The New York Times: Carrying Water For Castro, Again
The Times, like the rest of the mainstream media, would like to position the conflict as one between legitimate governments. But the truth is that the ongoing battle here has been between an illegitimate government and the people it lords over. It is not the United States that forced the Cuban people to accept a Marxist economy. It is not the United States that implemented one-party rule in Cuba. It is not the United States that keeps Yoani Sánchez and others from leaving Cuba.
It is not the United States that keeps democracy and human rights activists like Dr. Darsi Ferrer and Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet incarcerated for their beliefs.
There’s a reason why, according to the Times, Varela is visiting “universities and policy institutes.” The reason is that the Castro regime has always been excellent at propaganda. Since the beginning, the Castro brothers have understood that in order to perpetuate their rule they needed the support of the international community and that that support can only come by manipulating the media, academia, and institutions in free countries. These are soft targets, to be sure, as evidenced by the number of Cuban agents that have been uncovered over the years, even recently. There is simply no shortage of reporters, college professors, and even State Department officials and intelligence officers that are willing to sing along to Castro’s (and Varela’s) tune for an ignorant audience.
And with an administration like Obama’s in power, one that is predisposed to believe that the United States is culpable for most of the evil in the world, the targets become that much softer.
The Times does mention that, despite the sanctions, the U.S. is Cuba’s largest food supplier, but the media’s other storyline is that we, as a country, are leaving potential business on the table by not having “normal” trade relations with our “normal” neighbor. And therein lies the rub.
Our “normal” neighbor expropriated almost $2 billion in U.S. assets in the late fifties and early sixties. It then shunned U.S. trade when it allied itself with the Soviet Union. But after the collapse of the Eastern bloc and the subsidies that came from it, the regime put out its tin cup disguised as business opportunities. Europeans and others have gladly sunk their money into Cuba only to find out that (surprise) command economies don’t work and dictators rarely keep their promises.
That’s why Cuba is a deadbeat nation that owes money all around the world, and has made no real economic reforms — much less political ones — despite all this economic “engagement.” There’s only one sucker out there left, one elephant to bag. You guessed it: Castro’s sworn enemy, the United States (and its taxpayers).
So all of Castro’s musicians are out there playing guitar with their cases open to collect money, but they are not playing in the subway stations where they can only hope to bag a few bucks in coins. They are playing at “universities and policy institutes” that can influence Congress and the president into funneling billions in what will ultimately be taxpayer-backed trade credits to an outlaw regime that has not had a democratic election in more than fifty years and whose people have no voice in how they are governed.
That’s music to Castro’s ears.
Hopefully, like so many of their athletes once they get out, he defects.
It always amazes me how anyone continues to sepak well of Castro. In recent years a number of Hollywood personalities spoken up about what a great guy Castro is. People like Benecio Del Toro, Danny Glover, Sean Penn, et al are either diabolical haters of freedom or simply idiots. Either way, we should ignore such personalities. Don’t watch their movies.
State Of The Union Speech I’d dearly love to hear an American president present:
“The United States of Americ is the single largest provider of money, food, medicine, economic assistance and democracy in the world. For all our altruistic efforts, we are rewarded with ridicule, scorn, hate, murder, slander and abuse of all kinds by the very people we work so hard to help.
As of today, we’re not going to take it any more!
Beginning this month, the United States will neither give nor loan ANYTHING to any country whose media, government or entertainment industries in any way mistreat us. When I say “mistreat”, I mean any slanderous or otherwise false accusations; I refer to government-run news outlets that make the most outlandish accusations against us. I refer to parliamentary bodies that accuse us of the most underhanded motives in our dealings.
When I say we will not give ANYTHING, I mean no free money, food or medicine! That means no loans, doctors, advisers or any other free help of any kind. If anyone wants a handout from America, they’d better be ready to say “Thank You America!” They’d better be ready to tell the world how grateful and appreciative they are that there is one nation in the world that can be counted on to come to the aid of a nation in their condition. They’d better be prepared to say nice things and only nice things about America!
I know this will be a great hardship on the people of many countries who rely on American largess to survive. I find this exceedingly regrettable. It is regrettable that these people live under regimes that are corrupt, tyrranical, evil and criminal. It is regrettable that these people live in countries that allow them no freedoms, no education, no economic prosperity and no opportunity to express their own opinions. It is regrettable that their fates are solely the responsibility of the evil and corrupt cleptocracies they suffer under.
Specifically, America will provide NOTHING to Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Mexico, Russia, China, Indonesia, any nation on the African continent and especially the Palestenians!
