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Bill Richardson: normalize relations with Cuba and advance a new collaborative relationship in Latin America
Arizona's attempt to create and enforce its own immigration policy has once again amplified -- and politicized -- the immigration debate in this country. But the fallout of that debate extends beyond our borders. The anti-immigrant push in Arizona has further alienated our neighbors throughout Latin America, who had been hoping for better relations with the United States after President Obama's election. We need to turn this opportunity to our advantage and engage with our neighbors throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Latin America has perhaps the greatest impact, in terms of trade and culture, on the daily lives of most Americans. U.S. exports to Latin America have grown faster in the past 11 years than to any other region, including Asia. Hispanics represent the biggest ethnic and most sought-after voting bloc in the United States. And nearly every country in North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean now has a democratically elected government.
The time is right to leverage our trade and partnerships and advance a more collaborative relationship with our neighbors to the south. The Obama administration should consider these five steps:
-- First, it should aggressively lobby Congress for a comprehensive immigration law. Such legislation would include increased border security; a crackdown on illegal hires; and an accountable path to legalization that requires the 11 million immigrants here illegally to learn English, pass a background check, pay fines and get in line behind those who are trying to enter our country legally. Illegal immigrants come to our country from Central and South America and the Caribbean. This is not just an issue with Mexico; it is a hemispheric issue that needs a comprehensive response.
-- Second, as a first step to changing our policy toward Cuba, the president should issue an executive order to lift as much of the travel ban as possible. The travel ban penalizes U.S. businesses, lowers our credibility in Latin America and fuels anti-U.S. propaganda. Lifting the ban would also be a reciprocal gesture for Cuba's recent agreement, negotiated among the Catholic Church, the Spanish government and President Ra?l Castro, to release political dissidents. Obama has taken significant steps to loosen restrictions on family travel, remove limits for remittance and expand cooperation in other areas such as expanding the export of humanitarian goods from the United States into Cuba. Loosening travel restrictions is in U.S. interests and would be a bold move toward normalization of relations with Cuba.
-- Third, embark on a new Alliance for Progress with Latin America and the Caribbean, modeled on President John F. Kennedy's vision for the hemisphere. This should not be a one-sided alliance preconceived on expansion of U.S. markets, nor an agreement that imposes a U.S. solution. We need a new partnership in which we close the gap between the haves and have-nots by addressing both human and economic needs and giving more priority to the indigenous people of this hemisphere.
The United States needs to craft a hemispheric agenda that includes and emphasizes solutions to energy demands and climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean. Perhaps we need a hemispheric agreement on renewable energy that provides the technical know-how for the Americas and dramatically expands the biofuel agreement with Brazil. We also need to move quickly toward a real carbon-trading system that would reward countries that protect their forests.
-- Fourth, we should continue to seek trade agreements that are free and fair and contain strong standards on labor, the environment and human rights. Pending trade agreements with Colombia and Panama should be approved by Congress and once again establish the United States as a reliable trading partner. Additionally, the Obama administration should seek a hemispheric agreement on common labor, environmental and human rights standards. This bold move would promote our interests and image in the region.
-- Finally, we need a hemispheric accord on crime and violence. In New Mexico, we are working with law enforcement at the local, state and federal levels and on both sides of our border with Mexico to share intelligence and stop the illicit trade of narcotics, illegal guns and human trafficking. These are transnational issues that involve a coordinated effort to protect the safety of law-abiding citizens of the United States and Mexico. We must not allow the immigration debate to distract from our national responsibility to engage with our neighbors in Latin America and the Caribbean. Better hemispheric relations should be a foreign policy priority, not an afterthought.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/13/AR2010081304982.htmlArizona's attempt to create and enforce its own immigration policy has once... more-
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Quo vadis, Venezuela?
[Translated from Spanish, by UrbanGypsy] This is an opinion piece, not written by me.
BY Oscar Espinosa Chepe
The parliamentary elections in Venezuela, scheduled for September 26, could mark a radical departure in its turbulent recent political history, becoming the beginning of the end of Chavez. This time 165 seats of deputies will be in play and, for the first time in several years, the fragmented opposition will present some degree of unity, which suggests that, for the first time, as a result of the disruption caused by the administration of the controversial Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan people might be compelled this time to establish a limit to the abuse and mismanagement of a populist regime that threatens to turn one of the world's richest nations into a new Cuba, with its totalitarian model and all its dysfunctions.
