581–590 of 842 posts
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Legitimate question, was the Soviet Union subsidising Cuba during the Cold War (besides military protection) ?
Yes, when the Soviet Union collapsed Cuba went through a huge economic contraction including food shortages. Without virtually no international trade whatsoever, they had to become completely self-sufficient for all the goods and expertise they needed.
One of the great men of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. That he will be vilified by the soon-to-be-led-by-Trump empire to his north, and Cuba's old idle class, which now lives in Florida, is a given. The empire's last outpost in Guantanamo Bay is where the empire takes other anti-imperialists it has kidnapped and holds them indefinitely without any sort of trial or Geneva convention procedure, and tortures…
After reading some of the comments here, my fath in the human race is not enhanced. Castro was a genuine hero and a great man; indeed among the top 10 greatest individuals of the 20th century. He believed in freedom and dignity. He saw the US government as the enemy of progress everywhere in the world; he wanted people to be free and he devoted his life to that ideal. How many people can you say that of? > He was als…
Letting historical arguments about borders override the basic question if the culture of the people living there right now is stupid, 18th-century thinking.
I'm sympathetic to Argentina's arguments about resource rights to the water surrounding the island, but the nationality of the island itself is not in question, and Thatcher was right to protect British people.
I would encourage the commenters in this thread who see Fidel's legacy as a black-and-white matter of an "evil dictator who did bad things and was wrong about economics" to step back, bear witness to the objective facts about Fidel Castro's life ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro ), think sincerely about what could lead a highly intelligent and charismatic person to become or follow Fidel Castro (as many ha…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, when the Soviet Union collapsed Cuba went through a huge economic contraction including food shortages. Without virtually no international trade whatsoever, they had to become completely self-sufficient for all the goods and expertise they needed.
Trade is not subsidy. Is China subsidizing the USA?
The United States subsidizes many government within its sphere of influence, too. In turn it also trades with them and gains significant sway over the economic affairs of those countries for the benefit of US markets. Cuba had none of this for the last 25 or so years.
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>> "On the contrary, it's dangerous not to call out evil for what it is." Judging on the comments on this thread most people (I'm not specifically referring to you) are making statements based on what they've heard, not by what they've personally researched, and unfortunately a lot of that information is biased or propaganda. I'm not coming down one way or the other but something I found very interesting was comparin…
Fidel Castro leaves behind a nation awash with tears and blood from thousands of executions, tens of thousands of political prisoners, concentration camps for gay men, labor camps for those who thought differently, listened to jazz, or even just had long hair. These are facts I learned only after doing more research, after listening to friends who are gay and who did years of research. So we all need to be careful no…
>Castro should be remembered for the suffering he caused - all of it preventable.
>"distinguished legacy"
Isn't all the same true about Obama[0][1][2], perhaps to a lesser degree but still true? Will we eulogize him in the same way?
[0]http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/06/07/obamas-surveillance-stat...
[1]http://www.mintpressnews.com/barack-obama-the-nobel-peace-pr...
[2]http://warisacrime.org/content/why-obama-torturing-private-b...
I would encourage the commenters in this thread who see Fidel's legacy as a black-and-white matter of an "evil dictator who did bad things and was wrong about economics" to step back, bear witness to the objective facts about Fidel Castro's life ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro ), think sincerely about what could lead a highly intelligent and charismatic person to become or follow Fidel Castro (as many ha…
On the contrary, it's dangerous not to call out evil for what it is. Of course it might be wise to try to analyze what genetic/family/social/economic/political factors shape people like Castro, Gaddafi, Franco etc. — but if you think you're dealing with people like you and me you fail to grasp the phenomenon. Dictators that prosecute and murder their opponents, like Castro did, share a very predictable set of psychop…
This is NOT ok, and I'm shocked that it's even a thought to entertain here on HN.
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Here are some points of propaganda: > Fidel does not allow his people to leave, with the threat of punishment. Everybody is (now) free to leave Cuba. But OK, I think that's fairly recent. > Fidel's private Army own's 85% of the economy "Fidel's private Army" is just an ugly sound byte. It's the Cuban army and it's not going to be dissolved now that he's dead. > Cuban's live in relative poverty While poverty is a prob…
Is American and Cuban poverty the same?
Where do American administrators who are droning Arabs to death fit on that list of "evil peole"? What's the line you need to cross to make it on there?
Why, let's include everyone who pays their taxes to support those dronings. Every American citizen who isn't evading taxes is evil Oh no I'm defending Trump, get me out of here
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No, a dictator can be benevolent. What if a foreign government destroys your country, the populace is largely uneducated and you have the power to reinstitute order in to then transition to a government by and for the people? The US, under Obama, destroyed Libya, what if someone with genuine good intentions would have seized the opportunity in order to prevent what did become reality, that all the people got was a pu…
The 'benevolent dictator' is a nice oxymoron, but that's it. For a good and stable dictatorship you really want to control all three powers. What good is a dictator if I can sue him and his clique? What does 'genuine good intentions' even mean? Whose intentions? His, yours? Mine, or the ones from the guy next door? Who decides what good intentions are?
Don't get me wrong, I think the circumstances that lead to a dictator becoming a dictator make it very unlikely, but to call it impossible just seems crazy to me.