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Fidel Castro Resigns
Smordnys s'regrepsA writes "Fidel Castro, the leader of the island nation of Cuba has declined the possibility of keeping his seat as President, after the February 24th National Assembly election. "I neither will aspire to nor will I accept — I repeat — I neither will aspire to nor will I accept, the position of president of the council of state and commander in chief," Castro wrote almost 19 months after a severe illness caused him to hand power temporarily to his brother Raul."
Now maybe I can get good cigars legally.
I thought he'd at least stay to witness the election of Obama and have a nice dinner with former pres W Bush!
The Bay of Pigs Invasion finally draws to a successful conclusion, a mere 47 years behind schedule.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
So does this mean that we can get our fancy cigars again?
Does this mean the expat's in Miami will finally shut up and I can visit Havana soon (legally).
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
"I neither will aspire to nor will I accept -- I repeat -- I neither will aspire to nor will I accept, the position of president of the council of state and commander in chief"
Funny... he said something very similar when he and his revolutionaries kicked out Batista in the first place.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
His brother [Wolfman Jack impersonation] Raooooooouuuuuuul! [/Wolfman jack impersonation] will take over on the 24th and it will business as usual. Raoul has been running the country, more or less, since 2006 anyway. And the Cuban people pretty much abominate him as much as Fidel himself.
My blog
This will not change anything, until he dies. As long as he is alive, they will respect him, and I doubt there will be something like a new revolution. When he dies, that's another story.
Free the political prisoners. Free the press. Allow criticism of the state. Allow the existance of other political parties. Hold free elections. Until these acts happen, Cuba is just another repressive government we don't want to read about on slashdot.
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
I can just hear the anti-Castro cold warriors crowing that their plans to remove him from power worked. So now what are the nut jobs in Miami going to bitch about?
From the article: "Eventually this transition ought to lead to free and fair elections. And I mean free, and I mean fair -- not these kinds of staged elections that the Castro brothers tried to foist off as being true democracy," Bush said, on the road in Rwanda. Anyone get the vibe that Bush is just jealous. I think the United States needs a few of these free and fair elections unlike the ones we've had for the last 8 years.
It means the return if the Cuban Bride business. We no longer have to suffer with the long shipping delays of the Russian bride business and now can get women to marry us sight un-seen in a few hours instead of a few months.
Nerds everywhere are that much closer to being possibly able to touch a boobie.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
The U.S. should make aggressive postures towards Cuba so that they are too scared to open their society and will look to a strong man for defense. Great idea, huh?
Democracy Now! - your daily, uncensored, corporate-free
...we can finally end this sad old Cold War charade and finally end the damn embargo?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Fidel Castro is already dead. He's just resigning because his political duties get in the way of his lust for brains. BRAAAAAAAINS!!
I write sci-fi for metalheads
Before corporate America invades, and it's Wendys, Burger King, McDonalds and Starbucks on every street in Habana.
For those of you that have never been to Cuba, it really is a unique place.
Not for much longer, I fear.
he can spend more time on /. - searching for the "stuff that matters" perspective ;-)
this is news, but not really BIG news - Fidel has been sick for a long time and his brother ("Raul") is going to "take over" (although there will be an "election")
"ah come on, we all knew this socialism thing wasn't going to work"
Fidel Castro via the Simpsons
It ain't what they call you. It's what you answer to. http://mylyceum.us/
is that the symbol for this story is a crown. or would that be goldy?
announces new data center in Havana.
If there is a democratic election the Us will send them money and support. Think of all the work for Geeks that will open up....
More like a commie disneyland.
The government doesn't represent the wishes of the people anymore than Batista's nonsense.
Cuba wasn't meant to be a quaint backwater for turistas to see vintage automobiles.
1 trillion dollar bill THAT fast? I knew the value of the dollar was tanking, but I thought that trillion could have kept him going a little longer.
Monstar L
If you go now you will still be mostly confined to the "staged" Cuba, the Cuba presented to foreigners where the government needs to keep up appearances. If you want to see the real Cuba your going to either have to take risks or wait till the government collapses.
Castro and his ilk did far more damage to Cuba than any corporate entity could manage, let alone get away with. His country started falling apart once it was no longer propped up by the Soviets. He is a study in the strength of personality and use of tactics similar to East Germany to maintain power
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
It looks as though Father Time will finally accomplish what exploding cigars, poison pills, and even a skin disease-causing fungus could not.
Brains?
We have a hard enough time competing already. Once Americans can go to Cuba legally, How will we Manage?
Perhaps we can convince them to replace him with someone America doesn't like any better? With his experience in international finance and Aviation, Bin-Laden would be a perfect replacement.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
It's often used as an argument as to why the USA shouldn't be bound to international laws that they agree to, or international organizations that they belong to. Seems only fair it should apply to Cuba as well.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
From the article: "Castro...turned tiny Cuba into a thorn in the paw of the mighty capitalist United States."
Bay of Pigs was really the fault of Kennedy. So other than the Cuban Missile Crisis, I don't recall Cuba doing anything significantly irritating. I don't think one incident qualifies Cuba for "thorn in paw" status. Perhaps someone more historically enlightened could explain this to me?
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not entirely sure about the universe - Einstein
Maybe now we can end this moronic embargo?
God, it seems like only yesterday that the US was helping to put him into power....
It's a story that involves zombies, so it's kinda news for nerds I suppose.
You can't be elected by Florida without the Cuban-American vote. You won't get that vote by dropping the embargo on the nation those people fled.