Explaining the last 11 years is difficult due to the inconsistencies and absurdities. When Chavez came to power in 1999, aided by a significant political movement of change, with massive support from a population frustrated by the bad management of successive governments, the price of a barrel of oil was 10.40 U.S. dollars on the international market. Since then it has grown to a peak in July 2008 of 144 U.S. dollars, down at the end of that year to about $40, and then increasing, currently maintained at more than $70 - or 7 times the price of when Chavez came to power.
The substantial rise in the price of fuel should mean a great influx of financial income and should have resulted in the strengthening of the Venezuelan economy, but economic data shows the opposite. In 2009, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decreased by 3.3%, while in 2010 the fall is projected to be at 3.0% by ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean), and its projected rebound in 2011 of only 2.5% makes it the poorest in South America. Meanwhile, inflation rates have been stubbornly high around 30.0% in recent years, which has influenced the collapse of the real value of wages. At the same time, under the 11 year Chavez administration, Venezuela's currency has lost 90.0% of its value. Even the extraction of oil has fallen dramatically; if in 1998 was 3.5 million barrels a day, it currently extracts only 2.8 million, according to Venezuelan consulting firms.
Ironically, PDVSA, the entity responsible for managing oil, increased its workforce from 37,900 workers to the current 100,000, a story that parallels the decline in efficiency of the once-famous Cuban sugar industry after its nationalization by its Communist regime. In a global Competitiveness List for 2010, published recently by the World Economic Forum, Venezuela ranked 122nd; the lowest position in Latin America.
This data points to a very serious increase of shortages of commodities, something incredible given the considerable reserves of foreign currency that the nation should have. There have also been repeated incidents of power cuts, droughts that have affected the energy production, and evidence of the poor condition of power plants, which have not worked well in the absence of a proactive investment policy and lack of maintenance of the adequate facilities that are available.
In social terms, Venezuela has seen a great increase in corruption and violence. If in 1998 there were 19 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, in 2009 it reached 75, according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, which indicates that Venezuela has become the most dangerous country in Latin America. It ranks 122nd globally in levels of violence after South Africa, according to the 2010 Global Peace Index that ranks 144 countries.
There has also been a continued deterioration in the political arena. The persecution against the opposition has increased and a significant number of television and radio have been silenced or forced to reduce criticism of the government through different methods. If there are still areas of freedom, they are the result of the Venezuelan people’s determination to uphold and fight for democracy, which has so far prevented the implementation of a Cuban-style totalitarian system.
Chavismo, by the delusions of grandeur of the leader, has been characterized by continued interference in neighboring nations. Interference which has ranged from sending suitcases of money to influence elections in other countries, to supporting sustained narco-groups, of which there is abundant evidence, as is in the case of Colombia. It has resulted in insane policy choices that have caused serious friction with Venezuela’s neighbors, including the danger of military confrontation with Colombia.
Chavez has tried to tackle the growing economic disaster, political and social, with the use of chauvinistic and demagogic rhetoric, full of insults and abuse, lacking credible arguments. He has also used as a political tool the import of tens of thousands of Cuban technicians, primarily in health and education to benefit the poor in slums. This has served as strong propaganda to tout Chavez's alleged accomplishments without mentioning the cost it represents for the country. For years, in exchange for cooperation, Venezuela has delivered about 100,000 barrels of oil a day to Cuba, with special prices and financing conditions, in addition to granting important loans. Venezuela has become the main economic and trading partner of the island, and has been busy taking the place, with its oil wealth, the old position that the USSR had until 1989 of providing the island’s lifeline. If Cuba, at this time of great difficulty, lacked the Venezuelan cooperation it depends on, the economic consequences would be devastating.
Of the many hopes and dreams aroused by Chavez, the Venezuelan people have lost many of them. Much of the original must trusted allies and companions of the leader have gradually removed themselves from his ranks, and many have become his staunchest opponents. From General Baduel, who participated with him in the 1992 coup attempt and aided his return to power in 2002 after a momentary loss, to until last February, the separation of the popular governor of the state of Lara, Henry Falcon, the number of disaffected is steadily increasing. Even allies still at his side, like the Communist Party of Venezuela, have refused to join the new Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and have repeatedly made criticisms of his management.
Polls show the decline in its popularity due to his continued mistakes, arrogance, as well as vulgar and aggressive rhetoric. President Chavez reached only 45.0% of support in Venezuela in 2009, 20.0% less than in 2006, while 81.0% of respondents indicated that private property is essential for economic development, according to a survey Latinobarómetro, a prestigious nonprofit organization based in Santiago de Chile, which since 1995 carries out opinion surveys on economic, social and political issues in Latin America. The survey also showed that the image of Chavez in Latin America has deteriorated significantly, with only a 40.0% approval, a level equal to that Fidel Castro. The leader with the most popularity was Barack Obama with a 70.0% approval, followed by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva with 64.0%, Michel Bachelet close to 60.0%, and Felipe Calderón and Álvaro Uribe with about 55.0%, all showing growth in relation to previous surveys. The levels of acceptance of Chavez and Fidel Castro were the only ones with significant decreases in acceptance in Latin America.
