1959, the year Barbie was born. Cars were beautiful, long tailed sculptures of fine metal. And, oh yeah, Castro took power in Cuba. Of course, who remembers? The truth is that there are very few people left who remember that year. Yet those who still do can be easily divided into two groups. Those who hate Fidel, and those who love him. But the question I would like to deal with today is; how relevant is all is in today’s world? And unfortunately, the answer has to be that unless you are looking for a bit of entertainment, reading reports coming out of Cuba and now Venezuela is becoming akin to reading the Sunday Times comics section while toking some weed.\

Chavez is allegedly suffering from cancer. Something that even without reason, I can barely tolerate to listen to, much less see him as I did the other day a fat, head shaven”cancer patient”. Same day, I get a call from a friend telling me that Raul Castro has declared that he will be holding elections and that no political office will be able to be held for more than ten years. This of course, after Chavez has been in power for more than that, and Castro, well, let’s just say he makes Chavez look like an idiot.
So what is my take on all the news coming from the Caribbean and Venezuela? Did you hear about Occupy Wall Street? Not only is the Muslin world facing politically world rocking protests, but the great democracies of the world are staring down the very long rifle of their doom. People are tired, people are not complete idiots all of the time. And though they are being laughed at for not particularly knowing what their protests are about, not having a specific grievance other than the very general “we’re tired of all the bullshit” stance, they have managed to propagate these protests to other countries where the ignorant are beginning to see that something is not working right.

Yes, I am aware this post looks like it is traveling two roads, and I swear I’ll tie it up for you neatly.

To get closer to the point, the people in Cuba have been pretty much unable to protest because of the very tight and repressive system in place for the last… forever. People in the US and other fine, democratic countries like England, Greece, and Italy to name just a few, have been living under the impression that they have a right to protest and be heard. Obviously, what we have witnessed recently tells a different story. An ugly one. And it blurs the lines between what we have been advocating for many years, against systems like the one in Cuba, only to be side wiped by the now very familiar tactics of repressive governments in our until recently thought to be “free” countries.

I am now going to assume that the two lines have just crossed. Am I the only one seeing this? Am I the only one that can easily spot the similarities here?

We have protests in Greece demanding that their government refuse to sell out to the IMF.But I will not go into into the IMF’s historical role of plundering and rape, yes, in spite of Chile’s alleged success, still plundering and rape.

Have a look at the two images below:

USA, could you kindly explain how you justify your stance against those governments who oppress their people? Well, maybe 1959 is not that far off now is it?

As usual, always much to discuss about whether the king (fidel castro) is dead, or alive, or…

Again, and pardon the redundancy here, the continuous debate upon his health or life status if you will, always reminds me of his need to be front and center in the news, and on people’s tongues. I realize there is a plethora of people who would like to read the news of his death, myself included, but must we follow his lead even in death? I swear if this guy would have dedicated himself to marketing he could have, instead of ruining Cuba, run one of the most successful marketing campaigns in the history of business. Though his track record seems to indicate he would have ruined the business. But oh to have his public relations savvy…

But here we are again, with our favorite past time, speculating on whether the political aims of the Cuban exiles, death by waiting, have paid off. Well, we now know that the embargo is going to work when this fucker dies and we can declare the embargo a victorious plan carried out to the bitter end. All those lives lost, all those victims, yes, even castro’s victims, are sure to be glad when they finally hear of his demise by the hands of the only thing we cannot yet control, death by natural causes, in this case, old age.

I know, I know, I am being arrogant, and cute. But it does feel like this is the fitting end to a ridiculous follow the leader type of strategy in which you dedicate yourself to following your enemy and attempt to hound him until he dies. When he does, remember to take credit for his death as well. WHy had it not been for you and your hounding, he would still be alive, hehe.