As someone who has actually lived in Cuba for more than a year, I thought I should inform some of you that, while it is of some historical importance, this news changes very little politically. His brother Raul is as much of a communist as Fidel. It is highly unlikely that any Cuban policies will change due to this development. I think what we are all waiting for is for both Fidel and Raul to actually die. When that happens there is at least some possibility of real change. And since Bush didn't change his position wrt cuba when Fidel 'temporarily' stepped down due to illness I doubt if he will do so now that the change has been made permanent.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
Bloke's been in charge for half a century and he's finally stepping down.
In other news Ronald Reagan can take credit for the fall of the USSR, not the internal politics which were bringing the Soviet Reign to an end.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
... that I found out about this on /. when I have CNN on right now? Half expected them to announce a new Firefox 'sploit.
The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
Too bad their farming self-sufficiency will once again, be at the whims of foreign multinationals because, that's what freedom is all about. Freedom to buy foreign goods and services.
http://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1994/11/mm1194_06.html
Nerds are interested in many a subject. I am an education/tech nerd. I'm pretty damn sure there's quite a few politics and history nerds in here, too.
Beyond that, why complain when genuine news hits the front page? Did you complain when Slashdot was holding up the internets when the towers fell?
Link please.
No really, please.
Ohh god...I want to know a woman before I die....
*whipmer*
Virginia is for lovers. EVE is for griefers.
For all his faults, in some ways Castro valued human life more than you'd expect from all the propaganda in the U.S. about "communism." He kept his people from starving in the 1990's after the collapse of the Soviet Union cut off a lot of Cuba's oil supply (unlike North Korea's Kim, who clearly doesn't give a crap about the starving people under his heel); at least Cubans don't have to eat dirt, literally, like their neighbors on Haiti. He's kept up a basic healthcare system and invested his country's meager resources into finding treatments for tropical poor people's diseases ignored by Western pharmaceutical companies. He had moved his country's population out of harm's way when the inevitable hurricanes rake across the island. And he even offered to send medical help to the U.S. for Hurricane Katrina's victims. So in some nontrivial respects he wasn't a totally bad guy.
I heard the news on the radio, I also tuned in to Radio Habana and heard the same. For those who are waiting for changes, nothing will change, Raul and the rest of Fidel's cronies will continue with the "revolution". It would take more than a generation to see any meaningful changes in Cuba.
Vi havas e-poston.
Although I agree with your point that US relations with Cuba isn't exactly news for nerds, news about Brad and Angelina isn't news for ANYBODY. They're just actors. Nothing thay doe will affect the world, let alone MY world. Castro resigning does, in fact, affect me.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
What international entreprise should have long written off can become an incentive for revolution, and an opportunity for trade on the part of the Cubans and the US.
What would be an utter failure would be for Cubans to feel as the Russians do, that state oppression has been replaced with private sector oppression. Cubans deserve the property that their government has taken from then, as well as international entreprises, which would otherwise have created the opportunity for mutual benefit.
If a write-off is politically untenable, then compensation is called for, but the Cubans should not pay for it.
Wikileaks, no DNS
If you want more information about zombies, I strongly recommend the Zombie Survival Guide. And a good bolt-action rifle. And a crowbar for close work. :)
I write sci-fi for metalheads
I would have liked to be told that he is long dead and his last one and a half year videos were a Primeval spinoff (after all, in a way he's a dinosaur).
I do not defend Castro's dictatorship, but for many he seems to have been a 'benevolent' dictator. This is something of an oxymoron, so what I mean is this: For many working class Cubans, Castro's government has established a strong safety net and an egalitarian society. There is no question that Castro was also ruthless in dealing with political adversaries and I would not have liked to live in such a closed society. But like any other government, his was neither purely good nor purely evil. What did he do well and what did he do poorly? He did work hard to address the needs of 'his' people. A controlled economy with a strong safety net does result in an economy with a lower average income, but how strongly does is affect the median income? Is it better to be an average Cuban or an average Mexican? Both seem to be willing to take great risks to get out. GDP per capita, the standard measure of a nation's economy, doesn't address income distribution: The average income of Bill Gates and 9 Slashdotters is simply 10% of Bill Gates income + round off error. I would like to see economic analysis of developing nations that is measured by percent of population living below a locally adjusted poverty line. Does anyone know of such a study?
Think global, act loco
Rather than being informed about the world you'd rather hear about how British researchers have proved the existence of anti-matter using laser beams of high intensity, focused into Honey Nut Cheerios?
/. far too often. Some weeks this place reads more like the The Enquirer Nerds.
This is a helluva lot better than most of the psuedo-science crap that gets posted on
Sorry, even though parent has been modded "-1 Troll" I have to agree. While this does fall into the category of "Stuff that Matters" it is hardly "News for Nerds." There is probably not a single person here for whom Slashdot is their only source of news. This being said, I come to /. to read stories that I *don't* get on Drudge or my local news site.
/. one of them is Drudge. I glanced at Drudge and then thought actually crossed my mind "I wonder if /. is going to have a story on the Castro thing." I decided nah - that's going to be over-reported everywhere else - they wouldn't bother.
/. was wrong also. The increasing inclusion of 'mainstream' news is definitely diluting the waters here.
When I fired up Firefox this morning my 3 tabs auto-opened. One of them is
I was wrong. It's not the first time. However, I think in this case
I did it for Johnny.
1. ask a cuban to go on the internet
2. ask them to write something critical of castro
what happens next to said cuban?
this is a superior place? because they don't have starbucks?
so you prefer autocracy and censorship and police state over starbucks and mcdonalds?
dude: your priorities stink
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Castro is the only communist (and not only Communist) dictator to have official sponsorship by Adidas !
YEAH ! Futbooooooooooooooooooooool !
And the only "civilised" country that doesn't have soccer as a main cultural event is USA.
