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| 11/22 |
| 2010/9/7-30 [Science/GlobalWarming, Politics/Domestic/RepublicanMedia] UID:53949 Activity:nil |
9/5 "Report: Castro blasts Ahmadinejad as anti-Semitic" - Yahoo! News:
http://www.csua.org/u/rji
"HAVANA - Fidel Castro criticized Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad for what he called his anti-Semitic attitudes and
questioned his own actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962
during interviews with an American journalist he summoned to Havana to
discuss fears of global nuclear war."
What surprises!
\_ we don't care. fuck off.
\_ Another one: "Report: Castro says Cuban model doesn't work"
http://www.csua.org/u/rjw
\_ Better late than never.
\_ Cuba to lay off 1/2M government workers:
http://www.csua.org/u/rl4
\_ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/22/mahmoud-ahmadinejad-iran-bomber-drone
Ahmadinejad said the unmanned aerial vehicle ... had "a main
message of peace and friendship" and in the next sentence he
describes the long range bomber 'as "an ambassador of death"
to Tehran's enemies.' |
| 11/22 |
|
| www.csua.org/u/rji -> news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100907/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_fidel_castro FOX News By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press Writer Will Weissert, Associated Press Writer - Tue Sep 7, 6:21 pm ET HAVANA - Fidel Castro criticized Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for what he called his anti-Semitic attitudes and questioned his own actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 during interviews with an American journalist he summoned to Havana to discuss fears of global nuclear war. Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic, blogged on the magazine's website Tuesday that he was on vacation last month when the head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington -- which Cuba maintains there instead of an embassy -- called to say Castro had read his recent article about Israel and Iran and wanted him to come to Cuba. Goldberg asked Julia Sweig, a Cuba-US policy expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, to accompany him, and the pair spent portions of three days talking with Castro. Goldberg said their first meeting lasted five hours and featured appearances by Castro's wife, Dalia, his son Antonio, and several bodyguards, two of which held his elbow to steady Castro when he moved. "His body may be frail, but his mind is acute, his energy level is high," wrote Goldberg, who also noted Castro's self-deprecating humor. The 84-year-old ex-president wore full military fatigues and an olive-green cap while addressing university students last week, and had previously appeared in public in a military shirt. But Goldberg saw Castro in a red shirt, sweat pants, and black New Balance sneakers. He said Castro, who himself has been a fierce critic of Israel, "repeatedly returned to his excoriation of anti-Semitism," chiding Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust. Castro said that Iran could further the cause of peace by "acknowledging the 'unique' history of anti-Semitism and trying to understand why Israelis fear for their existence." The gray-bearded revolutionary related to Goldberg a story from his childhood that has been detailed by some biographers: that he overheard classmates saying Jews killed Jesus Christ. I knew of a bird that was a called a 'Jew,' and so for me the Jews were those birds," Goldberg quoted Castro as telling him. Castro later added, "This is how ignorant the entire population was." According to Goldberg, Castro said, "I don't think anyone has been slandered more than the Jews. Castro also said that the Iranian government should understand that the Jews "were expelled from their land, persecuted and mistreated all over the world, as the ones who killed God." After undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006, giving up Cuba's presidency and dropping out of sight for four years, Castro has begun making near-daily public appearances to warn of a nuclear war pitting the US and Israel against Iran and also featuring a Washington-led attack on North Korea. "This problem is not going to get resolved, because the Iranians are not going to back down in the face of threats," Castro told Goldberg. Goldberg also said he revisited the Cuban Missile Crisis with Castro, asking if once "it seemed logical for you to recommend that the Soviets bomb the US" "Does what you recommended still seem logical now?" Castro's answer surprised him: "After I've seen what I've seen, and knowing what I know now, it wasn't worth it all." Report Abuse Ah, Fidel is such a big, sweet lug of a Latin Dictator in his old age! I guess all those years of feeding his political enemies to the sharks finally wore his heart down. But the real question that most people want to know from Castro is..... Report Abuse Castro should be tried for crimes against humanity and nobody should be paying attention or listening to him only if he was in jail. Crazy demented fool, he is close to death and everybody should rejoice, this guy kept his own country hostage and this should never be forgoten besides all of his countrymen and women who were tortured and died in his jails. Report Abuse I like any political leader who takes a stand against that stinking murderous anti-semite tyrant Ahmadinejad. If Castro keeps currying favor with the Jews we might end the blockade and needless boycott of Cuba. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. |
