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Fidel Castro Is Dead (nytimes.com)
Striek quotes the New York Times: Fidel Castro, the fiery apostle of revolution who brought the Cold War to the Western Hemisphere in 1959 and then defied the United States for nearly half a century as Cuba's maximum leader, bedeviling 11 American presidents and briefly pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war, died Friday. He was 90. His death was announced by Cuban state television.
In declining health for several years, Mr. Castro had orchestrated what he hoped would be the continuation of his Communist revolution, stepping aside in 2006 when he was felled by a serious illness. He provisionally ceded much of his power to his younger brother Raul, now 85, and two years later formally resigned as president. Raul Castro, who had fought alongside Fidel Castro from the earliest days of the insurrection and remained minister of defense and his brother's closest confidant, has ruled Cuba since then, although he has told the Cuban people he intends to resign in 2018.
Kebertson shares an AP article which remembers a book proclaiming "Castro's Last Hour" -- in 1982. And Miamicanes jokes there'll be celebrations among Castro-haters in Miami, sharing a CNN article which notes that in the end, Castro "lived long enough to see a historic thaw in relations between Cuba and the United States."
In declining health for several years, Mr. Castro had orchestrated what he hoped would be the continuation of his Communist revolution, stepping aside in 2006 when he was felled by a serious illness. He provisionally ceded much of his power to his younger brother Raul, now 85, and two years later formally resigned as president. Raul Castro, who had fought alongside Fidel Castro from the earliest days of the insurrection and remained minister of defense and his brother's closest confidant, has ruled Cuba since then, although he has told the Cuban people he intends to resign in 2018.
Kebertson shares an AP article which remembers a book proclaiming "Castro's Last Hour" -- in 1982. And Miamicanes jokes there'll be celebrations among Castro-haters in Miami, sharing a CNN article which notes that in the end, Castro "lived long enough to see a historic thaw in relations between Cuba and the United States."
This is fake news to distract people from the fact that Donald Trump offered Fidel Castro a job in his administration to piss off Ted Cruz. He will make for an excellent Fed chairman, propped in the corner with sunglasses on.
Castro is still dead.
this isnt going to be a very popular opinion here, but the reason for the historic thaw is surprising. Typically the united states is content to hold trade embargos indefinitely against any nation that so much as thinks of challenging unfettered capitalism. The reason for this thaw is similar to the reason for the Iranian thaw. The US is losing geopolitical capital at an unprecedented rate early in the 21st century.
central and south american leaders are no longer subscribing to the teachings or guidance of american politicians. instead theyre renationalizing their resources and divesting from markets typically dominated by american presence. Cuba was a last ditch effort by the state department to keep a foothold in trade agreements that are rapidly moving away from the dollar as their standard. Prior to this we had tried calling in our debts from socialist democracies, demonizing their policy in our media, and withholding world bank investment only to find these countries far more resilient and fungible than they were 35 years ago when we could routinely replace their leaders with a coup.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Just be sure not to play music around him.
Too late. The Rolling Stones already performed in Cuba earlier this year.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/live-reviews/rolling-stones-thrill-huge-crowd-at-historic-havana-show-20160326
Most people are unaware of the US involvement in pre-Castro Cuba, and would be shocked if they did a little research.
Castro and communism are not my choices for leaders or economic systems, but the US is responsible for overthrowing lots of governments around the world, then acting shocked when a dictator or religious zealot steps in.
Hopefully Trump won't renew the economic oppression of the Cuban people. We have behaved shamefully.
You can say anything about Fidel, but he was a tough guy. Cuba resisted bravely (if you allow me to use the term) to an enemy way bigger and more powerful for many years. Curiously, the end of the Castro era could have arrived long before if the past presidents would have used the Obama approach: Embrace, extend and extinguish. Personally, I think he chose a wrong path and became the perfect example of why communist social structures are not sustainable. "Join together to share the lack of wealth", to use Stallman's words, simply goes against human nature. RIP, anyway.
Open Source Network Inventory for the masses! Kuwaiba
Cubans need freedom far more than they need investment.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
What is this "Soviet Union" of which you speak?
The most capitalist day of the year.
If a war torn banana republic is beating you that badly on growth, there is something seriously wrong with your economic policy.
Let me guess... an embargo?
That aside get your statistics right: Cuba GDP per capita is up 250% since 1970 and Honduras GDP per capita is up 230% in the same period and still half of the Cuban GDP per capita, life expectancy in Honduras is 73 years, in Cuba 79 (higher than USA by the way). Sen. Joseph McCarthy legacy still lives on.
I don't disagree, but if that was the intent of the embargo, it has been a stunning failure.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Cuba's hostility against America is legendary.
From a non-US perspective, USA's hostility towards Cuba is far more legendary. While most of the world have had diplomatic relations, trade and travel to Cuba, USA has consistently refused. This is not due to Cuba not wanting any relations.
Batista's Cuba was famous for literacy and doctors per capita, compared to the rest of Latin America, so Castro's improvements were pretty small
Life expectancy in Batista's Cuba was far lower than in the USA at the time, in Castro's Cuba it is higher. Literacy in Batista's Cuba was estimated between 60% and 76% (because there is no data for the neglect countryside), taking the highest esteem it was the fourth highest in Latin America at the time, today it is 99.7% according to Unesco data, highest in Latin America.
Try harder.
When Castro first came to power, he was inspired by the Mexican revolution of 1910-1920 who did not turn communist. Moreover the Cuban Communist Party had denounced Castro's revolution as pro-Western. He was pushed into the USSR sphere of influence by the aggressive CIA-led actions.
Then the embargo provided the biggest excuse ever for Castro and his dictatorship. He could always blame his failed economic policies on the USA led embargo.
Let's not forget the "good guys" from the UK and the USA overthrew Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister Mosaddegh back in 1953.
Seriously? It's easy for the world's biggest military that knows they won't be attacked to remove mines from another country. It's absurd that you would even dare to claim it's "hostility" for a small island nation to decline to lower its defenses against a superpower that has a large military force on Cuban land and has already tried to invade and has also made countless assassination attempts and tried to fund insurrections and done everything imaginably possible to harass you for 60 years... after basically owning and abusing your people for decades before that?
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Another echo of the dubious 99.7. It shouldn't take 2 seconds to realize what nonsense that is. Did you also believe the reports of Fidel's popularity?
Why is the statistic dubious?
Well obviously it goes against his preconceptions and biases.
I'm inclined to believe that Cuba has a high level of adult literacy, but that just means they can read and write the native language (Spanish in Cuba's case) at an acceptable standard.
The problem with Cuba's education system is not basic education, but advanced education. A collage degree from Cuba is worth less than a high school diploma from any western nation. Castro once joked that one of the good things about communism was "even our prostitutes have college degrees".
And its not just Cuba, this kind of problem is common problem with third world nations including the extremely capitalistic ones like India and the Philippines. A Filipina nurse with a degree from a Filipino university will struggle to find work in Hong Kong as anything but a maid, however is she has one from a western university she'll have no trouble finding work in any number of developed nations as nursing staff are in demand almost everywhere.
Most Filipinos can read and write English to a reasonable level (as well as Tagalog, Visyan or another Filipino language) but higher education is a lot more rare. What separates developed nations like the UK or Australia from developing nations isn't adult literacy, its higher education. We may have a lower rate of adult literacy but we have a much higher rate and quality of collage and university graduates.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.