(Sorry my bad French) Je fais parler les Guignols de l'Info. Le pied, quoi.
People like that--the faux-intellectuals who engage in slashdot groupthink as a means of addressing their own intellectual insecurities--are the reasons I usually don't even get down into the comments. This one had too much potential to pass up... cognitive dissonance is always a good potential source of humor with these people.
What to do? Make silly, baseless, incredibly ignorant claims that the US is pretty much the same as Cuba? Praise Castro, and maybe tie the Che Guevara poster hanging in my cubicle into the conversation? Talk about how Hugo Chavez is the best thing since Castro? Or maybe just act like a normal, intelligent, rational human being? Of course, the latter is to be avoided at all costs on slashdot, so that's unlikely.
Not to downplay Cuba's problems, but for the record, it ranks 7th (out of 32 countries) on the UN's Human Development Index for Latin America and the Caribbean. If communism / capitalism were the deciding factor in the quality of life in Latin America, statistically one would have to conclude that communism is preferable. Reality, however, is a little more complicated than that.
Brad and Angelina? WTF, dude, didn't you see that the news today is that Lindsay Lohan has posed nude? Sheesh!
I bet candid beach photos of Angelina get a LOT more downloads than candid beach photos of Castro...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
for a country, with a large poor population, going radically socialist, at the detriment to some freedoms, in order to force a large part of the population out of poverty. for example venezuela's hugo chavez is using petrodollar-funded socialism to aid venezuela's poor (those petrodollars, ironically, considering chavez's hot air about evil america, are coming from american soccer moms refilling their suvs)
however, also consider the recent vote a few months back in venezuela. chavez, to his credit, asked the venezuelan people if they would let him alter the constitution to dramatically extend his powers. rather than just take those powers by force, like we hear about time and time again in the world. the venezuelan people rejected his power grab, even in the poor parts of venezuela that enthusiastically support chavez otherwise. and chavez, again to his credit, accepted their decision
however, in cuba, you have those authoritarian despotic powers that castro weild. does he have that right? no, he certainly does not. and i think if you asked the average cuban, who benefitted the most from the enforced socialist policies that castro enacted, why they couldn't also have more democratic freedoms, i think that cuban would probably have the same opinion of castro as those poor venezuelans do about chavez: yes to castro's policy, no to castro's absolute power
so socialism for the poor: yes. despotic autocracy: no. in such a way, you can criticize castro without rejecting the policies that benefitted the cuban poor
and btw, frankly, as an american, hugo chavez can talk about constant phantom cia threats on his life, how the evil imperialistic america is about to invade caracas at any moment, etc., blah blah blah. zzz. be as big a fearmongering demagogue gas bag as he wants, i don't care. as long as he uses petrodollars to aid venezuelan poor, and he doesn't abuse his powers and destroy venezuelan democracy, chavez has my support 100%
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Unless the embargo law is changed it cannot be ended as long as Fidel or his brother are in charge. And his brother will be in charge.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Allow for tourism and trade, let the economic ramifications encourage a change of policy.
(ie: people enjoying $$$ influx, will demand that it continues)
who says so? I want democracy for everybody (which includes for me: no death penalty, no torture, noone held without a wriiten accusation, right of representation, ...)
Yes, I'm left. You have a problem with that?
I don't think the U.S. could do it if they tried. The old money in the U.S. has too much political clout and personal interest in carving up Cuba for themselves. Cubans would be worse off than the Florida ghettos if the U.S. touched them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Revolution
Cuba needs communism. They should probably follow China's lead and open up the borders culturally and keep a tight stranglehold on passports, but the land is the property of the people, managed by the government.
Poor Cuba. I hope they get a good leader. Else they're screwed.
some of us like Cuban cigars.
some of us want to visit Cuba, like everyone else in the world can.
some of us would love an opportunity to live in a Caribbean island nation while working to bring their network infrastructure up to international standards.
but the diplomatic policy's failure is a minor addendum. it didn't effect the verdict on how and why communism failed
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
but hugo chavez's brand of socialism, not castro's brand that assumes police state control
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Given how the dollar has tanked lately, smart Cubans would prefer Loonies and Euros instead.
People may go to other news sites, but Slashdot's user base is unique and its the discussion of issues like these that has me reading them. I mean, who reads the article anyway?
I bet the is a bummer for most of you.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
Where would all the fleas go?
Can someone explain why we embargo cuba while we can't trade fast enough with China? All I can think of is:
"They're communists!"
So is china.
"Well they had soviet bases and nukes pointed at us once"
China's got nukes now.
"They rob their people of land and rights"
So does china.
"They don't allow Christianity"
Neither does china.
Maybe I'm not supposed to understand and I should just shut up and stop thinking... WTF still cares about Cuba anyway?
On the contrary, when I heard Fidel Castro had resigned this was the first place I checked. I wasn't too familiar with what this meant for Cuba/the rest of the world and am actually pretty happy it was posted on /. because it gave me a chance to read through some more people's opinion.
The point is "bare even arguable"?
A: What does that mean?
B: Assuming you mean that the point is arguable,
your comment is as much flamebait as it would
be for me to say "as long as the dictators
are sufficiently rightist, slashdotters are all
about totalitarian dictators. Half of them
want to make out with Benito Mussolini,
for example".
Such a wide brush you paint with! I am "leftist",
but I don't want to make out with Hugo Chavez,
I don't support Castro, and his methods of keeping
himself in power, or what he has done with Cuba.
I think socialism in Britain went too far until
Thatcher, and I think socialism in France has
gone too far.
Your post was flamebait, take your lumps.