From the above it follows that if the elections for deputies of the Venezuelan National Assembly are clean and fair, the chances of losing control of the National Assembly by Chavez are highly probable, which could have disastrous results for the fragile and dependent Cuban economy, especially if it has not foreseen this potential scenario.[Translated from Spanish, by UrbanGypsy] This is an opinion piece, not written by me.... more-
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Cuba to lay off 500,000 in 6 months, allow private jobs
Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- Cuba announced on Monday it would lay off "at least" half a million state workers over the next six months and simultaneously allow more jobs to be created in the private sector as the socialist economy struggles to get back on its feet.
The plan announced in state media confirms that President Raul Castro is following through on his pledge to shed some one million state jobs, a full fifth of the official workforce -- but in a shorter timeframe than initially anticipated.
"Our state cannot and should not continue maintaining companies, productive entities and services with inflated payrolls and losses that damage our economy and result counterproductive, create bad habits and distort workers' conduct," the CTC, Cuba's official labor union, said in newspapers.
Castro had announced layoffs in August, but said they would occur over the next five years.
At the time, he said the government "agreed to broaden the exercise of self employment and its use as another alternative for the employment of those excess workers."
The drastic and unprecedented economic changes have many Cubans worried that jobs they had long taken for granted under the Communist government will no longer be guaranteed.
Others are hopeful that they will have more freedom to set prices and earn more than the average state wage of $20 a month.
The state currently controls more than 90 percent of the economy, running everything from ice cream parlors and gas stations to factories and scientific laboratories. Traditionally independent professions, such as carpenters, plumbers and shoe repairmen, are also employed by the state.
State media on Monday did not give details about where private enterprise would be allowed to grow or which sectors would suffer layoffs, but did talk about which areas are still strategic.
"Within the state sector, it will only be possible to fill the jobs that are indispensable in areas where historically the labor force is insufficient, like agriculture, construction, teachers, police, industrial workers and others."
The announcement avoided the word "private," but said alternative forms of employment to be allowed included renting or borrowing state-owned facilities, cooperatives and self employment and that "hundreds of thousands of workers" would find jobs outside of the state sector over the next few years.
Castro has launched a few, small free-market reforms since taking over from his brother Fidel Castro in 2006.
In April, for example, barbershops were handed over to employees, who pay rent and tax but charge what they want. Licenses have also been granted to private taxis.
For a couple of years, fallow land in the countryside has been turned over to private farmers. The more they produce, the more they earn.Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- Cuba announced on Monday it would lay off "at least"... more-
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Fidel Castro: "The Cuban Model No Longer Works"
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/09/fidel-cuban-model-doesnt-even-work-for-us-anymore/62602/
In an interview with journalist Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, Fidel Castro admitted that "the Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore."
Could this finally legitimize the actions of the opposition that has been trying for many years to bring change to Cuba? What does this mean for the future of Cuba, that the leader of the Revolution itself believes that the economic model no longer works?
And also, what does this mean for Hugo Chavez in Venezuela who has time and time again held up Cuba as a model for Venezuela?
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Personally, I am glad that what Cubans in exile have been saying for 50 years has finally been admitted by Fidel Castro. I have only one word for this: Vindication.http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/09/fidel-cuban-model-doesnt-even-... more-
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Nat King Cole canta Aquellos ojos verdes
Nilo Menéndez, compositor, pianista y director de orquesta.
Es uno de los músicos cubanos que a partir la década de 1920 difundieron la música cubana en EE.UU.
Letra: Adolfo Utrera (1901-1931) poeta, tenor.
Entre 1926 y 1931 grabó 126 discos para la Columbia Records, esto sin contar otras grabaciones con distintos artistas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXB33yd4KI0&feature=relatedNilo Menéndez, compositor, pianista y director de orquesta. Es uno de los... more-
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Fidel: 'Cuban Model Doesn't Even Work For Us Anymore'
Written by Jeffrey Goldberg
Sep 8 2010, 12:00 PM ET
'There were many odd things about my recent Havana stopover (apart from the dolphin show, which I'll get to shortly), but one of the most unusual was Fidel Castro's level of self-reflection. I only have limited experience with Communist autocrats (I have more experience with non-Communist autocrats) but it seemed truly striking that Castro was willing to admit that he misplayed his hand at a crucial moment in the Cuban Missile Crisis (you can read about what he said toward the end of my previous post - but he said, in so many words, that he regrets asking Khruschev to nuke the U.S.).
