel with a token gesture like, say, making their fonts black, but with the cost of text so low and dropping all the time thanks to the clever folks in Silicon Valley, words are cheap.
Making your whole country black—now THAT’S grieving.
And it wasn’t just a one-night thing. North Koreans still respect Fidel in the morning, and to show their high fidelity they’ve been abstaining from meat and other rich foods all day, every day since the tragic news broke. Sure, it could just be an acute physical symptom—we can all lose our appetite, at least for dessert, to intense emotional disturbances, both positive and negative. But the proof is what you do the next day. And the next day. And the next day. So far, there’s no sign of the nationwide grief-diet coming to an end.
The climate embassy I work at did the decent thing and lowered its Australian flag to half-mast. As you’d expect. But that’s hardly supererogatory. To be honest, we didn’t even lower it, really—all we did was not raise it all the way when we opened up for they day! (My boss seems to believe he’s in line for a People’s Medal For Revolutionary Fidelity for that grand sacrifice, but I think he might just have unrealistic expectations on that score.)
Flag-lowering is hardly original. And with tragedies happening more frequently than ever (due to factors like climate change and Twitter), it’s not even rare.
Last weekend I was driving past Parliament and had to do a double-take, because… get this… the flag was actually at full mast!
Luckily I snapped a photo before they lowered it out of respect for the victims of my vehicular double-take. Pro Tip: don’t stop on a dime and turn around to get a better look at something if you’re moving at 70mph.
My diplomatic immunity paid for itself that day, believe you me!
Any nation can reduce the altitude of a bit of cloth on a stick.
But when a national leader of Kim Jong-Un’s stature vows to be incredibly short for the day, that’s powerful. To see a proud nation’s President brought low like that… well, it’s clear that Fidel Castro is no ordinary loss. He represents a bigger loss than I’ve seen in my lifetime. And now that I know how it feels, I don’t particularly want to live through such a global outpouring of pain ever again, thanks very much.
Brad Keyes: “if Castro was such a pillock, then why did millions of ordinary North Koreans dim their lights last night in mourning?”
Hehehe!
Here’s a photo of it happening taken from space!
http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/02/26/darkkoreaold-d80fe984f71570257340733c0a490d6964612ded-s900-c85.jpg
Killing at a minimum 30K people isn’t enough to make you a mass murderer?
MarkW ==> Comparatively minor…..people die in armed conflicts and violent revolutions….to qualify as a mass murderer, one needs to have lots of people intentionally killed. But, hey, you can call him a mass murder if you want … he just small beans in the mass murders of the 19th century roll call.
Rwanda? anyone.
None of those 30K were killed in armed conflicts or violent revolutions.
Those were all his people, killed after he was installed in power.
MarkW ==> I lived through the era but Cuba was pretty closed to news coverage at the time (missile crisis followed). I have no doubt that he ruled like all the other Communist dictators — killing anyone who showed even the slightest opposition or not enough Castro-worship. You may have him as a mass murderer after all…but a pretty minor one 🙂
I see little difference between Fidel Castro and the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.
Hart ==> I am impressed! Some reading here do have literary backgrounds.
Do people still read Herbert? — I ate his books up, and re-read them last year on my eReader.
PS: Never liked any of the movies made from the stories…..do you have a favorite?
“Climate science should be debated on the science”
OK, I am starting.
1. I misplaced the paper showing an increase of 2 deg C (1.5 according to Canadian delegation at Paris) cause CAGW. Can you help me find it.
2. I have trouble measuring the temperature change caused by greenhouse gases. can you help me?
Cuba was so great you were jailed or murdered if you tried to leave. Ahhh paradise.
Don’t forget drowning or sharks. But of course you had to love FIDEL.
Any idea Moderator why 5 of my recent posts have not appeared? Is there a problem?
Don’t forget that the United Snakes of Captivity, the country withe the highest incarceration rate on Earth, slaughtered 1/2 a million Iraqi children through starvation.
Here’s Leslie Stahl and Madelaine Albright to remind all you shameless, selectively-outraged hypocrites…
Lest you forget.
“…slaughtered 1/2 a million Iraqi children through starvation.”
No they didn’t.
Stop making stuff up.
Catweezle
Don’t feed the troll
Hay Khwarizmi, I heard ISIS calling, they’ve got some more widows and orphans they need you to go shoot.
Recycling agitprop from another yahoo the left loved, Saddam Hussein. Totally bogus, but I will forgive you as you have recently suffered severe disappointments and mourning/s
Saddam Hussein killed his own people and depended on lefty liars in the West to help him get away with it.