You want to be critical of policies of political
groups on the left, have at, lots of very fair
game. But make an actual point, rather than
"damn them leftist idiots!".
emt 377 emt 4
When comparing Cuba's economy, please don't compare it with only the "shining beacons of capitalism". Compare it to it's neighbours and other countries with similar demographics and natural resources.
Why? There may be loads of reasons why Cuba does worse economically than USA, Europe and Japan that has nothing to do with Fidel Castro or communism.
I've seen crumbled buildings, antiquated cars, tourist warnings and flogging of prostitutes in many, many countries that could not be described as communist or socialist, so why is it suddenly the fault of Castro when Cuba looks like this?
It may very well be that Cuba does worse than most comparable nations, and they did receive loads of support from the Soviet Union for a while, but I don't find it particularly convincing an argument to compare their living standards to those in the west.
So does this mean Kyle can go to the Raging Pussies' concert?
Open Source, Open Standards, Open Minds
your way of thinking about the situation is the same as making the police guilty for the kidnapper shooting the hostage. maybe the police tried a bungled rescue operation. but even if the police did something really stupid, who is ultimately responsible for the hostage's death? the kidnapper is ultimately guilty for shooting the hostage, no matter what the police do. to think about the situation any other way is to not understand accountability and reason
castro assumed dicatorial police state powers. this is not the doing of the usa, this is the doing of castro. how does your mind work where the efforts of the usa's enemies, that the usa opposes, are the fault of the usa? that's quite the creative line of reasoning there
for example, the usa's current attitude towards iran pays political dividends to iran's hardliners, and weakens iran's reformists. this is 100% solid absolute fact. however, whatever iran's hoardliner's do: crack down on personal freedoms, accelerate nuclear weapon development, etc., this is still the utlimate fault of iran's hardliners, not the usa. to lay blame in any other way is to have a really perverse way of thinking about the usa's proper role in the world
the usa's proper role in the world is to be just another country. but your way of thinking posits the usa as the center of all responsibility and accountability in the world. i don't think that, you do. in such a world, what do you ultimately get? you get the usa militarily invading other countries. i don't want that. your wya of thinking DOES want that
here: the usa is responsible for everything, right? that's your position. do you understand the implications of your position? the implications of YOUR way of thinking about the usa says the usa bears the burden to fix the entire world. of course the usa is not responsible for the entire world. but that's exactly what you think, by throwing accountability and responsibility for everything, even what the usa's enemies do, at the foot of the usa
and then the usa HAS to fix things that really are everyone's responsibilty, or domestic situations. according to your thinking. for example, a typical gem of your way of thinking blames the existence of iraq under saddam hussein on the usa. why? because hussein shook hands with dick cheney once? hussein had dealings with russia, france, china, etc. in as many deep ways, with the shadowy sides of those governments just as shadowy as all the cia operations in iraq you can elicit
and yet some people who think like you lay at the foot of the usa every bad thing saddam did. why not china? why not russia? why not france? incredible. but even more incredible is that someone who then blames the usa for everything, even for what an avowed enemy of the usa does... they would then oppose the usa's invasion of iraq. hey: didn't you just blame saddam hussein on the usa? hussein is the usa's mess? it is of course absurd to think hussein is the fault of the usa, but now that the usa is cleaning up a mess, people who think like you say is the usa's fault... what did you expect?
accountability and responsibility, do you understand how it works in the real world? your way of thinking about the usa's role in the world INVITES THE USA MILITARILY INTO EVERY COUNTRY ON THE PLANET. your way of thinking does that. yes. look at your comment above: you implicitly lay the blame for the rise of castro at the feet of the usa. that is exactly what you say in your comment above. is castro a despot of a police state? yes. so if the usa invaded cuba, ACCORDING TO YOUR WAY OF THINKING IT WOULD JUSTIFIABLE. it is of course NOT justifiable for the usa to invade cuba. but your way of thinking says it is. you blame castro on the usa. its insane
it's a really common and frankly, ethnocentric and sheltered and ignorant way to view the world as the provenance of the usa. and a lot of americans and europeans think this way. mainly because they are propagandized, and haven't given the issue any real thought, they just tow a braindead partisa
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
So, his brother is going to take over. Tell me, how is this any different at all?
MOD THE CHILD UP!
Darmoc and Gilead at Tinagra.
The beast at Tinagra.
Shaka... when the towers fell.
The US is pretty much the only country that has a gripe with Cuba, and that is just because they are the only country who have ever had the guts to kick the US out.
The parent post has it right. The difference between news regarding US relations with Cuba and news about Brad and Angelina is the second part of the tag-line (which was conveniently omitted from GP's post): "Stuff that matters."
When you propose a lovey-dovey relationship with the Cuban government that there are people who are still alive who had everything taken from them and loved-ones killed in the violent overthrow.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
Unless the embargo law is changed it cannot be ended as long as Fidel or his brother are in charge. And his brother will be in charge.
My brother-in-law works as a geek for a Canadian company in Cuba. 3 weeks on, 3 weeks off. They fly him back and forth. Says it's quite a nice place overall.
Trolling is a art,
Do not be Gorbachev, be Den Xiao Ping.
Do not start with political freedoms, start with economic ones...
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
No, I don't think the left argues that Cuba is some kind of paragon of liberty. They argue that the policy towards Cuba should be something like that towards China, one of engagement that will encourage them to move towards free market reforms, which will lead to individual freedoms.
Stating that "the left" has some rosy idea about Cuba makes people say, well, nobody has the right answer, both sides are equally bad. That isn't the case.
Well some of them certainly do have oil, but it's not always about oil. For example, sometimes it's about Bananas as was the case with Guatemala and the United Fruit Company.
Oh, you mean you were talking about the rest of the island?
Ok... Well, no comments.