| www.csua.org/u/rjw -> news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100908/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_fidel_castro FOX News By PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Writer Paul Haven, Associated Press Writer - Wed Sep 8, 3:18 pm ET HAVANA - Fidel Castro told a visiting American journalist that Cuba's communist economic model doesn't work, a rare comment on domestic affairs from a man who has conspicuously steered clear of local issues since stepping down four years ago. The fact that things are not working efficiently on this cash-strapped Caribbean island is hardly news. Fidel's brother Raul, the country's president, has said the same thing repeatedly. But the blunt assessment by the father of Cuba's 1959 revolution is sure to raise eyebrows. Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic magazine, asked if Cuba's economic system was still worth exporting to other countries, and Castro replied: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore" Goldberg wrote Wednesday in a post on his Atlantic blog. He said Castro made the comment casually over lunch following a long talk about the Middle East, and did not elaborate. The Cuban government had no immediate comment on Goldberg's account. Since stepping down from power in 2006, the ex-president has focused almost entirely on international affairs and said very little about Cuba and its politics, perhaps to limit the perception he is stepping on his brother's toes. Goldberg, who traveled to Cuba at Castro's invitation last week to discuss a recent Atlantic article he wrote about Iran's nuclear program, also reported on Tuesday that Castro questioned his own actions during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, including his recommendation to Soviet leaders that they use nuclear weapons against the United States. Even after the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba has clung to its communist system. The state controls well over 90 percent of the economy, paying workers salaries of about $20 a month in return for free health care and education, and nearly free transportation and housing. At least a portion of every citizen's food needs are sold to them through ration books at heavily subsidized prices. President Raul Castro and others have instituted a series of limited economic reforms, and have warned Cubans that they need to start working harder and expecting less from the government. But the president has also made it clear he has no desire to depart from Cuba's socialist system or embrace capitalism. Fidel Castro stepped down temporarily in July 2006 due to a serious illness that nearly killed him. He resigned permanently two years later, but remains head of the Communist Party. After staying almost entirely out of the spotlight for four years, he re-emerged in July and now speaks frequently about international affairs. He has been warning for weeks of the threat of a nuclear war over Iran. Castro's interview with Goldberg is the only one he has given to an American journalist since he left office. and when the rug got pulled out from under them they fell hard on the middle of the concrete floor having not prepared for the fact that their 'allies' didn't ever really like them.... Report Abuse Looks to me like an American corporate plot to ship what few jobs that are still here in the US to Cuba. Guess they've become a little too scared of China and India. Report Abuse Most of Western Europe is socialist (many of the posters here would undoubtedly refer to them incorrectly as communist). Yet life goes on there and I see no one suffering, nor is there a lack of freedom. It is probably one of the most socialistic states in Western Europe, yet they rate #1 on the Human Development Index and are #3 in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capital. Of course Norway did it a little differently - they opted out of the capitalist "free-trade" globalism model and have been smiling all the way to the bank. In Norway not only is health care totally free, education is free all the way to the post-grad level. Report Abuse i hope our government leaders and the american public realize what an incredible admission this is, coming from Fidel Castro. This news is far more important than Iran's feeble attempts to keep the world on edge with its nuclear development program, and it could even be more important than the november elections. for castro to make such a statement means that he sees the merits in the free enterprise system, and the failure of communism. this kind of news could mean a safer world for all of us. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. |