Even more striking was something he said at lunch on the day of our first meeting. We were seated around a smallish table; Castro, his wife, Dalia, his son; Antonio; Randy Alonso, a major figure in the government-run media; and Julia Sweig, the friend I brought with me to make sure, among other things, that I didn't say anything too stupid (Julia is a leading Latin American scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations). I initially was mainly interested in watching Fidel eat - it was a combination of digestive problems that conspired to nearly kill him, and so I thought I would do a bit of gastrointestinal Kremlinology and keep a careful eye on what he took in (for the record, he ingested small amounts of fish and salad, and quite a bit of bread dipped in olive oil, as well as a glass of red wine). But during the generally lighthearted conversation (we had just spent three hours talking about Iran and the Middle East), I asked him if he believed the Cuban model was still something worth exporting.
"The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore," he said.
This struck me as the mother of all Emily Litella moments. Did the leader of the Revolution just say, in essence, "Never mind"?'
To read the full article, follow this link:
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/09/fidel-cuban-model-doesnt-even-work-for-us-anymore/62602/Written by Jeffrey Goldberg Sep 8 2010, 12:00 PM ET 'There were many odd... more-
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Castro admits 'injustice' for gays and lesbians during revolution
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said he acknowledges the persecution of gays and lesbians during the Revolution in his country, according to a newspaper interview published Tuesday.
Throughout the 1960s and '70s, Cuba sent openly gay men to labor camps without charge or trial.
"They were moments of great injustice, great injustice!" Castro told journalist Carmen Lira Saade from the Mexican daily La Jornada. "If someone is responsible, it's me."
His comments came in the second installment of a two-part interview. The first half of the interview -- a wide-ranging, five-hour conversation at his home -- was published Monday.
"We had so many and such terrible problems, problems of life or death, that we didn't pay it enough attention," Castro said of the way gays and lesbians were treated.
In 1979, Cuba decriminalized homosexual acts and more recently, there have been efforts to legalize same-sex unions.Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said he acknowledges the persecution of gays and... more-
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The Sugar King of Havana: Cuba's Last Tycoon
Listen to the 9 minute NPR piece on the link. In it is a short excerpt from the book written by John Paul Rathbone, the British born son of a Cuban exile. His book is the biography of Julio Lobo, a mythical tycoon in Cuba's history...
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Around midnight on Oct. 11, 1960, the revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara summoned Julio Lobo to his office at the Central Bank in Havana. It was 22 months after the communist takeover, and Lobo knew his luck would soon run out. He was Cuba's richest businessman — an avowed capitalist. And so when he arrived to meet the young revolutionary — Guevara was just 32 years old — he didn't quite know what to expect.
In his new book, The Sugar King of Havana, John Paul Rathbone describes the scene:
"Guevara leaned forward in his chair, still formally polite, firm and clear. In so many words, he told Lobo that the time had come for him to make a decision: The revolution was communist and he, as a capitalist, could not remain as he was. Lobo could either stay and be part of it, or go."
Guevara wanted Lobo to run Cuba's newly nationalized sugar industry. Rathbone's book tells the story of what happened next and what led up to that moment. The book is part biography and part history of Cuba's main cash crop — sugar.
Lobo is not very well-known, but as Rathbone tells NPR's Guy Raz, that is why he chose to write about him.
"When you read Cuban history books, you see his name always as a footnote to some large deal, some large sugar crop, but his life is sort of shadowy and mysterious. And in time, I came to see Lobo as a kind of machine with which to explore the pre-revolutionary period," Rathbone says.
He says Lobo's lifespan itself provides insight into Cuba's historical transformation. Lobo was born the year after the War of Independence against Spain, in 1898, and left Cuba in 1960.
At age 21, just out of college, Lobo brokered the most lucrative sugar deal at that point — worth $6 million — with the British firm Tate and Lyle.
"I think it was that trade which gave Lobo the confidence — he'd been ambitious ever since a child — to think that he really could become 'Sugar King,' " Rathbone says.
Rathbone says that Cuba was the world's largest exporter of sugar, and it controlled about half of the world's "free-floating" sugar market — the market not protected by countries like the United States or Europe. Lobo himself controlled about 10 percent of the Cuban crop.
Lobo tried to avoid the culture of gangsterism and cronyism that Rathbone describes as having flourished in Cuba. This period followed the military coup known as the Sergeants' Revolt, on Sept. 4, 1933, led by dictator Fulgencio Batista himself — then an unknown sergeant in the army.