Well there's always the Che poster hanging at an Obama office. Story
I am reading this discussion, only to see the discussion of how or why this would be on Slashdot. We have seen in the past (or recent history) that Taco has said that he has had to make concessions on some issues to please the powers that be. Other things he won't compromise on. So if this (posting mainstream news and breaking the basic vision of slashdot) is how he compromises then this is not the end of the world. That said, I do wish this wasn't on slashdot.
"but money is the God of Algiers & Mahomet their prophet." - Rich. O'Bryen June 8th 1786
Maybe not anywhere, of course... But have you visited Mexico's border cities? Guatemalan medium- or small-sized cities? Bolivia? Peru?
I've been to the places I tell you. And I know I have not seen the worst places.
What you describe can be seen in countries that suffered from poverty and isolationism also due to mostly right-winged, army- and US- backed governments. It's not related to communism at all - it is related to relegating the population, it is related to having a too strong governing class.
The original embargo was based on the privatization of primarily American business interests. The Cuban Government effectively stole billions from American investors. Obviously the affiliation with the Soviets did not help. So since the Soviet Union has dissolved, why does it prevail? The simple reason, that there are many anti-Castro ex-Cubans residing in Florida, and Florida as we all know is a swing state. It would be political suicide for anyone in power to suggest removing the embargo and pissing of a(significant enough) chunk of the Sunshine State. The idea being, to leave well enough alone. And then there is obviously political rhetoric involved, not wanting to appear soft on Communism/Socialism. There just isn't enough incentive there for the right or left, to stir the pot.
I don't recall what their father was like since Fidel is Raul's BROTHER.
I Like Pie...
So, why not embargo Mexico? Their entire oil industry was started on nationalized American assets.
Can I have your stuff?
I hear Castro was a big fan of Lego
While the corn lobby is as powerful as it is now. The embargo goes down, and the first thing that will start coming out of Cuba, after the cigars, is sugar. Cuba mainly works on cigars because of the embargo, they get more money per gram of cigar then they ever could with sugar. But without the embargo, the much more profit-per-acre is sugar. Which would allow sugar, tariffs included, to go down in price. Which will make it harder for the government to force high-fructose corn syrup down our throats. (Or at least Canadian and Mexican soda will be a little cheaper for us to import...)
So I guess it really is "news of nerds", as what else is more relevant then out beloved caffeinated beverages and sweet snacks?
And while I agree that Cuba is probably much different then the tourist section I love, to bring back the sugar economy would solve a lot of the economic issues... It, and an increase in tourism from the blockade going down, would possibly allow the comforts of the tourist region to grow, and eventually envelop the entire country with general comfort and success... Or a massive crystal meth addiction like those below the poverty line in Hawaii... Either or really.
3 degrees of separation from Vladimir Putin
Venezuela's nationalization habits have been going on since the Nixon administration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Andr%C3%A9s_P%C3%A9rez
> when can we expect to see /. posts about Brad and Angelina?
Don't be obstuse.
Obviously, when Fight Club II and/or Laura Croft III are announced.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR25/008/2003
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I listen to NPR while I'm in my car, and occasionally visit www.cnn.com, but other than that, Slashdot is my main source of news.
Etc... basically, the government has acknowledged that you could consider certain things to technically be "torture" if you carefully choose the definitions and if you were hellbent of finding torture where none exists. Based on polling in the past, I think most reasonable people with no political axe to grind are largely ambivalent about the 3 times the US has used waterboarding and whether it should be labeled "torture" (I personally think its absurd to consider waterboarding torture in light of actual torture techniques which are regularly used by others), and that seems to be the one technique which the left has irrationally latched onto in their attempts to convince the world that the US employs "torture" regularly and systematically.
Of course, if you are reasonably intelligent and thoughtful, you have undoubtedly noticed that even the article that *I* linked above merely cites some anonymous UN official. Here's a hint... if something sounds too absurd to be true, it probably is. If you keep that in mind, you will generally be perceived as a more credible voice. Try to think for yourself, and try to avoid letting biased sources tell you what to think. If you are forming your opinions based on uncorroborated anonymous sources from hostile organizations, you may want to take a few moments to reflect on how you got to that point.
wasn't really an aficionado when I did, but I could never tell the difference between a good Venezuelan and a Cuban.
I was told by the old guy at the Cigar shop (who was trying to sell me something) that a lot of growers moved there when Cuba took their land away.
*whipmer*
That costs extra...
can't sleep slashdot will eat me
You mean the kind where the government is awash in petrodollers yet pisses most of it all away on foreign political projects without maintaining the means of production & where it crashes down around their ears? Call us back in a few years & we'll judge how successful really Chavez was...
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
And if it works out there in Cuba, maybe we could try it here in the USA, as well.
What if I do the same thing, and I do get different results?
your comment is as much flamebait as it would be for me to say "as long as the dictators are sufficiently rightist, slashdotters are all about totalitarian dictators. Half of them want to make out with Benito Mussolini".
That would be stupid and make no sense, where as one need only search slashdot for "Hugo Chavez" to confirm that slashdotters, in general, are pretty big fans of hard leftist totalitarians. The love them some Che Guevara. They love them some Hugo Chavez. They love Castro, and will sing whatever praises of Castro that Michael Moore tells them too.
Of course, I'm speaking in generalities, and there are certainly exceptions. For example, you are clearly an exception. I am also clearly an exception... I don't love Hugo Chavez--I think he is a very stupid man--like a high school jock who bullied is way "up" until he found himself in way over his head--who appeals to the lowest common denominator intellectually. I think people who praise him are among the stupidest people on the planet (and I absolutely think that they are inferior to me in virtually every way... in case the tone didn't make that clear). Is that arrogant of me? No. It's what I think, and I'm pretty sure it is measurably true.
