Iran and Cuba bolster ties, strengthen anti-US solidarity

Brothers to the Rescue Home Page ^ | May 10, 2001 | Agence France Presse Staff

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Cuba Dissidents Say 10,000 Sign Referendum Appeal [Excerpt] "The government is afraid of this liberating gesture, where a social vanguard is showing it has no fear. The government is afraid when the people are not afraid," he added.

Castro frequently says his one-party communist system is more democratic than the Western model and denies the existence of political prisoners or repression of freedom of expression.

The signatures, gathered by activists across the Caribbean island of 11 million inhabitants over the last year, will be presented to the National Assembly in a few weeks, once all 10,000 signatures have been checked and ratified, Paya said.

"This has never been done before, it has no precedent," he added. "It shows Cubans not only want changes, but also are ready to face the risks to show they want changes." [End Excerpt]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

These billboards will start popping up on US higways soon, courtesy of Brothers to the Rescue.

Bump!

[Victoria Delsoul]

Excellent article, Luis. Thanks for posting.

[ArneFufkin]

I've been collecting articles which document the growing synthesis between the international Left and the Islamist movement. It's fascinating to watch the shared hatred of American and Western Civilization "bridge the gap" between these supposedly very different ideologies...

I'm skeptical. The international "Left" is toothless. It now primarily consists of: the bureaucratic power elite who profit from and broker activity in a top/down economic spoils and patronage system; the idle and affluent young who have adopted pagan or secular belief systems to rebel against their health, prosperity and well-being; the mostly insane intelligensia and gentry class. You know the cast of characters from the Seattle and Genoa protests: Daddy's little headstrong girl from Monterey; the angry son of a CEO from Skokie or Bridgeport; the trust fund malcontents from Bonn, Venice or Stockholm. Bored rich kids looking to get laid, bored rich and tenured intellectuals, greedy gatekeepers of tax receipts. Boredom or lust for money, that's what it comes down to with the "Left" in our world today.

Even the most ardent ALF or anti-capitalist adherent, however, isn't strapping on a corset of dynamite and blowing himself/herself to bits in service to their greater cause. That's one of the things about being a secular acolyte, dying has no upside.

That's the sole purview of the religious zealots. Islamic these days. They are medieval butchers and ignorant soldiers of martyrdom, and they scare EVERYONE! The European left just chooses to pretend they don't really live in THEIR countries, among them - and even if they do: "they're really only mad at the U.S. and Israel, and so are we, we swear! Please?!!!!"

The Brits get it, the Russkies get it, the Turks get it, so do the Scandanavians and the ever dependable Aussies. The Germans and French are infested with these bad guys, and they're paralyzed in fear and leaderless dishonor. Radical Islamism is a dynamic, lethal and dangerously compelling force of violent upheval - the International "Left" are merely useful infidels and idiots they will exploit before they are to be killed too.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Sorry if I double-"pinged" anyone.

[f.Christian]

Looks like the price of poker went sky high(paybacks) in Cuba--Iran now.

Time to shuffle the cards---cut the deck!

[Victoria Delsoul]

Bump.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Cardenas]

That was cold-blooded murder. They new that the small planes were unarmed; they can be forced to land and detain the occupants but not to murder them in cold blood. If you condone this crime you are no better than Castro's henchmen.

[Cardenas]

That was cold-blooded murder. Castro knew that the small planes were unarmed; they can be forced to land and detain the occupants but not to murder them in cold blood. If you condone this crime you are no better than Castro's henchmen.

[GuillermoX]

Yeah, but Cuban children get free milk until they are seven!

(A lefty actually said this to me in defense of Castro)

[TLBSHOW]

BUMP

[GuillermoX]

Heck, for over 30 years Castro did the same thing with the Soviets. Talk about nothing in common, but that didn't prevent him from trying to force it on the Cuban people. Ever wonder why there are Cuban baseball players named "Vladimir"?

[Cardenas]

Castro has several thousand experts trained in East Germany and the former Soviet Union in bacteriological and chemical warfare and several dozen advanced centers of research 90 miles from our shores. Castro sold one of those laboratories to the Iranians. Cuba has a lot to share with their Iranian counterparts involved in the development of weapons of mass destruction. Remember 9/11 and don't fool yourself, Castro tried to nuke our cities once and he has pledged to destroy the U.S. Beware! we are dealing with a pathological mass murderer.

[mommadooo3]

Well, TECHNICALLY the two leader cannot be called bastards, they DO have a 'father' they share, called satan. Ya know the one who comes to kill, steal, destroy, and is the father of ALL lies. But they ARE evil bastards none the less. And I'm SURE they are in that exclusive little club called the 'axis of evil'.

I'm not exactly a speedy one when it comes to all the 'what-ifs' and implications of such things. But I DO have many prayers for those who will be on the receiving end, if the two cretins take some sort of action FROM cuba. The innocent ones who are trapped in kastrol's 'paradise' need MUCH prayer covering.

[ArneFufkin]

You fly into the air space of a national enemy - knowingly, publicly and repeatedly - with the objective of challenging that nation's political and territorial authority and legitimacy, you will eventually be killed.

Did that same group send any more airplanes on that same mission after the shoot downs?

If you're a Cessna jockey in Nome in 1977, don't be flying into Soviet airspace to make a political point about their illegitimate and oppressive system. You might be ushered out alive ... once. Don't take off from Beirut in a Piper Cub with an intent to buzz the roof tops of Tel Aviv. Don't fly a private plane from Tehran to drop leaflets on U.S. soldiers.

There's dedicated, and there's stupid.

[ArneFufkin]

Vladimir Guerrero was born in the Dominican Republic.

[GuillermoX]

Well, there are a lot of Vlads in Cuba. Most of them are late 30's/early 40's.

[ArneFufkin]

I think you are overselling both the zeal and the capability with which Cuba exports their Marxist Revolution these days. IMO, they are sliding comfortably into an old fashioned Latin American style despotism bent on making the big money. Even the Russians, Chinese, East Germans and Vietnamese dumped their "old millenium" marketing programs for a fresher dictatorship structure, and Castro was never that fond of the Russians after the checks stopped coming in the mail anyway. Besides, he has WAY better beaches, casinos, climate, agricultural capacity and a far more dutiful and attractive service staff than they ever will.

I hate Castro, our defensive assets and economic sanctions aimed at him are valid, but I'm not concerned about the Cubans plotting a chemical or germ assault on us. They want our gambling and tourism business, or at least to retain the Canadian and European business they already have.

[ArneFufkin]

Incidentally, the East Germans were not involved in the development of chemical and biological weapons after the War, in fact Markus Wolf, the head of the East German STASI and THE most powerful man in post War Germany (East AND West) - perhaps Europe - did all he could to sabotage movement of these weapons from Britain, the Soviet Union and Germany to regimes like Cuba, China, Libya, North Korea, South Africa, Indonesia and Syria throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s. He understood and appreciated the benefits to world security of the nuclear standoff between the superpowers, but he greatly feared what the proliferation of these other deadly weapons would entail. By the way, in his book "Man Without a Face", Wolf says many times he never believed that Castro was ever a Marxist or a committed revolutionary ... he thought him a thug using his proximity to America to fleece the Soviets and maintain complete control of the Cuban people. I think that's about right.