"Lobo, despite his wealth, took pride in his honesty," Rathbone says. "The only way to make money was to make it cleanly — otherwise it didn't count in his view."
Lobo's philosophy did not keep him safe from attack. On Aug. 6, 1946, Lobo purchased the Caracas Sugar Mill, which would become his largest. That same night, he was shot while driving home and nearly lost his life.
"It was a very close call. He always walked with a limp afterwards. Through the rest of his life he had some shrapnel very close to his spine, and one bullet plowed through his skull and took four inches of bone off," Rathbone says.
In Sugar King, Rathbone explains that the Cuban bourgeoisie, now vilified by the Castro regime, were not necessarily pro-Batista. But they also opposed the idea of communism.
"The vast majority of Cubans on the island, including the wealthy and the well-to-do, opposed Batista. And why not? He'd taken power in a coup in 1952; he was corrupt; the mafia was a rising influence; there was not very much that anyone really liked about him," Rathbone says. "The idea that the upper classes in Cuba were opposed to Fidel Castro, or more accurately, that they didn't want Batista out, is wrong. And there were various ways in which the upper-middle classes supported the rebels."
Lobo's meeting with Guevara in 1960 shows their complicated connection.
"[Lobo is] offered the sugar industry in Cuba. And he's offered the chance to nationalize it and make it hum and become efficient, in the way that Lobo had often agitated for in the past," Rathbone says.
But Lobo's response to Guevara was: "I'm a capitalist and you're a communist. And I've been a capitalist all my life."
That night, Lobo knew that was the end. The next day, he went to his office to gather paperwork, but saw it had all been boarded up. After a brief interaction with a young boy in a green uniform sitting at his desk, Lobo left the office, and later that day flew to Mexico and then to New York.
Since most of Lobo's fortune was invested in the island, leaving meant starting over anew. For a while, he did well. But the markets did not go his way, and he lost it all again. Lobo died in exile in Spain in 1983. He was 85 years old. On a recent trip to Cuba, Rathbone found a commemorative plaque in Lobo's former office.
"I was really struck that in an island that still proclaims itself as revolutionary, here was a plaque to who you would have thought could easily be painted as part of the evil tyranny of capitalism and imperialism, but on the contrary was being sort of tacitly praised," Rathbone says.
[Read more by clicking at the link]...Listen to the 9 minute NPR piece on the link. In it is a short excerpt from the book... more-
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CUIDADO! El huracán Earl cobró fuerza en el Caribe
El poderoso huracán Earl subió a la categoría cuatro, de las cinco existentes, y ganó intensidad en su avance por el Caribe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z08uqDJskU4El poderoso huracán Earl subió a la categoría cuatro, de las... more-
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Fidel Castro: Osama Bin Laden is US Spy
Former Cuban president Fidel Castro meets Lithuanian author and conspiracy theorist Daniel Estulin in Havana today
But the ageing Cuban revolutionary may have gone too far for all but the most ardent believer in the reach and competence of America's intelligence agency. He has claimed that Osama bin Laden is in the pay of the CIA and that President George Bush summoned up the al-Qaida leader whenever he needed to increase the fear quotient. The former Cuban president said he knows it because he has read WikiLeaks.
Castro told a visiting Lithuanian writer, who is known as a font of intriguing conspiracy theories about plots for world domination, that Bin Laden was working for the White House.
"Bush never lacked for Bin Laden's support. He was a subordinate," Castro said, according to the Communist party daily, Granma. "Any time Bush would stir up fear and make a big speech, Bin Laden would appear, threatening people with a story about what he was going to do."
He said that thousands of pages of American classified documents made public by WikiLeaks pointed to who the al-Qaida leader is really working for.
"Who showed that he [Bin Laden] is indeed a CIA agent was WikiLeaks. It proved it with documents," he said, but did not explain exactly how.
He made his comments during a meeting with Daniel Estulin, the author of three books about the secretive Bilderberg Club which includes men such as Henry Kissinger, the former US secretary of state, leading European officials and business executives. Estulin says that the club is form of secret world government, manipulating economies and political systems.
more at link...
Wow, Castro going sideways on the New World Order.Former Cuban president Fidel Castro meets Lithuanian author and conspiracy theorist... more-
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HABRA ARREGLO? Relaciones entre Venezuela y Colombia
El presidente de Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, recibió hoy a la canciller colombiana María Ángela Holguín, de visita en Caracas desde el jueves
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDiHJuTHQaMEl presidente de Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, recibió hoy a la canciller... more-
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Fidel Castro Fascinated by Book on Bilderberg Group
HAVANA – Fidel Castro is showcasing a theory long popular both among the far left and far right: that the shadowy Bilderberg Group has become a kind of global government, controlling not only international politics and economics, but even culture.