And that is my main point... slashdot is full of people who really aren't that bright. They are the target "lowest common denominator" demographic of most of the rhetoric coming from people like Castro, Chavez, et al, as well as their cheerleaders like Michael Moore. It is a lot of very insecure people who engage in the slashdot groupthink because they have a need to "fit in". They mouth platitudes and praises of brutal tyrants because all the cool kids are doing it, and the cool kids--who tend to also be intellectual lightweights--are also reflexively leftist. Pointing out the circle-jerky nature of slashdot is not "flamebait", no matter how much you wish it were.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
Hans, shouldn't you be focused on your trial, and not looking for your next wife?
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
So you're claiming there are people here who never listen to the radio when there is a news broadcast, never watch any television station when there is a news broadcast, and never visit any website other than slashdot that contains news?
I did it for Johnny.
Presented: a contra-view to your assertion that because no US citizens are being held at Guantanamo, there are no political prisoners there.
Can you please provide a reference for "As political prisoners are invariably citizens of the detaining state" ?
Because I can't find anything, in dictionaries or Wikipedia. Political prisoners are those who (someone claims) are imprisoned for their political views. The term was used a lot to refer to Soviet dissidents (meeting your definition). However, it is often currently used to refer to those who are imprisoned for violence against a government that they were fighting against. In that case, they are usually NOT citizens of the detaining state. Their view that is that they were legitimately resisting a foreign government, and are thus are prisoners of politics, not of crime.
Another description of Political prisoner from Wikipedia: "A political prisoner can also be someone that has been denied bail unfairly, denied parole when it would reasonably have been given to a prisoner charged with a comparable crime, or special powers may be invoked by the judiciary. Particularly in this latter situation, whether an individual is regarded as a political prisoner may depend upon subjective political perspective or interpretation of the evidence."
I would think that for a significant number of observers, the people in Guantanamo meet this definition. Disregarding the ultimate factual actions of the detainees, a lot of people believe that the people in Guantanamo are being held without due process of law, outside of an independent review by a court of competent jurisdiction. Based on decisions made by a government for seemingly political ends, as opposed to judicial or criminal needs.
Not that they didn't commit some real crime. But they are currently prisoners 7 years later because of politics, not because they've been convicted of anything. How many enemy combatants have been tried by a reasonably independent tribunal 7 years after being detained? (CSRTs don't count) Convicted?
How long can a state keep a non-citizen locked up without a conviction, or even a trial, before they are considered political prisoners?
I should reply with the exact counter-argument, but then I'd be back in law school arguing both sides.
if i assume you live in a democracy, you and i benefit from the ability to call gw bush a moron. i live in the usa watch: "gw bush is a moron". no one is going to arrest me. in fact, it is law in my country that i cannot be arrested for that. and if i was, a free press would raise an uproar about it
meanwhile, if you live in china, or cuba, or iran, your words on the internet are monitored, and if you say something the authorities dislike, they can and will arrest you. if i am a cuban living in cuba and i say "fidel castro is a moron" i am subject to arrest and imprisonment.
this is not scaremongering you twit. this is point of fact, it is in fact the law of cuba:
here, human rights watch on freedom of expression in cuba. i got it on the first page just googling cuba and internet and freedom. this is simple academic stuff dude. human rights watch and amnesty international: are those scaremongering neocon tools of imperialism enough for you?
does any of these words below from human rights watch sway you? these are laws, on the books in cuba, that have been enforced:
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
if chavez uses 10% of his petrodollars helping the poor, he has my support. because its better than 0%, which is pretty much what you get with the alternative crony nepotistic corrupt government
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
teehee
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Perhaps some day you should pick up a dictionary and look up the word "socialism". What you're talking about is Communism or Marxist-Leninism, which are types of socialism. The US, like very industrialized country on the planet is a hybrid socialist-free enterprise state.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Spell check built into Firefox: Priceless.
Being forced to us IE7 at work: Teh suck.
Virginia is for lovers. EVE is for griefers.
I write sci-fi for metalheads
So you would not care if you would be subjected to waterboarding?
Yes, I'm left. You have a problem with that?
In addition, we got a late delivery assortment of about 100,000 psychopaths, drug dealers and sundry other career criminals that have come to characterize the typical Miami experience for the better part of thirty years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariel_Boatlift
But, if not for that event, Don Johnson would never have had a career.
You need to widen your view.
The ONLY reason US did ANYTHING was because Cuba was going to institute a communist system. This happened during the cold war era (late 1940's - 1991), where America's foreign policy was THE CONTAINMENT OF COMMUNISM FROM SOVIET RUSSIA. Any spread of communism around the world was seen as the expansion (or aid) of Soviet Russia.
Part of the containment strategy is stopping the spread of communism anywhere else that it surfaced. That is why the US fought in Korea (1950-1953), Guatamala (1954), Lebanon (1958), and Vietnam (1965-1974). Cuba just fell in the line of fire.
"They nationalized property without compensating international business" is just the reason they lay out to explain why they embargoed Cuba. The actual motive was something else.
-Chippy
1.) Posts a fairly neutral very short (although mildly snarky) question about whether or not a mainstream media story really qualifies as "news for nerds".