So world, the next time you experience a famine, plague, earthquake, volcanic eruption, typhoon or tsunami, ask for aid from Russia, China, Saudi Arabia or Venezuela and see what you get. As usual, you can count on promises, but not much else!
Any country who thinks they are being treated unfairly need merely change their public attitued toward us. If you want us to be your friend, treat us as friends! We certainly want to be friends with all, but we will no longer tolerate the abuse the world has indulged in for too long.”
Woo-Hoo! Wouldn’t THAT stir up a tempest of indignation among the slimy b%@$#!ds!
Thanks for this wonderful, informative piece. And bubblehead, I appreciated what you had to say, too.
To show the double standard in only one way consider this. The shock and horror all over the world at Nazi book burning continues to this day. Go to any book group, read The Book Thief, for example. It is always the fashion to be disturbed about Nazi book burning.
Yet where is the disturbance that Carlos Eire’s excellent biography cannot be read in Cuba? Where is the rage that Cubans don’t have the freedom to read whatever they want? You could take this one example and use it universally. It is shocking that the U.S. tortures bad people, shocking! But if the Castros torture good people, that’s irrelevant.
Selective indignation is and has always been disgusting to me.
1) We are down to Saturday and Sunday only for the NYT – soon to be zero days if this keeps up.
2) Sean Penn got played by Castro when he was there. He is a clown and a fools fool. Too bad – he’s so talented.
Bubblehead, sure, the U.S. DOES give lots of foreign aid to other countries. But on a PER CAPITA basis, it actually gives less than many other nations do. Just saying …
By the way, I imagine most of the world would be very content if the U.S. stopped giving and closed its borders and kept out of world affairs. China and the E.U. will be ruling this century. Check the statistics on global wealth over the last decade. The wealth of the United States has actually declined over the last decade, whereas the wealth in China, India, the E.U., Australia, etc., has increased by leaps and bounds.
The sooner you come to terms with this and plan and invest accordingly, the better off your family will be.
I wouldn’t worry about competition from the EU- Brussels’ dead hand will ensure stagnation for at least a generation. If the EU legislates carbon insanity, they could be looking at negative growth.
US real wealth has of course been increasing; it’s in the the *rate* of increase that we trail Asia (who started from way, way behind- it’s easy to forget that China’s and India’s per-capita GDP remain at developing-world levels even now).
It is true that the US share of global GDP has declined- from ca. 50% in Ike’s day to ca. 25% now. But in the wake of WWII, Japan and most of Europe were in ruins. We are no longer the only game in town; other regions have been creating wealth also. Nonetheless we still lead the world on a per capita basis, despite dragging around the ball-and-chain of liberal policies. (Switzerland, oil-rich Norway, and a couple of oil sheikdoms outrank us, but the EU as a whole only runs at about 60% of the US rate).
John Adams:
You are talking about government aid- you carefully ignore the fact that private aid from the US is greater than the rest of the world combined.
Bohemond: No, I am talking about all aid, government and private. On a per capita basis, some other large nations exceed what the U.S. gives.
About U.S. real wealth … you can cut and slice and dice this many ways, not sure how you are looking at it.
When I posted, I was talking specifically about the stock market capitalization in various nations. It has stagnated (actually slightly fallen) in the U.S. over the last decade (looking at inflation adjusted dollars). Whereas it has boomed in China, Australia, Canada, etc., over the same period.
If you want to talk about household net worth in the U.S. instead … it is now more or less where it was back circa 2004 or so.
See the graphic at this page:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/162676-u-s-household-net-worth-gains-2-trillion
My prediction is that it continues the recent downward trend for at least the next few years … probably throughout the next decade, no matter who is in charge.
By the way, household net worth in the U.S. peaked at $65.3 trillion in the second quarter of 2007 … it was just estimated a couple of weeks ago by the Fed at $53.4 trillion in the third quarter of 2009.
@ #6 John Adams
First point John, every dime the US government gives to anyone was first confiscated (stolen) from American citizens! It is irrelavent how much it is, or what percentage it is or any other dismissive argument you want to make. The fact is most of the nations with their hands out to us do not deserve our friendship, let alone our money!
Second, do you really think the UN is just going to shrug and carry on if we stop passing out dollars? Do you really think the Palestenians will simply look elsewhere for funds when they begin to starve in the dark?
What the rest of the world would prefer is our money, food, medicine and technology with no strings attached. What the world has done so far is with one hand take our money (and demand more) while with the other hand they beat us mercilessly.