The 84-year-old former Cuban president published an article Wednesday that used three of the only eight pages in the Communist Party newspaper Granma to quote — largely verbatim — from a 2006 book by Lithuanian-born writer Daniel Estulin.
Estulin's work, "The Secrets of the Bilderberg Club," argues that the international group largely runs the world. It has held a secretive annual forum of prominent politicians, thinkers and businessmen since it was founded in 1954 at the Bilderberg Hotel in Holland.
Castro offered no comment on the excerpts other than to describe Estulin as honest and well-informed and to call his book a "fantastic story."
Estulin's book, as quoted by Castro, described "sinister cliques and the Bilderberg lobbyists" manipulating the public "to install a world government that knows no borders and is not accountable to anyone but its own self."
The Bilderberg group's website says its members have "nearly three days of informal and off-the-record discussion about topics of current concern" once a year, but the group does nothing else.
It said the meetings were meant to encourage people to work together on major policy issues.
The prominence of the group is what alarms critics. It often includes members of the Rockefeller family, Henry Kissinger, senior U.S. and European officials and major international business and media executives.
The excerpt published by Castro suggested that the esoteric Frankfurt School of socialist academics worked with members of the Rockefeller family in the 1950s to pave the way for rock music to "control the masses" by diverting attention from civil rights and social injustice.
"The man charged with ensuring that the Americans liked the Beatles was Walter Lippmann himself," the excerpt asserted, referring to a political philosopher and by-then-staid newspaper columnist who died in 1974.
"In the United States and Europe, great open-air rock concerts were used to halt the growing discontent of the population," the excerpt said.
Castro — who had an inside seat to the Cold War — has long expressed suspicions of back-room plots. He has raised questions about whether the Sept. 11 attacks were orchestrated by the U.S. government to stoke military budgets and, more recently suggested that Washington was behind the March sinking of a South Korean ship blamed on North Korea.
Estulin's own website suggests that the 9/11 attacks were likely caused by small nuclear devices, and that the CIA and drug traffickers were behind the 1988 downing of a jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, that was blamed on Libya.
The Bilderberg conspiracy theory has been popular on both extremes of the ideological spectrum, even if they disagree on just what the group wants to do. Leftists accuse the group of promoting capitalist domination, while some right-wing websites argue that the Bilderberg club has imposed Barack Obama on the United States to advance socialism.
Some of Estulin's work builds on reports by Big Jim Tucker, a researcher on the Bilderberg Group who publishes on right-wing websites.
"It's great Hollywood material ... 15 people sitting in a room sitting in a room determining the fate of mankind," said Herbert London, president of the Hudson Institute, a nonpartisan policy think tank in New York.
"As someone who doesn't come out of the Oliver Stone school of conspiracy, I have a hard time believing it," London added.
More at link...Herb London definitely knows about the Bilderberg Group; he works for them..."nonpartisan policy think tank" my a$$. Daniel Estulin is very great at breaking down the New World Order, he makes a great cameo in Fall of the Republic, watch it via my page:
www.current.com/groups/conspiracy-filmsHAVANA – Fidel Castro is showcasing a theory long popular both among the far... more-
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An Island Without The Sea
From the wall of the Malecón there is not much to look at. A blue dish that gets annoyed now and again and launches its foamy waves over its bordering avenue. There are no sailboats, just a couple of patched vessels authorized by the captain of the port. In summer, teenagers throw themselves into the warm waters, but in winter they fearfully shy away from the salt spray and cold wind. A boat plies the route from east to west each night; a shadow on the horizon preventing potential rafters from escaping across the Straits of Florida.
Just now we are in the months of the year when the coastal avenue comes to its greatest turbulence. But everything happens between the reef and the street; this vitality doesn’t even dream of extending to the wide and salty expanse on the other side. When did we start to live with our backs to the sea? At what moment did this part of the country, which is also ours, cease to belong to us? Eating fish, sailing on a yacht, looking back at the buildings from the cadence of a wave, enjoying the contrast of blues along the beginning of the first ridge. Chimeric actions in a coastal city, sharp delusions on an Island that appears to float in nothingness and not in the Caribbean.