2) Moderated as a troll comment
3) In response to a reply noting the watering down of nerd-oriented material as a result of more frequent mainstream media posts, below can be seen the reply
4) "Is this 'nerd news'" = troll; "Fuck Off" != troll;
In this instance at least,
I think
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
As the recent independence of Kosovo (a few years following the 1999 US-led bombing campaign) shows, the U.S. is still the world's policeman.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Just pointing out that the Helms-Burton acts specifically mentions Fidel and Raul by name. Some people seem to think the moment Fidel is somewhat out of the way, that everything gets better. It's going to take longer than that. I'm not saying 50 more years or something, but significant change wont happen in the next week either.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
I'm sure it's a beautiful place. I'd love to be able to visit there without breaking the law. I think it's quite possible that I will be able to someday.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
I don't listen to radio, don't have television, and I don't visit any news sites with any regularity (and usually because Slashdot linked to it, but in that case I don't bother to browse through the articles). So yes, that is what I am saying.
To answer your question: I'm a communist, and I'm definitely smarter than you. How do I know this? Well, I read the papers and understand the English language and this has led me to realize that a guy like Hugo Chavez, who has won umpteen elections and referendums, and who gracefully admitted defeat when he didn't win the last referendum, cannot by any stretch of the imagination be called a totalitarian.
Chavez is a New Dealer and a throwback to the nationalizing governments that Western countries used to have (and some still do). Calling him a totalitarian is just silly, whether or not you like his policies.
"by that I mean people who don't sit on slashdot all day wondering why everyone else isn't building robots" DECS
I worry for the Cuban people. It is said that Raul would like to follow China's example in economic "liberalization", i.e. he might end up subjecting the people of Cuba to the same kind of brutal, nominally communist corporate state structure as is present in the China of today.
But I also hope that Raul, or whomever follows Fidel, will instead take plays from Hugo Chavez' book, i.e. steps toward actual democracy that involves the people as democracy should. It's a slim hope, but, well. Chavez does have quite a bit of economic influence around there, what with the oil and all, and a nice trading partner could very well pull Cuba in a more democratic direction.
In neither of these cases will Cuba roll over to US demands. The people would surely revolt.
Can you direct me to some statements/postings/blogs by someone who could be considered "left" and who wants the US to be more like Cuba (in terms of individual liberties, free market, and all that; and not more like Cuba in terms of health care)?
Wouldn't that be, as stated in this thread, more of a fringe opinion?
They do business with Europe, they do business with Latin American countries. The fact that they have those european-hotels has not facilitated in any means that a normal cuban can spend the night there You could say that about every western hotel from Cairo to Cape Town. Perhaps we should detain and fine Americans for traveling to Africa. I mean, what normal African could possibly stay HERE? Hell, what "normal" AMERICAN could stay there when the cheapest rack rate makes the Ritz Carlton look like Motel-6? Yes, there is injustice in the world great and small. The Cuban embargo and travel restriction is an injustice. Does it outweigh whatever perceived oppression you feel the average Cuban suffers? Who knows. The fact is, there are people FAR more oppressed than the Cubans who have not been blessed with the criminalization of Americans traveling to and trading with their countries.
With enough popsicle sticks one can make a pretty strong house, so yes you are right. Hell, I've seen thatched roofs withstand two hurricanes in one season. It's fairly similar to that old saying, if you put a big enough engine on it, you can fly anything. The shuttle is living proof ot that. I'm not discussing efficiency. I'm talking about possibility. I realize that getting people to see past their personal desires is a much bigger task than any of that, but it is possible.
What?
"That would be stupid and make no sense"
That is my point, exactly.
We must be reading different slashdots, I have been reading for a while, and
I am not seeing much praise at all for any of the people you name, nor any
other totalitarian leaders ( note, I did not say none ). The "general" case
in my experience has been other than you indicate.
If you believe that slashdot posters are insecure group-followers who post
the party line, why are you reading the comments? I know of a couple sites
I read where the posts are pretty much all predictable cheerleading for a
viewpoint, I don't read those comments much.
emt 377 emt 4
The Taliban didn't exist back then. They are what you get from men that grow up in a brutal refugee camp and then impose the order of a brutal refugee camp on an entire country.
Anyway your words will have little impact on those that think Ollie North was a hero for running guns to Iran and skimming some cash off the top for a car and air conditioning for his house.
Angel Castro came to cuba from spain as an army grunt, stayed in cuba after the war started a successful sugar cain business...
Fidel was basically born in cuba with a sliver spoon in his mouth, went to law school and became a revolutionary...
Not too similar... But...
Angel had a couple kids, and then went on and had a few more kids out of wedlock (inc Fidel and Raul...
But like his father, Fidel also had a child out of wedlock (Alina)...
So the son was somewhat like the father in that respect...
Wants to be a dictator, eh? Well he's going a funny way about it with them elections and referendums and all.
"by that I mean people who don't sit on slashdot all day wondering why everyone else isn't building robots" DECS
My prediction:
Raul liberalizes emigration from Cuba which, of course, helps major league baseball. The new Cuban baseball players drive the American players out of their jobs. Since the Americans don't have health insurance any more, they head to Cuba to deal with their lingering elbow and shoulder injuries. This triggers a slump in the US medical industry causing massive nurse layoffs, plummeting medical prices, and finally culminating in the complete collapse of the US health care system. Then Stan recruits Micheal Moore to try to fix things, Kenny dies because he can't get to Cuba, and Cartman accidentally saves the day while pursuing yet another amoral narcissistic scheme. Then we all learn something. Yeah. That's it.
This should avoid inflationary effects.
Wikileaks, no DNS
Another important difference is that it is much easier to get from Mexico to the USA than it is from Cuba to the USA. Every Cuban I've ever talked to about Castro and the communist government of Cuba is filled with hatred. These people are not happy with anything about their country's government. Mexicans don't have such hatred in their speech about their president. They admit the Mexican government is corrupt, but they don't talk like Cubans do about government. I figure if it were just economic 'pull' from the US that brought Cubans here then we wouldn't have this huge disparity.