Look to the press in any country receiving US aid; you will find the most vile lies and distortions you can imagine! We are not perfect, but we do not deserve the abuse we receive. At least we have ideals we believe in and try to uphold. The rest of the world “…don’t need no stinking morals!”
As to China and the EU;
China has always been completely insular and has plenty to deal with at home. They have no imperial plans and no desire to police the world as long as they are secure at home and keep making money. We can revisit China in a hundred years and see if there is any difference.
The EU is a joke. To call it a union is laughable. Europe is just as fractious as ever and their squabbling will prevent any dynamic progress. Europe is the carrion the Muslim vulture is currently feeding on!
#10: what are you smoking??
#6: john well siad. I find my being here and educating most of these high school drop outs!!
henry Gomez: Human Rights? are you kidding me or ary smoking the same thing as #10. go and visit Mississippi. there 500 thousand people there without plumbing.. and if I not mistaken the is a State here in our country…
Well the Babalu Blog/Gusano shrill demographic has spoken … like a broken record these geriatrics of Calle Ocho play the same fiddle year after year – not realizing that regardless of how bad things are in Cuba – the U.S. Constitution guarantees any American who wants to the RIGHT to TRAVEL THERE ! I can freely travel to North Korea if I want, regardless of how brutal Kim Jong Il is – I could also have travelled to Saddam’s Iraq.
The Little Havana crowd needs to quit hijacking US policy against our great Constitution.
Fidel Castro, just another liberal without a big enough gun or army
to abuse or imprison millions. You can’t throw a whole nation in jail, though it’s the dream of the compassionate, American Leftists, experts in hate.
If only we could return to 1950’s Cuba = the Caribbean’s St Tropez, a playground to the rich. Havana was a neon-lit lair where characters such as Frank Sinatra and his Cuban counterpart, Beni More, worked the cash tills and played hard. Sultry, hot Latino girls competed with blondes from mainland America for the attention of royals and the kings of the boulevard.
= Then Fidel and Che came and spoilt the fun
(
Hence, why the white oligarchs who fled their latifundios to Miami, have saw to it that the Cuban people (and their wage slaves) who backed the revolution – SUFFER – ever since under an unjust embargo, while Communist China owns most U.$. currency.
I wonder what Arturo Sandoval thinks about Varela’s tour.
Remember, Varela’s a musician and regardless of the Castro regime’s desire to use him as good PR, he still wants to play his music for people.
Sandoval took frequent tours outside Cuba before he defected to the US in 1990. Though he had a relatively privileged life in Cuba, he felt restricted artistically by the regime and defected while touring with his icon and mentor, Dizzy Gillespie. As it happens, Sandoval, who for the most part is not political, had some difficulty being granted asylum by US officials. They felt that his musical career in Cuba tainted him by association with the regime.
Artists in Cuba are faced with a dilemma. If they want a career in music they have to work with the regime. If they want artistic freedom, a career in music is very difficult in Cuba.
HastaSiempre,
Batista was corrupt but in the 1950s, the Cuban people had an increasing standard of living and the country was modernizing. Now it’s effectively part of the Third World.
The historical reality is that right wing and military regimes have a better record of transition to democracy than left wing regimes.
Henry,
Not only is Varela an agent of the Castro dictatorship, but as I can recall, Jackson Browne is helping Varela in his US tour. Now anyone that knows their two cents about Cuban sympathizers outside of the island knows that Jackson has been involved in multitudes of pro Castro Cuba organizations and events for the longest time.
Mario –
Agree. Those who recall the 60s and 70s well know about castro’s stateside fellow travellers and useful idiotas.
castro’s American sympathizers can take heart in knowing that when his use for them is complete, castro will dispatch them with great alacrity.
As far as these ‘opportunities’ on which Americans are supposedly missing out, castro described them in his folksy avuncular manner, in the below quote.
Paul Vincent Zecchino
Manasoviet Key, Florida
02 January, 2010
“Yanqui businessmen are fools, adventurers, and piratical idiots.
We shall trade with them, take what is theirs – and kill them.”
– fidel castro, ca. 1995
Same old year end bla bla lus blog blabing!! Henry for the 50th time,shut the (shut my mouth) up!
NY TIMES, libtardese for Pravda.SCRATCH A LIBERAL;FIND A STALINIST! !VIVA CUBA LIBRE!
#19 Defiant One:stop DEFYING your doctor,and get your syphillis treated.Don’t they have penicillin in Cuba for members of the propaganda ministry?
#14HASTA SIEMPRE(SIFILITICO Y COMUNISTA)Take care of your VD;it’s gone tertiary;ordoesn’t Castro ration penicillin to members of his propagandra ministry?