Image by bbwbryant via Flickr

Julian Assange seems to be in serious trouble. It seems he is being accused of forgetting his position as a world changer/savior and attempted to perform dirty deeds on two women in Sweden. There is much conjecture about the alleged victims and the unreliable testimony they would each serve.  It can be said that any man or woman with intelligence enough can argue the point from any angle. I can give you a million reasons to one side and a million to the other. Regardless, each side usually has enough support that the writings will have you loving and hating Assange all in the same read.

Belief in his innocence or guilt is usually directly tied to whether one believes he is evil for having released US State secrets or a saint for having released US State secrets. Those who believe him to have wrongly released those papers tend to see him as a criminally enraged animal raping women across the globe and those who believe him to be saintly for the release of state secretes tend to dismiss the charges as a conspiracy by the powers that be in order to discredit the man who released the documents.

I for one, would not put anything past the US government and my first question would be how likely or how possible is it for the US government to ensnare someone in a sex scandal were it intent on a smear campaign to protect its interests or silence someone who may very well have something to say which may harm US interests? The real answer is daunting.

Whatever the truth may be at this stage, it is undeniable that the coincidence of rape charges appearing from nowhere just as he releases some of the documents in his power seem so much like a setup that the allegations must be taken with a face value of the circumstances surrounding the man and the country most being hurt by the release of those papers. In other words, nice try US, but most folks in my corner can see through your facade and really, truly have no more belief in your good intentions than the belief that you are a nation under god.

Usually, the more unbelievable the lie, the more you find people willing to believe in it, to die for it. Don’t believe me? Check out the bible and the birth of Jesus from a virgin for proof.

I remember reading somewhere in the bible that man could not govern himself. I don’t remember where I read it, but this phrase has had me thinking for a while now. Consider this, a truly democratic society is today touted as the only and best way to ever run a country, not to mention it also includes freedoms which are sold as going hand in hand with democracy. But do we today really live in democratic times? In thinking about this, and I mean really thinking about this, I believe we don’t, at least, not really. Voting systems are getting iffier and iffier, political campaigns seem to be decided upon the backs of dollar bills rather than the issues at hand, issues at hand? Well sir, of course, it depends on how much money you have to spend. Interestingly enough, the future of so called democratic countries rest on the hands of it’s information system, and he who makes it onto these systems more often, wins the prize.

Brutally ignoring the particulars which serve as erosion agents, like the Iraq war, the war on terror, war on drugs, et al. I would like to point to the human race’s incessant movement towards dependency. We humans are extremely dependent creatures, we like our food served hot, on time, and we will forgo any extravagance in order that we may continue to have this food, on time and served hot, to the point where in time, the quality of this food could degenerate until it is practically indigestible, we will fight to the death to maintain this arrangement.

I believe democracy to be an elusive animal, one that, unless you strive to keep in your grasp, will get away from you with the speed and agility of a trapped mouse. Now assuming we had a full grasp of this democracy, what would we do with it? Not much, there are two sides to running a government, the side we see, and the side which the right politicians are allowed to enter and live in for the rest of their days. Meaning? The democracy you and I participate in is a sham, a joke, a play, with a leading actor, whom we vote into power every once in a while. The cast is chosen from a set of available actors, all sheepishly accepted by us as ordained ministers of democracy. Only when was the last time that your real wishes were accepted and integrated into law? Do you really want to stand outside and smoke while the bar you were having a drink in was empty because everybody is outside standing with you smoking? Yeah, some genius thought that up and there you have it.

My job takes me to many countries around the world. And being a heavy conversationalist, (read: heavy talker) I strike up conversations with many, many people wherever I happen to go, and what I have found is chilling. Most people only want to be left alone to collect their salaries and to most people, governments are nothing but a father figure from which they expect protection. Little else. Democracy? Hardly. It seems to me like humanity is, in general, veering hard to the left without any concern over what protectionism will cost them in terms of freedom.

