Dr. Zin Posted February 19, 2008 http://washingtontimes.com/article/20080219/FOREIGN/319116065/1003 The end of an era... 0 Share this post Link to post
Searcher Posted February 19, 2008 I can't say I will miss him. Best of luck to them for the future. 0 Share this post Link to post
Kirby Posted February 19, 2008 Wow. And I thought I misread something when MSN said something about "Post-Castro" Cuba. Good stuff. 0 Share this post Link to post
Technician Posted February 19, 2008 He pretty much was a last remaining thread that was the Cold War. I'm glad to see him step down so now Cuba can evolve as a country. Hopefully for the good of it’s people. 0 Share this post Link to post
deathbringer Posted February 19, 2008 Huh, they'll be buried in Nissans before you know it As i like the underdog, i feel sorry for the vanishing of Communism in a way. Sure it has it's faults (like any country is without scandal somewhere) but it's, well, "different" to either democracy or straightforward despotism that flourishes everywhere else 0 Share this post Link to post
Technician Posted February 19, 2008 Well we still have China. Doesn't have the image of the Soviets but it's still communist. I have to dig up my USSR army cap. 0 Share this post Link to post
Bank Posted February 19, 2008 I'm somewhat saddened by this, because I personally love Cuba the way it is, and I believe with Castro's resignation and eventual death, all that I liked about it will vanish as it is thrust quickly and unreadily into the 21st Century. Fidel Castro is one of the only men to meet and know most all of the important people of the 20th Century and live through it. I guess Ernest Hemingway was right all along. 0 Share this post Link to post
myk Posted February 19, 2008 Well see what happens, but this isn't like in many Eastern European countries where socialism was pushed out or crumbled with the Soviet Union. Castro is just old, personally, like anyone who needs to retire from their day to day job when the time comes. Cuba's revolution was its own, and not just an avalanche with the USSR's weight on it (as in most of the case of the Soviet bloc countries). Besides, in much of Latin America (and other places) Cuba as it has been till now is pretty emblematic to many. Cuba isn't and never was really communist; to be precise it had strong ties with Communism from the crisis in the 60s till the fall of the Soviet Union, mainly for self-preservation, but managed its own style of state socialism. 0 Share this post Link to post
Coopersville Posted February 19, 2008 I'll wear my hammer and sickle McDonalds t-shirt just for you today, Castro. 0 Share this post Link to post
TheAdmantArchvile Posted February 19, 2008 I wonder what's going to happen to the cubans now... 0 Share this post Link to post
Sharessa Posted February 20, 2008 Technician said:He pretty much was a last remaining thread that was the Cold War. I'm glad to see him step down so now Cuba can evolve as a country. Hopefully for the good of it’s people. Cuba won't evolve as a country until the US lifts its sanctions. Anyway, unlike most people, I never thought Castro an evil man. He's as corrupt as any leader, but less so than many. He did pretty good at runnign the country. It just had a poor economy and since the U.S., Cuba's biggest and most wealthy neighbour, wouldn't trade with them, there was really nothing to do about it. Speaking of which, the only reason the U.S. was ever aggressive with Cuba was because Cuba was one of those "island paradise" places where the rich could get away, and was also a big gambling mecca, which the Mafia had huge obvious ties to. So really it was the rich putting pressure on the government to try and get their bit of land back. Free Cuba tried to ally with the U.S. early on and make a constitution similar to ours, but the U.S. just wanted their land back, so they had to turn to the Soviets for support. So really, all the bad things the government says about Cuba, it's really their own fault for shooting themselves in the foot. 0 Share this post Link to post
Cyberdemon II Posted February 20, 2008 Any idea who's replacing him yet? 0 Share this post Link to post
Sharessa Posted February 20, 2008 I was thinking it would be his brother Raoul, who ran the country while Fidel was in the hospital. Still, he's probably getting pretty old as well, so they might pick someone else. 0 Share this post Link to post
VileSlay Posted February 20, 2008 raul is most likely his replacement. he's been pretty much running the country since 2006. 0 Share this post Link to post
Texas Libra Posted February 20, 2008 Don't get your anti-commie hopes up yet people. There's still Vladimir Putin and his path of returning to Communism in a way, if I'm not mistaken ;) 0 Share this post Link to post
Nightmare Doom Posted February 20, 2008 Texas Libra said:Don't get your anti-commie hopes up yet people. There's still Vladimir Putin and his path of returning to Communism in a way, if I'm not mistaken ;) Actually, The Russian Federation is capitalist and the Soviet Union (and Cuba) never was communist it was actually Stalinist or best way to put it, State Capitalist (not to mention that China, North Korea, Vietnam are also state capitalist based on Maoist principles which is not actually communism in reality) I also advise you to read the Communist Manifesto to know what Communism really is about despite what most people have been told through bourgeoisie media/propaganda. 0 Share this post Link to post
Inferno Posted February 21, 2008 Yeah I was like 0_o when I saw this on the news today, I mean the guy has been in power forever. 0 Share this post Link to post
deathbringer Posted February 21, 2008 Well of course the "commie" countries arent true Marxist communism (Russia in the very early days after the revolution was probably the closest anybody got). And if you ask me from what i've heard modern Russia seems to be wavering around either an extremely corrupt right-wing "democracy" (he ought to ask a few African leaders for pointers), with numerous large pressure groups pushing for hardline Christian rule (they could ask a few Middle eastern leaders for advice on running a brutal theocracy) 0 Share this post Link to post
Nightmare Doom Posted February 21, 2008 I forgot to mention Leon Trotsky's "A Revolution Betrayed" which is a good read along with George Orwell's fairy tale version "Animal Farm" to know the true story for what happened in the Soviet Union. 0 Share this post Link to post