For a change I agree with you both, this statistic is nonsense.
Each time that lie is told, the number gets bigger. There weren’t that many “children” in Iraq at the time.
Why is this on this site? Nothing to do with global warming.
Its just us deplorables gloating. If the superstition of good things coming in threes, was Fidel finally dying the third or is something else about to happen, like Merkel losing?
Good question. I assumed, without really examining the assumption, that Castro’s cremation was the punchline in God’s cruel mockery of les bien-pensants. I mean, it fits the tragic template, right?
BrExit + ClExit + CastrAtion = 2016 Annus Deplorabilis
It interests our host and reminds us all of the reality of what far too many climate true believers want us all to live under.
Read the prospectus. Nothing in it says that articles are limited to global warming.
The article about ice being found on Mars has nothing to do with global warming either.
As a Canadian, I am embarrassed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s fawning comments on the death of Fidel Castro. With each succeeding day he is in office, he is proving to me and millions of other Canadians that he is as shallow and empty as we feared last year.
Justin is following in the footsteps of his father, the late Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, who admired Fidel Castro and called him a friend (Fidel was an honourary pallbearer at Pierre’s funeral 16 years ago). During his long stint as Prime Minister, Pierre cosied up to the Castro regime as part of his “we are not America” socialist schtick.
Justin’s brother Alexandre put out a ridiculous screed 10 years ago praising Fidel Castro as an intellectual and moral giant, a master of many disciplines, and labelled the Cuban populace as whiners comparable to children who complain about a strict father. Total apologist BS. Additionally, Alexandre is the director of the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation which has seen a remarkable increase in donations since Justin became Prime Minister. So there are a lot of ducks quacking here.
In the run-up to Canada’s federal election last year, Justin praised China’s totalitarian regime because it could do what was necessary – i.e. changing directions on a dime – to get things done WRT climate change. Seriously, he admires that. He evidently loves that China does not need to worry about dissent, but of course he does not seem to care about the despotic root of that lack of dissent.
So the Trudeau family can be interpreted as lovers of modern totalitarianism and the resultant personal (familial) enrichment from power. Fortunately he is kept in check by our institutions and constitution, but unfortunately there are throngs of fanboys and fangirls out there who love Justin’s youthful image and vapid, platitudinous monologues.
The dominant fanboys are our state run media.
They sold this product,Turdeau Two, to the public.
They own it and all the defects.
Think back the last PM was “not qualified” to be Prime Minister, according to the same media that has promoted,protected and still runs cover for this accomplishment free child with the infamous name.
And the King of Dopeau will be given a pass for this latest blunder.
This product from the Canadian Media Guild is toxic to civil society, constantly showing his contempt and ignorance of the taxpaying citizen, an mindset shared by his media apologists and party faithful.
What gives Western Canadians pause is that we do not reward lying stealing and self enrichment by our politicians, yet the population of Eastern Canada does, continuously, and we are expected to pay the tab.
What is the point off this thread?
[what is the point of your misspelled name?]
“What is the point off this thread?”
The Castro brothers were promoting “climate change” which is what WUWT is about and incidentally they were mass murderers…
Our ditzy prime minster is deluded if he believes that he was speaking on behalf of all Canadians. Canadians have unfortunately embraced dynastic politics which is leading to this type of silly veneration of someone who has a lot of blood has on his hands. It’s completely inconceivable that he could be so stupid. Completely disgusted!
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Nov 26
Fidel Castro is dead!
A word for the socialist dictator, cocaine and cannabis dealer, sustainable living advocate for his people, great friend of many Hollywood actors and actresses and newscasters who needed a vacation from their very demanding work portraying admirable American characters in movies and objective reporters, and the well-spoken anti-fossil fuel environmentalist.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
My steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the boastful,
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For there are no pangs in their death,
But their strength is firm.
They are not in trouble as other men,
Nor are they plagued like other men.
Therefore pride serves as their necklace;
Violence covers them like a garment.
Their eyes bulge[a] with abundance;
They have more than heart could wish.
They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression;
They speak loftily.
They set their mouth against the heavens,
And their tongue walks through the earth.
Therefore his people return here,
And waters of a full cup are drained by them.
And they say, “How does God know?
And is there knowledge in the Most High?”
Behold, these are the ungodly,
Who are always at ease;
They increase in riches.
Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain,
And washed my hands in innocence.
For all day long I have been plagued,
And chastened every morning.
If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
Behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children.
When I thought how to understand this,
It was too painful for me—
Until I went into the sanctuary of God;
Then I understood their end.
Surely You set them in slippery places;
You cast them down to destruction.
Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment!
They are utterly consumed with terrors. Ps 73
Embarrassed to be Canadian because of our swooning and infantile prime minister.
Fidel Castro had 20 luxury homes, a yacht and a private island, sparkling guest lists — all on “$25 dollars a month.”
Now why can’t the Columbian peasants forced to grow coca and produce cocaine paste figure out how to do the same thing on $25 a month.
Zeke
You could find similar scenes in American ‘Rust Belt’ states
Do tell about all the American rust belt states that have been hijacked by gangs and drug dealers, and Castro-aided guerilla FARC fighters, supplying Fidel Castro with his cocaine supply.
Juan Reinaldo Sanchez, former body guard, said that Castro’s drug trafficking in cocaine and cannabis was a double benefit for the dictator.
“Sanchez notes that it was strategically beneficial to Castro to work in the drug trade because “it corrupted and destabilized American society.””
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/05/05/fidel-castros-former-bodyguard-cuban-dictator-ran-cocaine-trade-like-a-godfather/
..OMG..If only stupidity was painful…”Approximately 26 percent of Cuba’s population is living in poverty, which is the equivalent of 11.2 million people. “…The Liberal Left ideology creates poverty to control the masses ….Period…!
Actually, you couldn’t, but don’t let the facts get in the way of your opinion.
Zeke
Your only quotes are from degenerates that will say anything for a few bucks.
Perhaps Sanchez escaped because he was rumbled as being mixed up with drug trade.
Do you think that the Rust Belt decay and hopelessness that accompany unemployment and drug abuse can be attributed to Castro and Cuba?
Most of the drug pushing emigre Cubans are now in Florida.
Is Trumps wall along the Mexican/USA border a waste of time ?
It seems to be so according to you!
Anyone who disagrees with a communist is a degenerate.
All true revolutionaries know that.
And of course degenerates deserve only death.
The word he is looking for is “defector.” Juan Reinaldo Sanchez was his body guard for 17 years and likely paid for his eye-witness accounts with his life.
Hopefully you realize that not everyone in Canada feel the same way as our “looser” prime minister. Unfortunately many do (claim to) feel that that “thing” is great for our country but he has clearly shown himself to be a far left-wing socialists and potential dictator (some refer to him as the Lil’ Dick Tater). Using intelligence his father damn near ruined our country and this character using stupidity (both of his own and the people’s) is managing to complete the process.
Well at least you can’t say we are not competitive, at least not in the hypocritical department. The U.S. has Gore and we have Suzuki, U.S. has Obama and we have the Lil’ Dick Tater, the US has DiCaprio and we have Young, … Unfortunately we seem to be keeping up.
Hopefully that won’t become our only bragging right…
The same as above with some of the typos corrected. Fingers moving faster than brain this morning…
Hopefully you realize that not everyone in Canada feels the same way as our “loser” prime minister. Unfortunately many do (claim to) feel that that “thing” is great for our country but he has clearly shown himself to be a far left-wing socialists and potential dictator (some refer to him as the Lil’ Dick Tater). Using intelligence and cunning, his father damn near ruined our country and this character using only stupidity (both of his own and the people’s) is managing to complete the process.
Well at least you can’t say we are not competitive, at least not in the hypocritical department. The U.S. has Gore and we have Suzuki, U.S. has Obama and we have the Lil’ Dick Tater, the US has DiCaprio and we have Young, … Unfortunately we seem to be keeping up.
Hopefully this won’t become our only bragging right…
Our Canadian media helped elected PM Trulander (who they will tell you, with a straight face, has a HUGE mandate despite getting only 39.5% of the vote), then comment on the Trump win (unfavourably of course, despite his getting much more than 39.5% of the vote), THEN follow Trulander to Cuba, and not raise a single issue about Raul Castro’s “election”.
Yet they still can’t grasp why so many of their colleagues are being laid off, and their media outlets closing…
Does anyone want to take a stab at the value of (socialist) Fidel Castro’s estate? $tens or $hundreds of millions?
Trudeau said:
“While a controversial figure, both Mr. Castro’s supporters and detractors recognized his tremendous dedication and love for the Cuban people who had a deep and lasting affection for “el Comandante”.