Take a small startup company for example. The owner or founder has a pre conceived idea of what it would take to get his company off the ground financially. So he goes to a bank and is promptly showed to the door. He finally winds up at the door of a venture capitalist who, lends him the money, but the terms of the loan make this owner an employee of the VC. How is this helpful? Receiving anything from your government is nothing short of a long term mortgage, you WILL pay dearly for it, with the added menace that you do not have any idea of the price you are going to be expected to pay.

I totally agree that man is not capable of governing themselves. As a matter of fact, I agree that it is necessary to have someone smarter and better prepared be in charge of making laws and determining what is best for a country by making decisions based on fact rather than based on votes. Hence my argument for running governments as if they were businesses rather than if they were governments. Sure, have a CEO in place, but one with the right credentials to run a trillion dollar budget. Not someone who has no idea how to make money and much less how to put it to work when you’ve made it.

In most any country, governments are run as an institution. It should not be that way. A government should be able to sustain itself. It should have not only the ability to collect taxes, but the knowledge to generate profits for the people by putting their hard earned money to work for them. Generating profits for the people as shareholders of these, the most important companies in the country. Utilities is a good example of services that should be run by a properly staffed government. A for profit government that places first and foremost, the generation of profits for its shareholders, its people.

So while in the US and elsewhere, people argue over political parties an general banalities like a president’s choice of religion, those who can, are busily building fortunes at the expense of thosenwho can’t. And who are those who can’t? Can you tell?

The Cuban government does NOT do something like this without a huge payoff. But to those who think this is a step in the right direction, think again. How many have been taken to jail in their place? Cuban government clamps their jaws on people, this is not them loosening their jaws, this is them just farting for dollars.

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• Cuba to free 6 more dissidents (cnn.com)

1959 started out unlike any other year the Cubans had memory of. Suddenly, after years of a brutal dictatorship that sneaked up on them as they slept, just like that, without warning, Batista had fled the country and left it wide open for the bearded guerrilla fighters to waltz into Habana and seize power; “by the people and for the people”. But was power for the people really on the agenda?

Batista had been vilified by Castro, a young bearded lawyer who had been freed recently from jail after a much debated assault on the Moncada barracks where many of Batista’s soldiers were killed. Castro and his brother were part of a small group pardoned by the Cuban parliament in what, would regrettably turn out to be a very accurate prediction by a politician named Diaz-Balart. Then Castro’s brother-in-law. He predicted that Fidel was after nothing but power, and that given the opportunity to seize power, it would be at least 20 years before he could be made to relinquish it.

Well, here we are, 50 years later and Fidel is holding on to power like a flea to dog skin.

An undiagnosed psychopath – for who would dare to diagnose the “Comandante” with such a vile and twisted disease – has permanently and uninterruptedly governed Cuba for the better part of 55 years. Yes, I know they claim he stepped down in 2006, but this is about as true as my having been president of Cuba since then. For Raul’s personality and his adoration for his older brother will always hinder him in his meek attempt to govern the island.

According to the PCL-R, a diagnostic tool such as the Hare Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R), and if Castro were to be studied and graded, he would easily be labeled a psychopath.

Mostly, Castro’s history shows a huge tendency to lie, distort facts, ignore his personal responsibility and generally say anything or do anything to prove his righteousness and saintliness.

Why the forgery? Castro has a grandiose reputation to uphold, and if his government does not live up to this reputation, even by use of lies, which they inevitably have had to use more and more throughout their excruciatingly failed tenure, more than being accused as failures, they will be KNOWN as such, disallowing them the opportunity to implant doubt about its failures. But, the one thing that Castro knows, and sleeps well at night knowing is; “…a long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of being RIGHT, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom.  But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason…” Thomas Payne.

Castro could have been a star

During the 60′s and 70′s, the US government’s brazen intervention in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile, could have made Castro a star today. The US participated in what history will deem to be the dirtiest campaigning in favor of capitalism in its history. Directly, and actively helping to coordinate mass executions called “disappearances”, the US would have been hard put to explain their tactics and foreign policy which systematically annihilated any opposition to their implanting a raw capitalism in other countries. No one knows what Castro’s thoughts were during these times, other than he claimed to oppose these tactics and supported the leftists who were being deliberately removed from the affected countries. would have made it a perfect situation for someone in Castro’s place to actively promote his views on economic policy.

