Tuesday, February 19, 2008
To my dear compatriots..
It’s too late to place a bet on the timing of the retirement of one aging dictator.. But you can still get odds on another this elected representative..
On the day that 81-year-old Cuban leader Fidel Castro announced he would no longer be the country`s President, Paddy Power said it was offering odds of 4/5 on the Democratic Unionist leader to stand down this year, the year of his 82nd birthday.
It’s “an opportunity to make progress towards a peaceful transition to a pluralist democracy..” More on what next [for Cuba] here.
Pete Baker @ 01:23 PM
<i>"It would be a tragedy if he were succeeded by a family dynasty."i>
Obviously, Liberal MP Edward Davey had not been following yesterday’s developments when he made that announcement.
Oh, hold on, he was referring to events in Cuba.
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 01:52 PMCastro is also stepping down as commander in chief of the Cuban armed forces. Is our head man still chief of the 3rd Force?
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 02:14 PMIt is pleasing to see that egalitarian socialist regimes appoint their leaders solely on merit and with no nepotism such as Cuba and that even greater workers paradise North Korea.
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 02:21 PMA lot of rugby teams didn’t want Fidel’s right hand man, Che Guevara, because he was asthmatic. But despite his scrawny figure, he was surprisingly strong and a very good tackler.
Selections are always controversial and even when even someone is healthy and playing extermely well they can still get left out. So it was with Tommy Bowe - but it now seems that EOS has now seen the light and Tombo plays against the porridge eaters. Excellent news - they will be no doot singing and dancing in the drumlin county too-night I can tell ye.Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 02:31 PMTurgon,
Do you know what Raul’s credentials are? They extend way beyond being Fidel’s brother. He was in command of one of the revolutionary armies that overthrew Batista, and has been a senior member of the revolutionary leadership since before that. So decades of experience and achievement. But never that the facts get in the way of a good soundbite.
It sounds like on this issue, you need some on the spot guidance of the type delivered by the Dear Leader.
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 02:41 PMGaribaldy,
He sounds like one of the really nice guys in the revolutionary leadership.
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 03:02 PM..at least one decrepit octogenarian relic has seen the writing on the wall and tried to save the family dynasty by going with dignity tattered but just about intact. Can’t really hate a man who brought us the Cohiba cigars though.
As for young Mcnally’s sectarian eggchasing comments , I for one shall be rooting for our Caledonian cousins, seeing as how I live in a foreign country according to the IRFU- which in fairness to it at least doesn’t try to select players from NI- even when they would clearly get a game on merit, unlike the FAI. “Gregalach!” as we McGregors used to say in battle with the sassanach
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 03:09 PMI have never been to Cuba - I friends tell me it is very cheap and has 3 currencies: the local one, a sort of tourist-only one (a rip off), and the dollar (highly prized). Also, nearly every house acts as a mini-bar selling rum etc. to anyone passing by. Finally, it has lots of prostitutes, and many of them are professionals (doctors and so on) trying to make ends meet (no pun intended).
Did Fidel have any effect that distinguishes Cuba from any other South/Central American country? (other than the big army and outdated ideology).
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 03:15 PM“Gregalach!” as we McGregors used to say in battle with the sassanach
I’m assuming “Gregalach” is scots gaelic for “whatabout”?
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 03:26 PMIncredible to think that it was back in 1959 that Castro came to power. It set me wondering what his contemporay Ian Paisley Snr was doing back then. Was he already “doin’ a lot for Catholic people” for example?
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 04:21 PMRummers
“Sectarian?”
Have you consumed quare amounts of uisce beatha?“which in fairness to it (IRFU) at least doesn’t try to select players from NI”
I imagine A.Trimble would be very disappointed that you have relocated him south of the border.Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 04:33 PMGaribaldy,
“Do you know what Raul’s credentials are? They extend way beyond being Fidel’s brother. He was in command of one of the revolutionary armies that overthrew Batista, and has been a senior member of the revolutionary leadership since before that. So decades of experience and achievement. But never that the facts get in the way of a good soundbite”I was sort of hoping for something like winning a free and fair election. Oh yes I forgot the socialist paradise of Cuba does not have those. Silly me.
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 04:40 PMFifty years of unbroken single party government and they still pretend that they had a functioning democracy. They never even began to realise what they had missed and now the dream is almost over.
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 04:48 PMWhat was your source for those odds, as it says on the website bettingmarket that it is 2/7 he will step down in 2008??? Perhaps the DUP insiders have been at work again? On the same theme, interesting to note that nobody has been rushing in to back in the United Ireland market…
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 04:57 PMTime for a complete change, time for free democratic elections…
have never bought into the myth of Che or Castro....
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 06:55 PMI never got the whole, “high adult literacy rates, free healthcare, isn’t cuba wonderful” line of reasoiing. It always struck me as up there with “Musollini got the trains running on time”.