When Fidel Castro died, thousands and thousands of people all over the world broke into spontaneous celebrations, dances, street parties, and expressions of joy.
I got to thinking … just how bad does a man have to be for his death to be a cause for widespread celebrations all over the world.
The answer seems to be … very, very bad.
w.
But that’s also what happened on the death of Thatcher in the UK, and many people on this site are absolutely appalled by such behaviour. It just depends how you view the person concerned.
As far as I can see, Castro was a complete villain , but Thatcher was not exactly an Angel either. While their offending is of a different scale, the offence people feel at the celebration of Thatchers death gives them a good insight into how supporters of Castro feel about about celebrations of his death. Many people on this site think Thatcher was a wonderful person beyond reproach or criticism. Some people think that about Castro.
There is always someone who will send condolences, even on Hitlers death some countries sent the same message of sadness.
Just a reminder, here is Nelson Mandela thanking Castro from the bottom of his heart for his help in overthrowing Apartheid.
Gareth, are you truly trying to draw some equivalence between Thatcher and Castro? When Castro died, the party in Miami involved tens of thousands of people and lasted three days, a completely spontaneous outpouring of joy over the death of someone who had killed and imprisoned their family and friends. They’d be partying in Cuba too, but of course, thanks to Castro’s laws, that would get them thrown in jail as “counter-revolutionaries”.
There was nothing even remotely comparable to that when Thatcher died. A few blokes raised a pint in a pub to her death, a couple hundred people held a “street party” in Brixton, but nothing even slightly like the three-day, tens of thousands of people blowout that happened for Castro.
Finally, you seem to think that Mandela thanking Castro should mean something. Hey, Justin Trudeau thinks Castro was a great guy too … me, I find my own moral lines, I don’t take them from either Mandela or Trudeau.
Not only that, but an old man with a gray beard still wearing combat fatigues and that bogus belt? That should tip you off that this is just another photo op for a ruthless totalitarian despot …
w.
For each person happy about Castro’s death there are 10000 sad about the death of this great man.
This indicates that he must have been very loved by the poor people of the planet
Bryan November 29, 2016 at 12:29 am
Oh, please. You just made that number up out of your imagination. There are not any huge gatherings in sorrow over his death, even in Cuba. Well, especially in Cuba.
Next, the number of people celebrating in Miami alone was in the tens of thousands … so by your claims, just to offset Miami alone there need to be a hundred million idiots who are saddened by his death …
Man, that kind of clueless certainty is so cute! I think you actually believe that!
Reality check, Bryan. Castro was a cruel and heartless man who delighted in throwing people in jail and keeping Cuba locked down by one of the more ruthless police forces on the planet. His response to the poor people with AIDS? Lock them up and throw away the key …
If you think he was “loved by the poor” either inside or outside of Cuba, well, there must be a few poor people out there who are as clueless as you, but most of the poor can recognize a totalitarian dictator when they see one, and their natural response is fear, not love.
w.
The top headline can be used for almost all recent rulers;
G W BUSH, H W BUSH, TONY BLAIR, MARGARET THATCHER all sent many thousand of people to a needless death and all were Climate Warriors.
Willis Eschenbach
Apart from the Miami emigre’s and some right wing US citizens there is no such unseemly glee in Castro’s death
Balance that against the many millions of people in Latin America, China, India, Russia and so on.
Also add the left oriented people all over the world.
Also add the left in the USA, the black citizens and the occupy movement and the Sanders youth.
So all in all the 10000 to one ratio is probably an underestimate
Bryan November 29, 2016 at 9:45 am
Perhaps the best comment was “When I die, I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like Fidel Castro, not screaming in terror, like his victims.”
Yes, there are lots of fools in the world. But the people who actually had to live under Castro, the people of Cuba and the emigres, are the ones who are celebrating … and the people who never had to live under his reign of terror, people for whom he was some kind of leftist wet-dream, are not celebrating.
Color me unsurprised. Do you truly take your moral guidance from the Occupy movement and the Sanders youth? Yeah, from the looks of it, I guess you do.
You wish … take a look at how many world leaders actually show up at the funeral. Trudeau already wimped out. Why?
BECAUSE THE PEOPLE OF CANADA ARE FAR SMARTER THAN EITHER YOU OR JUSTIN! Trudeau wanted to go to burnish his leftist halo at Castro’s, but the Canadians were so outraged at this that he wimped out, and rightly so.