But his views on economic policies really had nothing to do with the core of his government. His tenure as the world’s longest lasting dictator has proven his real desire was never to really effect economic reform, nor was it to equalize the balance between the rich and poor in Cuba. Sadly, and to his discredit, his policy has proven to be only one, the perpetuation of his own power. Turns out he never wanted to release the grip on power, also turns out that his political and foreign affairs situation was perceived by him to be the only way to maintain his grip.

To Be Continued…

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

The news has been circulating for a while, rumors that the Cuban government would be releasing the remainder of the by now famous 75 poets and writers apprehended in 2003 and subsequently jailed. Some to prison terms as high as 28 years. A barbaric action from a barbaric dictator. Nothing anyone would really be too surprised about.

Several weeks ago, news stories covered the meeting between high ranking Cuban Church officials and Raul Castro. The Church, was vague about their talks, but word soon spread that there were serious talks of releasing prisoners. The world would be a better place. Prisoners would be sent home, and we would all clap like idiots at a dinner show.

The truth is that these poor souls, as others before them, have meant nothing to the Cuban government other than they were political currency. Something the Cuban government could at some point “trade” for anything of value. What really irks me about this particular trade is not the government’s usual underhandedness and transparency, more often than not, anyone who knows the Cuban government, or its history would very well know that the Cuban government does nothing for the sake of good.

So why did they do this? That is the question left to be answered here. The only thing I can think of is that they are cleaning house. The dissidents will all be forced into exile and I doubt any one of them would be unwilling to leave. Knowing they just escaped from the jaws of death is a very strong incentive to want to get the **** out of dodge. Still several ideas come to mind and one out there on the forefront would be; The ladies in white, (Damas en Blanco). This could be an effective way to defang their group which has garnered worldwide respect with their Sunday morning peaceful protests. But even that doesn’t feel like the target.

The Cuban government is hiding the objective behind the releases. They have seldom allowed themselves to be beaten without turning the defeat into a resounding victory even at the cost of human life. Mark my words down on your calendar, they are planning something, obviously I don’t know what it is, but there are two sides to this apparent concession, the side we see, and the dark side where the Castros’ have operated in for their whole lives. Put away the champagne. Celebrate the release of those innocent men, but keep it down, this isn’t over.

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• A Deceptive Amnesty in Cuba (nybooks.com)

Some of Cuba‘s most known dissidents signed a letter meant for the US congress in support of a bill that would remove the travel bans currently in place in Cuba. The letter shows support for a policy of openness. I have not seen the letter, it has not yet been published, and as soon as I get it, I will post it.

The thing that gets me is that Miami has decried the letter and claimed that the dissidents are now working for the Cuban government. So 50 years of failed foreign policy are right because they say they are. No other reason, just because they feel that they cannot be wrong. They point to the embargo and say it’s working, I look and can’t figure out who is on who’s side. Obviously the embargo is working, but it seems to be working for Castro and not in favor of the Cuban people.

I hope future generations of Cubans will have the brains to know better.

The monetary crisis has become the excuse and ideological flag whereby many governments are making a grab for cash. Many from the wrong pockets, most all of them from the wrong sector of people. The Greek government finds itself in dire straits, Spain is following the Greek into oblivion while steadfastly denying there is a problem. Why just a few weeks ago the Spanish government claimed Spain would come out of the crisis briefly during the summer only to fall back into it again soon after.

The US is slowly improving, or is it? Turns out, that if you just skim figures, the US is slowly coming coming around, but the deep scars left by years of wanton disregard for the laws of solid financials will most definitely provide for a very interesting few years ahead.

There doesn’t seem to be one country in the world who will scrape by this crisis brought on mostly by a false sense of security. Socialism, capitalism, all the isms will most certainly come under fire and the world will be much better for having survived the brutality of one of the longest financial depressions of our history.