| www.csua.org/u/rl4 -> news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100913/ap_on_bi_ge/cb_cuba_mass_layoffs Manuel Cardenas repairs shoes in La Habanera state-run workshop in Havana, Cuba, Monday Sept. Raul Castro's government announced Monday it w AP - Manuel Cardenas repairs shoes in La Habanera state-run workshop in Havana, Cuba, Monday Sept. By WILL WEISSERT and PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Writers Will Weissert And Paul Haven, Associated Press Writers - 10 mins ago HAVANA - Cuba announced Monday it will cast off at least half a million state workers by early next year and reduce restrictions on private enterprise to help them find new jobs -- the most dramatic step yet in President Raul Castro's push to radically remake employment on the communist-run island. Castro suggested during a nationally televised address on Easter Sunday that as many as 1 million Cuban workers -- about one in five -- may be redundant. But the government had not previously laid out specific plans to slash its work force, and the speed and scope of the coming cutbacks were astounding. Cuba's official work force is 51 million -- meaning nearly 10 percent of all employees could soon be out of a government job. Workers caught off guard by the announcement said they worried whether the tiny private sector could support so many new jobs, a sentiment echoed by some analysts. "For me the problem is the salaries, that's the root of it," said Alberto Fuentes, a 47-year-old government worker. "If they fire all of these people, how can they all become self-employed?" The layoffs will start immediately and continue through April 2011, according to a statement from the nearly 3 million-strong Cuban Workers Confederation, which is affiliated with the Communist Party and the only labor union allowed by the government. Eventually the state will only employ people in "indispensable" areas such as farming, construction, industry, law enforcement and education. To soften the blow, the statement -- which appeared in state newspapers and was read on television and radio -- said the government would increase private-sector job opportunities, including allowing more Cubans to become self-employed. They also will be able to form cooperatives run by employees rather than government administrators, and increasingly lease state land, businesses and infrastructure. The announcement was short on details of how such a major shift could be achieved, but its intent appeared to deal a body-blow to the decades-old social safety net upon which the island's egalitarian society is built. Castro has long complained that Cubans expect too much from the government, which pays average monthly salaries of just $20 but also provides free education and health care and heavily subsidizes housing, transportation and basic food. Because unemployment is anathema in a communist society, state businesses have been forced to carry many people who do almost nothing. "Our state cannot and should not continue supporting businesses, production entities and services with inflated payrolls, and losses that hurt our economy are ultimately counterproductive, creating bad habits and distorting worker conduct," the union said. Even before the announcement, interviews with scores of workers across several government sectors showed that layoffs were already under way -- with many complaining the state was not doing enough to find them new jobs. Larry Birns, director of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs, said a series of small changes -- such as allowing the unrestricted sale of cell phones, privatizing some state-run barbershops, licensing more private taxis and distributing fallow land to private farmers -- have moved Cuba toward economic reform since July 2006, when serious intestinal illness nearly killed Fidel Castro and forced him to cede power to Raul. While none of those were blockbusters, Birns said, Monday's revelation has the potential to be one. "Cuba is rapidly becoming like any other country," he said. Some Cubans also said they supported the changes, hoping that even a small dose of private enterprise would go a long way in a country where state mismanagement has led to frequent shortages of everything from potatoes to toothpaste. "There are many things that are deficient now including services, which, of course, the private sector will improve on," said Moraima Santos, a 65-year-old employee in the Office of the City of Havana Historian. "I completely support the government giving private employment licenses. Arch Ritter, an expert on the Cuban economy at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, said the cutbacks rely too heavily on a work force unaccustomed to going into business for itself. "To imagine that the private sector is going to absorb so many people is a bit of a stretch," he said. Building on his April remarks, Castro warned in August that layoffs would be coming and said Cuba would expand private enterprise on a small scale, increasing the number of jobs where Cubans could go into business for themselves. Monday's announcement also said Cuba will overhaul its labor structure and salary systems to emphasize productivity so that workers are "paid according to results." Castro has said repeatedly he is seeking to reform the pay system to hold workers accountable for production, but change has been slow in coming. Currently the state employs 95 percent of the official work force. Unemployment last year was 17 percent and hasn't risen above 3 percent in eight years -- but that ignores thousands of Cubans who aren't looking for jobs because wages are so low. The labor overhaul comes less than a week after Fidel Castro caused a stir around the globe when he was quoted by visiting American magazine writer Jeffrey Goldberg as saying Cuba's communist economy no longer works. Castro later said that while he was not misquoted, his words were misinterpreted -- and that he meant to say capitalist reforms could never work in Cuba. Goldberg said Monday he was surprised by Fidel Castro's claim, since he has made similar statements before. He said economic reforms such as the one announced Monday prove the Cuban government realizes the