Is there some part of “Fidel Castro imprisoned, tortured, and murdered hundreds and hundreds of his fellow Cuban citizens” that is unclear to you? Wake up and smell the coffee, Bryan. He was not a hero, or a good man, or a decent human being. He was not the “hero of the people” as you seem to think—he liked to TORTURE THE PEOPLE, you idiot, and you are defending him?
Pathetic … you definitely need to spend more time out here in the real world, Bryan. Kind, decent people don’t support someone who tortures women, so … just why are you doing exactly that?
w.
Trump and dead Castro. Things are lookin’ up.
A lot of “lefties” are mourning his death.
I wonder how many of them remember that his answer to AIDS was to round them all up and put them in camps?
It will be interesting to see who attends his memorial ceremony.
And those who won’t…..like Trudeau who just opted out due to overwhelming public outcry.
Some politicians are very divisive figures, you hate them or love them. ( Marmite figures as call them in the UK)
Many people hated Castro and Thatcher, but no-one would want to go back to the time before either of them came to power. When the UK was in disarray and Cuba was run by right wing dictators and the mafia.
Maybe how people feel about such politicians says more about them than the politician under discussion.
How can you possibly compare an evil hypocrite like Castro who plundered Cuba’s coffers with the saintly Mrs Thatcher who along with Pitt the younger was the least corrupt PM/MP/politician in history.
Gareth Phillips
A deeply puzzling comment, as if Mrs T and RR are in some way similar to The Great Leader.
This kind of sentimental equivocation (they’re all ‘Marmite’) destroys debate and ignores the enormous divide between, on the one hand, anti-state politicians ( a vanishingly rare breed) and, on the other, statists such as Castro and Mussolini, whose joint motto was ‘everything for the state, nothing outside the state’.
Despite Mussolini’s comparative benevolence in these matters (Italy did not close its borders until the mid-30s), and however admired this type is, their work must end in tragedy. For they represent a return to the tribe with the unanswerable Big Chief at its head. Sure enough, both Cuba and Italy joined in world conflagration on the wrong side.
Since, as you admit, ‘the UK was in disarray’ in the 70s, at one level you accept the point. As for Batista’s corrupt Cuba, with its afro-Cuban ministers, being an unsalvageable hellhole, revisionist history is beginning to tell a very different tale….. The truth is rather the reverse….
Even if he did not realize that the carbonic church is also a part of the same imperialism of which the Cubans liberated themselves. From the mass murder by slavery on Bacardi’s sugar cane fields to a medical system that healed the Ebola pandemic in Africa for the benefit of the whole mankind. Not bad for a “mass murderer”.
‘(T)he catholic church (sic) is also part of the same imperialism’? Another baffling comment, and one from which even the fuhrer, who was beaten by Catholic priests, might well demur. Because so far, no-one has found any sign of the Swiss Guards in any other part of the world than the Vatican. But, er perhaps you have other information? If so, you need to tell us, for such a discovery would be a surprise to historians, to put it no more dramatically
Mussolini might agree with you, however; or at least his speeches were used by the Hero of the Cuban Revolution. He simply updated ‘British Imperialism’ to ‘Yanqi Imperialism’.
Another strange comment is Bacardi’s ‘slavery’. This too is new. What is your reference? (Better if it’s not the Huffington Post or The Daily Mail, just to be on the safe side). Wikipedia says Emilio Bacardi opposed both slavery and the church. No doubt just another bourgeois hypocrite?.
I wonder which is worse – a pretentious slave-owner like the ‘Anti-Bacardi’ of your imagination? Or real-life Satans like Castro/Guevara? Their joint intent was to destroy the southern United States as far as Peru, thus starting World War Three. Not much left of any Ebola survivors then, eh?
Never mind, they would have made their point. And when it comes to nuclear annihilation, that’s all that counts.
Isn’t it?
Castro was indeed a mass murderer. His partner in crime Che was both a mass murderer and a serial killer, who went abroad for new victims when he ran out of people personally to shoot and torture to death in Cuba.
Cuban medical teams aren’t volunteers. The regime makes money off the doctors and nurses it orders overseas.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/09/the-dark-side-of-cuba-s-ebola-economy.html
Meanwhile, Cubans suffer execrable health care, for lack of such simple medicines as aspirin.
Communism, as everywhere else, has been a disaster for Cuba and won’t long survive Fidel. The Cuban economy explained:
It reads:
Thoughts on today’s Cuba.
My father, doctor. My mother, lawyer. I, engineer.
Less bad is that my sister is a hooker and supports us all.