Not to be left behind, Cuba, interestingly enough, has also jumped on the crisis bandwagon, having found another excuse to pull the wool a little further over the world’s eyes. The fact is that were it not for the handouts of the ignorant few [read: Hugo Chavez] who have somehow contributed to the meager propping up of a tired and destitute dictatorship, the government would have been beyond bankruptcy years and years ago. It is the inherent ruthlessness of the Cuban government which has barely kept them afloat during the worse 30 years of its history, laying the brunt of the load of its failed financial policies on the shoulders of a tired and defeated people. This time, having found yet another excuse trumpeted by the rest of the world.

Not all is bad news of course, scores of businesses will reap he rewards of sound financial planning, Hyundai comes to mind, and scores more will grow from the ashes to become leaders in their respective industries. Countries will inevitably find a way through the maze and governments will fall onto their own sword in order to make way for the new generation of leaders who, scarred by the recent spate of failures and the urge to bring a new set of policies that will strengthen their nation. Hopefully, the world will become a better place in a few years time.

Obama looks happy, the Estefan’s look proud. The daughter is probably thinking how her brother got away with not having to be in this picture.

The dinner, drinks, or whatever anyone calls this seems to have gone off well. But for who? Estefan made a shiny heart speech. Obama listened in rapture, knowing full well that somehow, somewhere, he had heard this all before. Funny thing is, we all have.

Emilio, everyone knows that Cuba has no democracy. Everyone knows that there is no freedom of any kind in Cuba.  Everyone has heard about the atrocities perpetrated by the Cuban government directly, or indirectly. Can you publicly express what the intent of repeating this in a once in a lifetime opportunity to get a point across to the one man who maybe can do something constructive for the Cubans? Yes, and I do mean the Cubans who live on the island nation being suffocated by a system which after 50 yrs, you’re still trying to topple, surprisingly, using the same failed methods that brought no results in the past 50 years!

So the Cuban people have an opportunity for a meeting with the president of the United States, and what does our representative do? Tries to convince him that the failed foreign policy of yesteryear is the correct and right path to the destruction of evil communism on the island. Jesus Christ! Even Hilary knows that the Castro brothers are the first ones that do not want the embargo lifted. So the plan, the brilliant plan, the new thing, the Cuban exile‘s solution to all the problems is to ask that the policies which have accomplished death by old age, be given a chance to work their magic.

Sounds to me like a doctor promoting the use of leeches and claiming it has not been given a chance to work properly. You know, in your business Emilio, you still have not learned that politics is not about the human emotions and the do good feeling you get when you do the good deed. Politics is about what you can offer the person you are trying to get something from. And the achievement here is only having retold news stories from Cuba.

I can most certainly imagine the frustration Hilary and Obama must feel with the Cuban situation. Hilary having experienced firsthand the political genius of Fidel during the 1996 failed attempt at reaching a friendly relationship with the Cuban government. An attempt which saw Bill Clinton embarrassed by Castro’s endless fluency in political maneuvering. George W. Bush took the route of least resistance, never trying to resolve the problem, only trying to win votes. He gave the Miami Cubans what they wanted, tougher sanctions, and then walked away. Those trying to do some good for the Cuban people run into two brick walls. First, Castro’s political truancy, and second, the Miami Cuban’s relentless adhesion to a failed policy driven home by a slew of egotistical, failed dictators with a bone to pick with Castro for having been the one to strip them of the opportunity to run Cuba the way they had dreamed.

This “cause”, and I quote the word because I no longer know whether this is a cause or even what it could be, seems to be going the way of till death do us part. Nothing shows signs of change until and when the proponents of hatred and revenge on both sides are dead. Certainly it seems like the only way out of this mess for Cuba and it’s people. Fittingly, it looks like we will have to wait until the whole generation that started this dies off before we can begin to live in a free Cuba.