My bad as I didn't make myself clear. I meant one of the alternatives, Clinton as it turned out, to Trump
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Fidel Castro dies aged 90
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
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She's a moron.
Apparently that's the way forward globally
http://web.archive.org/web/20140209164418/http://www.science.org.au/nova/newscientist/107ns_004.htm
Great little read - http://www.vox.com/2016/11/26/13752514/us-fidel-castro-assassination
Slaps crippling sanctions on Cuba for being communist state, complains that communist state doesn't work.
Why is it moronic thinking that giving people equal access to political parties messages would be more democratic than a system where people only hear a message if the party has countless millions of dollars to spend on advertising?
1. Would a truly communist country need to trade?
2. Isn't it an indictment on "communism" in itself to make an argument that Cuba needed trade with the massive capitalist power to the north for its system to work?
3. The US embargo didn't cut Cuba off from everyone. They were a member of Comecon, and other nations didn't follow the US embargo.
4. The argument could be made that communism is why the embargo started, but not why it stuck. Castro's human rights record, especially after the fall of the Soviet Union is much more to blame for the current existance of the embargo than "communism".
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An absolutely stunning example of how the BBC try to manipulate the terms of debate and subvert reality. This really is an absolutely remarkable interview.
I don't see why not. Communism is a state model, that's no reason to impede it from trading or eliciting diplomacy with other nations, especially in the increasingly globalised world. The Capitalist world has been all too happy to trade with China, even well before its economic liberalisation initiatives.
With all due respect this is nonsense. Not only has the US traded and continues to trade with nations who's human rights offenses puts Cuba's to shame, but it is also actively allied to them. By your logic a country like Saudi Arabia should be first on the list to be slapped with an embargo or sanctions, yet the are considered the US's biggest ally in the Middle East after Israel, a country with its own impressive portfolio of human rights offenses. Let's be honest, human rights is the last filter a country like the US uses to determine its diplomatic relationship with any given nation. So I sincerely doubt Cuba's human rights record is the culprit here to their diplomatic misfortunes with their northern neighbours.
Christ, she even puts wretched Kay Burley to shame with that line of questioning.
A regime that doesn't permit you to leave if you don't like it, is indefensible. The whole country was a jail. Every communist country was/is a jail.
Yeah, shoutout to Reagan and Thatcher who declined to impose sanctions on Apartheid SA.
I don't see much of an issue with her questions. There is a prevailing narrative throughout western media that Castro was a dictator who kept political prisoners, utilized firing squads, limited individual freedoms etc. So her question was little more than an attempt to answer that narrative, which the guest did very well.
I guess your point of view differs. No problem.
I've never realised I'm the real life Michael Scofield.
She's making that plea for a more democratic system while at the same time praising an actual tyrant as a symbol of justice. Another in a long line of moronic Stein moments.
Sorry @Raoul - thinking about it my earlier answer must be pretty unsatisfactory but I wasn't defending Castro in any way however the interview struck me as funny. I'm not sure it will come across to you but the interviewer's growing frustration with the interviewee not giving the hoped for answers seems obvious to me. With the BBC being slightly unsatisfactory from time to time I was wondering whether the interviewer and producers had invited in the wrong person or whether they were asking the wrong questions, either way they hadn't done their research very well.
I'm sure it's been said already that many Western countries have similar records on political prisoners, firing squads (death squads), limited individual freedoms. We believe we have a different choice in democracy but what are we left with after one/two years of electioneering maybe in the US or say the UK? - Election promises discarded and no accountability for the next four years. Britain has certainly been guilty of offending against most if not all of your list over the centuries and never more than today.
No worries, I didn't interpret your post as defending Castro. This sort of interview is pretty common in the US, especially on the 24 hours news channels (CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews) where interviewers start with an existing narrative and attempt to pigeonhole guests into answering it, and in the process generate an argument that attracts viewers. Haven't seen much of this on the Beeb, but am not surprised it is being used elsewhere.
Well said, especially the second part. I think it (sadly) says a lot about the political climate the US created in their own hemisphere that the ones opposing them ended up as little monsters as well.
OT but that's not really true. Or did I miss sarcasm here?
So a communist nation needs trade with capitalist nation in order to survive? Again, an indictment on communism.
Also, that the US has traded with China, Vietnam, etc points away from the idea that communist ideology is what has caused the embargo to endure.
It's not "my logic". Read the language of things like the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 or the Helms-Burton Act of 1996. In this instance, I'm just echoing acts of Congress.
Lol yes
It's not communist ideology that means the embargo continues, it's the effrontery of communist ideology perceived to have set an example for other countries within the USA's immediate sphere of influence to follow. You can find traces of this by studying the South American countries and their reactions -- they demanded for years that Cuba be permitted to attend Americas conference, have equal rights, etc. Condemned the US for its treatment of Cuba, threatened to block the US from negotiations -- then diplomatic relations are somewhat normalized. That had nothing to do with human rights either, it's just geopolitical maneuvering.
Human rights has nothing to do with it. The terror campaign against Cuba targeted civilians en masse, as did Batista's regime which was explicitly backed by the US.
Human rights has nothing to do with it. The terror campaign against Cuba targeted civilians en masse, as did Batista's regime which was explicitly backed by the US.
Cuba tells the US to feck off (which is of course well within their rights to do), then can't understand why the US decides to block economic ties with Cuba (which is of course well within their rights to do).
Cuba gets billions in aid and trade from USSR and other countries, still blames US for failures of its own economy.
Pfffttt...anyone can put Dr. in front of their name to sound smart on the internet.
Doctor, Doctor give me the news......Pfffttt...anyone can put Dr. in front of their name to sound smart on the internet.
Just wanna add that my parents grew up in the Soviet Union and their life was pretty good back then. Communism didn't do them harm at all. Not saying communism is good because of that, but it's not always bad.
Some great photos here - http://flashbak.com/on-this-day-in-photos-how-fidel-castro-became-prime-minister-of-cuba-6130/
I'm actually very interested in what daily life was like for the average person in the USSR.
Nasser and?
George Habash.
Too many regional differences in order to accurately get a view of daily life for the average person. Georgia was usually one of the top 3 countries in the SU in terms of living conditions and income. My parents grew up in Georgia.
Arguably all nations need trade to survive, regardless of the state model they adopt. Being a communist state doesn't mean adopting isolationism, quite the contrary in fact.
It's not simply the fact they were a communist nation. Its the fact they had the audacity to overthrow a US-backed dictator, and replace him with a communist state on the US's doorstep. The US had a lot of corporate interests in Batista's Cuba, so naturally they weren't best pleased when some Commies toppled all that.
All these acts you quote are red herrings. There's a reason you don't have a Saudi Democracy Act or a Bahrain Liberation initiative in congress. Human rights and democracy have never served as motives for US foreign policy. See the Contras in Nicaragua, the toppling of democratic regimes in Chile, Iran and the Congo. See Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, heck see Saddam pre-Kuwait invasion. I can go on.
Actually, it was the US that told Cuba to feck off at first. Cuba had actually reached out, but the US had started imposing trade restrictions the moment the Cubans had the audacity to start nationalising a few key industries.
Great pic
Nowadays we have demented Saudi Kings and that midget Star Trek extra in Jordan.
Seems an appropriate time to dig out Auden's poem, Funeral Blues.
Stop all the clocks, cut off the phone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
It captures the politico-religious sentiment prevelent during times like this.
Stop all the clocks, cut off the phone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
It captures the politico-religious sentiment prevelent during times like this.