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 07:34 PMCuban health care is very controversial. There are some indications that it is very good as presented by the likes of Michael Moore in “Sicko” but there are also dissenting arguments which although also biased have some merit.
The reality is probably somewhere in the middle and as Jocky says above one cannot judge a whole regime by such things.
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 07:56 PMPerhaps then we can judge Cuba in comparison to other regimes in the area over the past 50 years. You’ll find that Cuba was NEVER anywhere close to being the nasty dictatorships that had the support of our lovely liberal democracies. Which in themselves have millions of homeless, ill-treated mentally ill people etc. Oh yeah, and were and still are brutalising other peoples in their own selfish interests.
Plus let’s not forget that when the 26th July Movement overthrew the puppet dictator, the US discriminated against its own people on grounds of colour. And structurally, still does. As we saw in the ever so democratic treatment of poor and black voters in 2000.
The Cuban health service is universally recognised as excellent Turgon by institutions and governments across the world. Many of whom (including the US) the Cubans have sent help to and trained doctors from in service of the betterment of humanity.
The ridiculous statement that compares Cuba’s health service to Mussolini’s transport system is contemptible, and barely deserves a response. One government sought to oppress other countries and its own people. One to help them. Which side were the Cubans on in Angola? Not the apartheid South African one.
Turgon is right to say governments must be judged in the round. But he’s not doing it himself.
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 09:08 PMThen again Turgon, Michael Moore also held up our very own NHS as being a shining beacon to aspire to, so I think we can take his Cuban views with a large pinch of salt.
In fairness, Castro saved the Cuban people from the eyesores of election posters and the inconvenience of political opposition. Unfortunately those niggly little things such as being able to leave the country or freedom of speech appeared to be somewhat lacking. But hey what does it matter when your dear leader got to outlast nine US presidents and have a love-in with Gerry Adams?
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 09:13 PMGaribaldy,
I am sorry but although the Cuban health care system has many plus points it is by no means perfect and has significant weaknesses. Some on the left seem incapable of seeing this, just as some on the right regard it as worse than it is.The reality is probably that it is a bit better than one would expect considering the overall wealth of the country but it is not some sort of health care Nirvana.
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 09:18 PMI agree it’s not perfect. Partly because it is starved of access to much of the most modern equipment and medicines by the embargo. No health service is perfect. But it is, by any realistic standards (especially in such a small country in its circumstances), excellent - life expectancy, infant mortality, doctor patient ratio etc.
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 09:24 PMCastro is visiting Nicaragua (1980’s ). The Sandanista leadership takes him to the beach . After his tour they ask him what he would like for dinner .
‘Just my usual rice and beans will be fine’ he says.They laugh and insist he try the fried shrimp and broiled lobster. The next day in Leon the same thing :
‘Just some tortillas and salt will be more than enough,’says the Cuban leader.
Again his hosts laugh and order thick flank cuts of beef . His last night in Managua , he asks for only Cuban style rice and a glass of water. but instead they serve him a delicious twelve course meal.
Castro finally makes it back to Havana where the Central Committee of the Party is waiting for him at the Airport .
‘So tell us , how goes the Nicaraguan revolution?, they ask .
‘Well , Comrades,’ replies Castro , ‘to be honest , the Nicaraguan revolution seems to be where we were twenty years ago.’
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 09:34 PMTheir infant mortality rate is actually pretty mediocre, life expectancy is quite good, the doctor patient ratio is not that useful a statistic in terms of measuring health gain. After all if you have loads of doctors and do noting with them it is not that relevant.
As I said they are a bit better than might be expected for the wealth of the country. What one could ask is:-
(1)would the country be wealthier without Castro style communism?and
(2)would the health care be better in such a scenario?
My view is that the answer to question one is yes whereas I accept that to question two it is unclear.
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 09:38 PMCastro visits Moscow and is taken on a tour by Brezhnev . First they go for a beer and Castro praises the Soviet beer.
‘Yes, it is supplied by our good friends from Czechoslovakia’
Next they go for a ride in a car and Castro again admires the car .
‘Yes, these cars are supplied by our good friends from Czechoslovakia.’
They drive to an exhibition of beautiful cut glass , which Castro greatly admires .
‘Yes, this glass comes from our good friends in Czechoslovakia ‘‘They must be very good friends ,’ says Castro .
‘Yes , they must ,’says Brezhnev
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 09:42 PMWell the question is would the people of the country have a better life. I doubt it. I remember when at school being given the details of US ownsership of Cuban resources. In nearly every major industry and natural resource it was around 100%. Large numbers of people might well be better off if it returned to a playground for the US rich and gangsters, but the dignity of Cuban life would not. And I think the majority of Cubans recognise that, and support the Revolution despite its flaws and sacrifices.
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 09:45 PM