(Let me acknowledge here that my poll is far from scientific. In fact since every Cuban I've spoken to has been living in the USA voluntarily, I'd guess we wouldn't find too many that want to be in Cuba)
I cried real tears when Li Mu Bai died.
"I neither will aspire to nor will I accept -- I repeat -- I neither will aspire to nor will I accept, the position of president of the council of state and commander in chief."
Castro's phrasing is an echo of LBJ's retirement announcement:
"Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President."
They're just actors.
For goodness sake man. That might be what it says on their tax return, but if you acknowledge that you only encourage them to continue to "act" very very poorly.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Canadian love to travel to Cuba precisely because there are no asshole American tourists there to deal with. I just hope they "Keep the Yanks OUT!" (Now I have travelled and met many very nice americans who are educated and are not douchebags, however, they, in my personal experience seem to be the minority)
about the ironclad fact of cuba's longstanding oppression of free expression is a standard of proof no reasonable person requires
what exactly is your agenda here?
because you obviously have no intent of seeking the truth of the matter on cuba's attitude towards freedom of expression. you are merely posturing in a legalistic and desparate manner. why? i don't know. i quoted from human rights watch above. what are your thoughts on the substance in those quotes? would you care to comment on those quotes. i don't think so, you're functioning on pure stubbornness
declare bankruptcy fool
for you are truly stupid and insane
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
They are called the CANF and you are correct, every candidate is subject to their lobby.
Check them out.
Libertas in infinitum
That makes two of us!
Libertas in infinitum
The US supported rightist guerrillas.
Why Cuba can't protect their airspace?
International contempt? No, really, I am sure there are more countries that have supported Cuba all these years than countries that haven't, you make it look like there is total unanimity about the condemnation of Cuba's regime, which could not be further from the truth.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
.... believe the expatriates only.
There are plenty of Cubans that are committed to their Revolution and to the way things are, but of course that muddles the US view of world affairs which is black and white, with us or against us nonsense, that your current President so idiotically embraced publicly and wholeheartedly.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
And although you are correct regarding the lack of medicine you can go and check the WHO website for general health statistics, many of which beat developed countries, including the US.
Things are far from perfect, but talking about lack of medicines is nitpicking since health services are much more than that.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Cubans are in good general health and can read.
That is more than you can say about many poor USians...
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
The US has had the gall to arrest foreign entrepreneurs that are not doing business with the US but do with Cuba.
They also forbid any subsidiary or companies doing business with the US to do business with Cuba.
That is what the blockade means. Only by the most difficult legal contraptions a company can do safely business in Cuba without the idiocity of the US foreign policy immediately kicking in.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
And the black people have only good things to say about the Cuban assistance received from Angola.
It is amazing that you don't know who they were fighting. If given a choice between apartheid and communism I would chose communism any day, specially if I wasn't "Aryan"...
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
You can say whatever you want about him, but he genuinely tried to improve the situation of the people in general.
He was constrained by the paranoid world view of the US, and as demonstrated by the case of Guatemala, and Chile, a democracy with a government of the wrong flavor simply had no chance to survive the attacks orchestrated by the US political elite.
Had Castro allowed normal democracy the US would have infiltrated parties, the media and if necessary, would have supported right wing guerrillas (like it was done in Nicaragua, even if Ronald Regan could not remember it). Under such environment only a tight political control will allow you to survive.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Don't be disingenuous.
The US embargo castigated Cuba in a way that no other communist country was.
We can't possibly know how much blame to appropriate to the US embargo or to economic mismanagement by the Cuban government.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
.... know that Cuban progress is real.
The Cuban approach is prevention, not cure, something many countries, the US included, could learn from.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
it's petrodollar socialism. if you don't like it, stop american soccer moms from filling their gas guzzling suvs, then chavez will go away. and for every criticism you have of chavez, and i agree with many of them (although he seems like just a loud mouth gasbag to me), if he funnels petrodollars to raise living standards in venezuela, i give him a wide latitude on any number of crimes you accuse him of. the alternative to chavez would just line the pockets of his cronies, and not give any petrodollars to the poor
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Nice cop out. All your status-quo politicians would be proud of you. You serve them well.
What?
...read more carefully.
"Cuba" not "Cubans". Ugh. It's like I'm trapped in a Fox news interview.
Interesting that you call people "cop outs" when you engage in the ultimate cop out - proposing ideas rooted in nothing but pure idealism without any practical means to achieve them.
"I neither will aspire to nor will I accept -- I repeat -- I neither will aspire to nor will I accept, the position of president of the council of state and commander in chief," Looks like they left out the rest of the quote: "Say 'ello to my little brother"
While it has not eradicated the human rights issues, it has been a continual incentive for change.
Who says we're civilized? You realise that we have no social safety net for the poor, and no universal health care, right?
There are likely third world countries without electricity or running water that are more civilized than us.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
I'm sure of it, but that still doesn't make them news.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Well, I don't know. The guy who designed this bridge is/was an engineer, even though I'd not want to drive my car across any of his bridges.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
And that's why your flamebait-modded comments are modded that way.
And that is my main point... slashdot is full of people who really aren't that bright. They are the target "lowest common denominator" demographic of most of the rhetoric coming from people like Castro, Chavez, et al, as well as their cheerleaders like Michael Moore.
And there's another reason. Not only are they generalities, inaccurate ones no less, but they are insulting ones as well.
The WHO health statistics are reported by the Cuban government. There is no independent check available. The communist system, of which Cuba is one of the last surviving examples, is famous for lying through their teeth on these stats and when the iron curtain came down, we found out that even pessimistic conservative estimates often understated the pathology.
So I should believe the WHO stats, why?