I have the illusion that one day, in order to rent even a rowboat, it won’t be necessary to show a foreign passport. The sails will return to take over this bay, reminding us that we live in a maritime Havana, born between the cries of the corsairs and the clamor of the port. The red snapper will displace the catfish and carp on our plates and from the wall of the Malecón — our legs dangling over the limestone reef — we will greet a flotilla of boats coming and going from El Morro.From the wall of the Malecón there is not much to look at. A blue dish that... more-
- UrbanGypsy
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- 1 year ago
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Greene corrects course, remembers yachting to Cuba, but not the partying
It now appears he wasn't there on any Jewish humanitarian mission.-
- KendrickMeek
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- 1 year ago
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Bin Laden chef sentenced to 14 years in jail
Osama Bin Laden's former cook and driver has been sentenced to 14 years in prison by a Guantanamo Bay tribunal.
link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10947708Osama Bin Laden's former cook and driver has been sentenced to 14 years in prison... more -
(Revised) Politics of U.S. Occupation
This 30-minute documentary is an American University MFA thesis film project featuring Professors Noam Chomsky, Neferti Tadiar, Nerissa Balce and Kenneth Bauzon who analyze the contemporary relevance of the 1899 Philippine-American War for the 21st century U.S. empire.
Part 1 argues the idea that the bloody War of 1899 (and not World War 2) is the foundation of Philippine-U.S. relations. The Part 1 also visually shows footage of World war 2 combat and deaths that are just as brutal and traumatic as the footage of the 1899 combat and deaths.
Part 2 describes the idea that the war of 1899 is one characterized by systematic use of torture (despite official denials), one of which, the WATER CURE, can even claim to be the grandfather of the Post-9/11 Dick Cheney "water-boarding WAR ON TERROR happy hour drink special"
Part 3 explains the brutality/racism of the 1899 Philippine-American War as not so much different from the brutality/racism of her previous wars of conquest of indigenous cultures commonly called the Indian Wars (most of the Indian dead photographs, as well as re-enactment movies as shown in the film were related to the infamous 1890 Wound Knee Massacre). We also learn in Part 3 that this turn of the century systematic and violent repression of nationalist uprisings in the Philippines became the template used by the U.S. in its many military occupations in Latin America and the Caribbean in the 20th century.
Part 4 ends with the idea of interconnectedness of domestic and overseas conflicts as violence migrates from the brutality of the Indian wars (e.g. 1890 Wounded Knee massacre) to the Philippine-American war abuses (e.g. 1906 Bud Dajo massacre) and to its 21st century echoes of human rights atrocities in the war in Iraq (e.g. 2007 WIKILEAKS video)This 30-minute documentary is an American University MFA thesis film project... more-
- rconcep1
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Without Fanfare, But Without Results
[Translated from Yoani Sanchez' Blog]
Note: July 26 is the day of the beginning of the revolution that brought the Castros to power in Cuba. Every year the government organizes speeches and rallies on the 26th. But this year in particular, many in Cuba hoped that Raul Castro would take the opportunity to make a speech promising reforms. Raul Castro did not even speak.
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The July 26 event started early, in fear of the evening rains and to avoid the sun that makes the neck itch and annoys the audience. It had the solemnity that is already inherent in the Cuban system: heavy, outdated, and at times dusty. Nothing seemed to jump out of the script; Raúl Castro didn’t take the podium, nor was the speech addressed to a nation waiting for a program of changes. His absence at the microphone should not be read as a intention to decentralize responsibility and allow someone else to speak at such a commemoration. The general did not speak because he had nothing to say, no launching of a reform package, because he knows that would be playing with the power, the control, that his family has exercised for five decades.
In previous speeches, on this same date, the phrases of the Cuban Communist Party’s second secretary have created more confusion than certainty, so this time he avoided analysts reinterpreting them. Enough doubts have already been created with his 2007 predictions of mass access to milk, his unfulfilled forecast of having Santiago de Cuba’s aqueduct completed, and the unfortunate phrase “I’m just a shadow,” with which he began his speech last year. Perhaps because of this he preferred to remain silent and leave the address to the most unyielding man of his government: José Ramón Machado Ventura. Some portentous cannon shots shook the city of Havana just as the first vice president approached the podium and began his harangue filled with platitudes and declarations of intransigence.