need for change. "Not only has he said things like this before, but the on-the-ground reality is that it is a truism that the Cuban model is not working, and that is why they are starting this large-scale experiment with privatization," Goldberg told reporters. Report Abuse The Castro brothers need to step down, I think 51 years of their regime is quite enough already. I think the people of Cuba deserve a chance to have at least a little prosperity after so many years of dictatorship. Report Abuse Cuba will eventually have a capitalistic society, and Castro knows it. He also knows that if they just openly embrace capitalism, it will explode out of control like a country moving from the dark ages into the future, and so he is no doubt wanting it to be more gradual, orderly, and controlled. At this point they may not know what to do, but any change will turn out being better in the long run, even if it hurts in the short run. Castro also fears the US getting involved because the Castros will lose all control and power, and they are too old to ever get it back by force like they did back when. Report Abuse We could cut 20% of government employees, and I don't think we would see much difference in the services provided. Many of them spend more time trying to find ways of slacking off, lining up "sick leave" days, or preparing grievances with their unions than actually doing the work taxpayers pay them to do. The score now reads Castro 1 - Obama 0 What an embarassing moment for Obama & his dumbocraps in Congress. With 49 days to go, November to remember: Vote OUT all socialist democrats & GOP's too. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. |
| www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/22/mahmoud-ahmadinejad-iran-bomber-drone Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as "an ambassador of death" to Tehran's enemies. At a ceremony today, Ahmadinejad said the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) - named Karrar, meaning "striker" in Persian - had "a main message of peace and friendship" but was intended to deter aggression "and keep the enemy paralysed in his bases". The presentation came as technicians began fuelling the Islamic republic's first nuclear power station, at Bushehr, in a development Israel has described as "totally unacceptable". The US and Britain say the Bushehr plant, which is monitored by the UN's nuclear watchdog, poses no proliferation threat because Russia is supplying the nuclear fuel and will remove the spent fuel rods, minimising any risk that they could be used to make nuclear weapons. Iran is under UN sanctions to force a halt to uranium enrichment because of fears that it secretly plans to build nuclear weapons. Ahmed Vahidi, the Iranian defence minister, said the Karrar had a range of up to 620 miles, which is not far enough to reach Israel. Iranian state TV reported that the UAV could carry four cruise missiles, two 250lb bombs or one 500lb bomb. The drone was the latest item of military hardware to be inaugurated by Iran against a background of continuing tension over the nuclear issue. On Friday, Tehran test-fired a new surface-to-surface missile called the Qiam (meaning "rising"). It has already developed long-range missiles capable of hitting Israel and eastern Europe and of carrying a nuclear warhead. Debka file website, which appears to have links to Israeli intelligence, reported that the father of Iran's UAV programme, Reza Baruni, had been assassinated in a bomb attack in his home town of Ahwaz, in Khuzestan. There has been no confirmation of this unattributed claim from any other source. It is widely believed that western intelligence services, Israel and perhaps Arab countries have been seeking to sabotage the Iranian nuclear programme. Experts say the programme appears to have suffered setbacks. The Iranian media has previously reported the successful test of a radar-evading "stealth" drone with bombing capabilities. In March 2009, US fighter jets in Iraq shot down an unmanned Iranian spy drone, generating concern in Washington. Yesterday, Ahmadinejad warned that any attack against Iran would be "suicidal". Still, the threat of pre-emptive military action that could ignite war across the Middle East may be receding. Obama administration officials were reported last week to have told Israel they believe Iran is still a year away from being able to build a nuclear weapon. The New York Times quoted Israeli officials as saying that their assessments were coming into line with Washington's view, but they remain suspicious that Iran has a secret uranium enrichment site yet to be discovered - after one was revealed in a mountainside near Qom last September as sanctions moves intensified. Israel, an undeclared atomic power which, unlike Iran, has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), has often warned that it cannot live with a nuclear-armed Iran and hinted that it may attack it, as it did Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981. Iran has repeatedly declared a willingness to return to nuclear talks with the EU, but the exact nature of any negotiations has yet to be defined. Iran would be prepared to stop higher-grade uranium enrichment if it was guaranteed nuclear fuel supplies for a research reactor. But the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - who makes all key national security decisions - said last week that Iran would not talk to the US unless sanctions and military threats were lifted. |