Fidel Lectures at Cuba’s Parliament
By Circles Robinson
HAVANA TIMES, August 7 — Former Cuban President Fidel Castro —senior advisor to the government of Raul Castro— will give his analysis on the international situation before a special session of the Cuban parliament on Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m. local time.
Castro has been warning of the dangers of a nuclear war that could take place on the Korean peninsula or as a result of a US attack on Iran. He has asked US President Obama to refrain from such military action.
The leader of the Cuban revolution made his first of numerous public appearances a month ago today after a long four year convalescence, from which many thought he would never appear again in the public arena.
Thus far Fidel has only spoken on international affairs.
Probably the biggest danger is Israel attacking Iran, into which, of course, the U.S.A. would be drawn. Seems similar, in some ways, to how WWI began. In the U.S.A. there are some hawks in the foreign policy/State Department establishment who would like nothing better than to provoke a war with Iran; the majority, however, forsee that one provoked, such a war would have unanticipated and catastrophic consequences.
As far as the Korean situation is concerned, I hope China uses its good offices to mediate the situation. To begin with, they might step up aid to the DPRK, encourage joint Sino-DPRK ventures, and likewise the reestablishment of such ventures between ROK and the DPRK. Just like Cuba cannot return to the pre-1990’s economic model, so to it is becoming increasingly unlikely that the DPRK, despite its self-reliant Juche philosophy, can go it alone. Already there is much unofficial economic exchange between Koreans and Chinese in the northern area of the DPRK, as well as cultural exchange (e.g. smuggled videos of popular U.S., Chinese, and ROK films and telenovelas, etc.), and these unofficial cultural exchanges are spreading. I suspect there are elements of the leadership in the DPRK that are already taking a more pragmatic approach. OTOH, just like the Israelis, (and the religious fundamentalists everywhere) by embracing a siege mentality, there is a tendency to see the world through a filter of paranoia–and this is extremely dangerous!
Video of Fidel’s speech today, complete, 12 minutes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zehMvi9uuM
Many good people die at a much younger age because despots like the monopoly bankers and military-industrialists, and their quislings like Geo. W. Bush and Barack Obama, invade weaker nations, slaughter hundreds of thousands, use young troops as killers and targets for those trying to defend their invaded nations, and that sort of despotism.
It is hard to understand why some people are unable to tell the difference between Fidel Castro and the real despots of the earth. It is sickening.
Fidel gave no lecture. He spoke for about fifteen minutes, then participated in a general discussion on the world situation with a lively back and forth between the delegates, who were pleased to see him. The session lasted about 90 minutes.
It is hard to understand why a despot like Fidel Castro can recuperate to the point where he is able to resume some of his functions whereas many good people die at a much younger age