Referring to the postponed measures to address the economy and society, Machado Ventura declared that they will be made, “step by step at a pace determined by us.” The old confusion with the first person plural, the well-known ambiguity of the apparently consensual. The pace, the velocity and the depth of these long-awaited apertures are decided by a small group which has much to lose if they apply them, and time to benefit if they delay them. Some will say Raúl Castro’s silence is part of his strategy to avoid bluster and bravado. But, more than political discretion, what we saw today is pure State secretiveness. To make no public commitments to change, no visible implications of transformation, can be a way of warning us that these do not respond to his political will, but rather to a momentary despair which — he thinks — will eventually pass. By saying nothing, he has sent us his fullest message: “I owe you no explanations, no promises, no results.”[Translated from Yoani Sanchez' Blog] Note: July 26 is the day of the beginning... more-
- UrbanGypsy
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- 1 year ago
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Global Voice: Calle 8 Arts Festival
A place for all migrants to share their story with the world.-
- RiverClover
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- 1 year ago
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Florida Sees New Threat to Its Beaches | Deepwater Drilling Project in Cuban Waters Set to Launch Next Year
* U.S. NEWS
* JULY 2, 2010
Florida Sees New Threat to Its Beaches
Deepwater Drilling Project in Cuban Waters Set to Launch Next Year Could Kick Off a Spate of Exploration in the Region
Photo: A Norwegian tanker approaching Havana last month. Several global oil companies have signed leases to explore in Cuban waters, where the U.S. Geological Survey has said there could be substantial stores of oil.
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Florida has long fought to prevent oil drilling anywhere near its white sandy beaches. But as the state continues to deal with oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill washing up on its shores, it faces a new threat: deepwater drilling in nearby Cuban waters.
Maria Ritter, a spokeswoman for Spanish oil company Repsol YPF SA, said it plans to drill off Cuba, about 60 miles south of Key West, Fla., early next year. If successful, this would likely kick off a spate of exploration. Only one deepwater well has been drilled in Cuban waters, by Repsol in 2004. The effort found oil but not enough to justify commercial development.
Since then, the U.S. Geological Survey has said there could be a substantial amount of untapped oil off the Cuban coast, whetting the appetite of several global oil companies that have signed exploration leases.
U.S. companies won't participate because of a longstanding trade embargo against Cuba. Repsol plans to use a floating drilling rig being refurbished in a Chinese shipyard, similar to the Deepwater Horizon rig leased by BP PLC that caught fire and sank in the Gulf of Mexico in April. Almost all parts and components in the rig to be used by Repsol are from non-U.S. companies.
The Obama administration has sought a six-month ban on deepwater drilling in U.S. waters to reassess risks and establish new safety procedures if necessary. But any new rules wouldn't reach Repsol's project in Cuban waters.
A spill there, even one significantly smaller than the continuing BP spill, could turn into an economic and environmental nightmare for Florida. Some oceanographers say the oil would likely be carried up Florida's Atlantic Coast, the heart of its tourism industry.
"We have one of the world's largest coral reefs and a protected marine sanctuary there," said Dan McLaughlin, a spokesman for Sen. Bill Nelson (D., Fla.) "We should not be drilling there."
Cuba's state oil firm, Union Cuba Petroleo, could not be reached for comment. Ms. Ritter, the Repsol spokeswoman, declined to comment on the project beyond confirming plans for the rig. Repsol has operations in many parts of the world, including the U.S. portion of the Gulf of Mexico.
Drilling off Florida in U.S. waters has been banned by federal moratorium for decades. To protect the state's tourism-based economy, Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running for the U.S. Senate as an independent, is floating a proposal for an amendment to the Florida constitution to ban offshore drilling there permanently.
It's not clear what U.S. or Florida officials could do to stop oil exploration in Cuba. The U.S. controls coastal waters up to 200 miles from its shores, but under a 1977 treaty it agreed to divide the Straits of Florida equally with Cuba. That means Repsol can drill a deepwater well about the same distance from Key West, Fla., as the Deepwater Horizon was from the Louisiana coast.
The rig headed for Cuban waters has five rams in its blowout preventer, each designed to help shut off an out-of-control well. The Deepwater Horizon's blowout preventer had only four.
In the event of a spill in Cuban waters, many ships, equipment and personnel from the U.S. Gulf Coast could be prevented from helping because of the embargo. But that may be changing. A Treasury Department spokeswoman said some U.S. firms involved in oil cleanup have been issued licenses to travel to Cuba in case oil from the continuing spill hits beaches there.
Cuba's efforts to promote offshore oil exploration appear close to paying off. Cuba imports about 110,000 barrels of oil daily and produces an additional 52,000 barrels, mostly from onshore and shallow-water fields, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Ms. Ritter said Madrid-based Repsol plans to drill a new well near the 2004 well as soon as the rig—called the Scarabeo 9—is ready. Construction of Scarabeo 9 is expected to be complete at the end of 2010 or early 2011, said a spokesman for Enis SpA, an Italian company that controls the rig. Repsol's partners on the well include Norway's Statoil ASA and the overseas arm of India's state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp. Eight other foreign oil companies hold offshore leases in Cuban waters.
[CUBAOIL]
—Angel Gonzalez contributed to this article.* U.S. NEWS * JULY 2, 2010 Florida Sees New Threat to Its Beaches Deepwater... more-
- EthicalVegan
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