Flawed, yes. A dictator? Absolutely- like so many other US allies and buddy-buddies that they not only support(ed), but helped put in power (Pinochet, Mobutu, the Shah to name but a few)! But in the US of A, one only hears the negatives.- as if the guy he overthrew (who's rarely mentioned) wasn't a tyrant himself, in the pocket of the mob and CIA.
When Angola was being overrun by Apartheid South African troops and various other mercs, Fidel sent Cuban troops (against the wishes of the USSR) to oppose the invaders. "Mandela wrote that he was in jail in 1975 when he learned about the arrival of the Cuban troops in Angola, and it was the first time then a country had come from another continent not to take something away, but to help Africans to achieve their freedom."
Personally, I've never tired of viewing the contrast between the Cubans living in Miami, as opposed to those actually living in Cuba. Those in Miami, predominantly of European descent; those in Cuba, considerably darker skinned and Black. And you'll certainly be hard pressed to find any of Fidel's detractors giving an honest, detailed accounting as to why...
Castro is a light weight when it comes to slaughtering people. The US government and the puppets they prop up kill tens of thousands of innocent people every year. How many blacks and people of colour are killed by cops every year in the US? The US's propaganda war on Castro totally distorted what was going in in Cuba. But we aren't surprised are we. If the sitting US president at the time hadn't refused Castro's attempt to meet him just think how things could have been different. Progress is never achieved by refusing to talk with people you don't agree with. The US foreign policy has been driven by corporate and financial interests for 100 years at least. They may try and dress it up as humanitarian intervention but that is only being bought by some Americans and certainly not by the rest of the world. And America wonders why they are universally hated.
ReplyDeleteHey, Eric- Love it or... Oh, yeah!
ReplyDeleteO Canada!
It's time for the American people to get their collective heads out of their asses and not let the corporate elite lead them around by the nose. The 1% get the racial minorities to fight their wars to insure they don't loose their oil or cheap labour. The only reason the US hated Castro was because the likes of the duPont's lost lots of property and business interests, the mob aka CIA in those days lost all the gambling profits and US sugar companies lost a source of cheap product. Castro initially had no intention of going communist but rather a softer form of socialism like we have in Canada. The DC politicos were beholding to the 1% and did their bidding for them by rejecting Castro's olive branch and then slapping on sanctions. Castro had no alternative but to align himself with Russia, which was all to happy to oblige him. What a coup for the Soviets! The rank and file in the US need nothing less than a revolution to over-through the 1% and all those that are indebted to them and do their bidding. Middle America was suckered in by Trump thinking he was "just one of them" and would help them out. Once they find out how bad they have been played all hell will break loose. Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti American people. I have spent a lot of time in the US and have many close American friends. It's just the ruling elite I and most of the world have a major problem with. Most countries have the "elite" it's just that for the last 100 years the US has been the big dog on the block. Those days are coming to a close, the US is loosing it's bark. All those countries that have been bitten by this "big dog" and are now on the way up will not soon forget how they were treated. Things might get very unpleasant for the US when they find their economic clout is eclipsed by India, China and various other countries who will form economic pacs. This is a cautionary message, things can still be turned around but not with either the current GOP or DEM parties. The swamp as Trump calls it is both deep and rancid.
ReplyDeleteEric, you're firing on all pistons! Americans have just stuck their collective heads up there as far as they can possibly go... and Trumpie The Clown is the biggest thing ever to emerge outta that there swamp.
ReplyDeleteBut they're gonna learn... maybe.
I sure hope so.
ReplyDelete