How about some expert opinions on the Castro photos?

[Jon-Hebert Barto]

---Hitler did not give his life for his country.

Though he gave the lives of many others for his country.

 

Hitler died of embaressment.

The idea of being paraded around and called a loser was more than he could handle.

 

 

While the above is true the only difference between Hitler and Castro are the resources their nations had to enable their crazy ideals. Castro didn't have parkinsons affecting his gulliver in his fifties, all other differences mean nothing. Hitler is not an anomoly.....

 

This is all really dumb anyways....IMHO. Castro is a muck-raker. Or maybe all those cubans in miami are fascist beasts ? No, I dont think so. You don't see people leaving here unless its johnny depp to buy a second, third house in pari....I don't know what the hell I'm saying....nonsense.... ;) I just can't believe people could actually debate the merits of this guy....

 

Again, the pic is real. Unlike some coming from lebanon....

[Zuma]

Yes, David I take your point about the notion of 'thanking successful dictators'. I guess

what I'm trying to say in my comment about Castro giving his life to Cuba recalls the idealism and

and optimism that accompanied the overthrow of the corrupt Batista regime. The kind of idealism

and committment that was evident in the early Castro and its favorite revoultionary son

Che Guevara. Che who died young and did not see or participate in Castro's counter

revolutionary purges and a litany of subsequent evils is today revered by many while Castro is for

the most part reviled. C/F Walter Salles ace film Motorcycle Diaries

 

For me it is not enough to paint Castro as evil incarnate. Perhaps he personifies the maxim that

absolute power eventually corrupts absolutely, but lets not pretend that Castro's dream of a socialist

Shangri Lar was always a fraudulent sham - a dictatorship with no human values at its core- led by a man who siezed power merely so he could pick fights on the world stage and harm and oppress his people until his dying day- that's plain silly.

 

For me Castro is nothing like hatemonger's Hitler and Mussilini. Surely they are beyond redemption and belong in the garbage bin of human history. Castro on the other hand, while deeply flawed, is like some kind of tragic Shakespearean villain who in trying to do great good arguably does great harm and ultimately winds up betraying the dreams and ideals of the revolution he led 50 years ago. Regards Zuma aka Andy Norton.

[Andy_Alderslade]

I don't always agree politically with Matt, but I think his point is correct -- "successful" dictators by their very nature are very good at holding onto power, so I don't think it's a necessarily a virtue when they devote most of their life to oppressing a country... otherwise we should also thank Stalin and Mao for their many years of "unselfish service."

 

... could you put Tony Blair in that category, no matter what happens he just doesn't go anywhere ;)

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/b...gers_s5ep1_16x9

 

Though seriously after reading Rafa's post, I sincerly hope when power does change in Cuba it becomes a healthy, natural progression, like Spain after Franco. Rather than some of the more shadier examples in world affairs.

[Jon-Hebert Barto]

Yes, David I take your point about the notion of 'thanking successful dictators'. I guess

what I'm trying to say in my comment about Castro giving his life to Cuba recalls the idealism and

and optimism that accompanied the overthrow of the corrupt Batista regime. The kind of idealism

and committment that was evident in the early Castro and its favorite revoultionary son

Che Guevara. Che who died young and did not see or participate in Castro's counter

revolutionary purges and a litany of subsequent evils is today revered by many while Castro is for

the most part reviled. C/F Walter Salles ace film Motorcycle Diaries

 

For me it is not enough to paint Castro as evil incarnate. Perhaps he personifies the maxim that

absolute power eventually corrupts absolutely, but lets not pretend that Castro's dream of a socialist

Shangri Lar was always a fraudulent sham - a dictatorship with no human values at its core- led by a man who siezed power merely so he could pick fights on the world stage and harm and oppress his people until his dying day- that's plain silly.

 

For me Castro is nothing like hatemonger's Hitler and Mussilini. Surely they are beyond redemption and belong in the garbage bin of human history. Castro on the other hand, while deeply flawed, is like some kind of tragic Shakespearean villain who in trying to do great good arguably does great harm and ultimately winds up betraying the dreams and ideals of the revolution he led 50 years ago. Regards Zuma aka Andy Norton.

 

;)

Yeah, che was great. My favorite part of his life must have been his little trip to the USSR to get nukes pointed at the USA. Even the soviets thought he was crazy untill castro stepped in to assuage khrushchevs fears of a button pusher...despite his charm, "travel" diary, and heart warming letters to his children, he is still a killer who relished the job of murdering batista family children. SICK NUT. If you think GITMO is bad maybe you should read a little about che's prisons.... :unsure:

 

oh, the pic still looks legit to me... :rolleyes: