Okay, there’s a name we need to know: Miguel Diaz –Canel.
On
the eve of the anniversary of Cuban patriot Jose Marti's birth, Raúl
Castro, flanked by members of the revolutionary
old guard and a much younger man who hadn't even been born at the time
of the 1959 Cuban Revolution, led a torchlight parade from the
University of Havana.
While the younger man, Miguel Díaz-Canel, stepped briskly along during the late January parade, the octogenarians
walked gingerly and haltingly, graphically illustrating Cuba's coming generational shift in power.
Now Díaz-Canel is the man Cuba's National Assembly has selected as the new president and the face of the island's
future.
In
his inaugural speech, Mr Díaz-Canel said that his mandate was "to
ensure the continuity of the Cuban
revolution at a key historic moment" and assured the members of the
National Assembly that "the revolution continues its course".
He said that Cuba's foreign policy would remain "unaltered" and that any "necessary changes" would be
decided by the Cuban people.
He also said that there was "no room in Cuba for those who strive for the restoration of capitalism".
A
large part of his speech was dedicated to praising his predecessor in
office, to whom he said: "Cuba
needs you." This prompted the more than 600 National Assembly members
to rise to their feet and give the 86-year-old former leader a standing
ovation.
Any changes Mr Díaz-Canel will bring in are likely to be gradual, slow-paced and in keeping with the
reforms Raúl Castro introduced since he first took over power from his brother, Fidel.
Why do you need to know his name?
The US has a historically antagonistic relationship with Cuba (to put it mildly).
Right now Diaz-Canal is a blip on the
radar – due to tensions with China and all of the wars the US government
is carrying out in the Middle East, Africa and Afghanistan. But when
anything that passes for ‘calm’ arrives, you better believe
someone’s going to pick a fight with Diaz-Canal. The US history with
Cuba is appalling. If you’re new to it, I’d recommend you start with
Michael Ratner and Michael Smith’s HOW THE CIA KILLED CHE: THE MURDER OF
A REVOLUTIONARY/
"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Thursday, April 19, 2018. The Iraq War continues as the push for more war on Syria continues.
Last Friday's bombing on Syria was not enough to satisfy the blood lust of the War Hawks. Will Morrow (WSWS) reports:
One of the shocking things about the above? Susan Rice -- she's apparently trying to revive the long discredited Domino Theory.
For those too young to remember, The Domino Theory was the justification for the never-ending war on Vietnam. Matthew Weber (HISTORY COLLECTION) explains:
So Rice is, in effect, arguing that if the US does not maintain troops in Syria, Syria will 'fall' to Iran. Yes, she really is that stupid. Blinded by her lust for blood, she demonstrates yet again that she was never qualified to be the Secretary of State.
Last Friday's bombing on Syria was not enough to satisfy the blood lust of the War Hawks. Will Morrow (WSWS) reports:
On Tuesday, Democratic and
Republican lawmakers attacked the Trump administration for the “limited”
nature of the attack and demanded that the White House commit to a more
extensive military operation to overthrow the Assad government and
confront Iran and Russia.
After a private briefing to the
Senate by Defence Secretary James Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen.
Joseph Dunford, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters that
the administration had no strategy and appeared willing “to give Syria
to Assad, Russia, and Iran.” He said, “I think Assad, after this strike,
believes we’re all tweet and no action.”
Graham called for the
establishment of a permanent no-fly zone over parts of Syria, which
would inevitably require shooting down Russian jets, and the deployment
of more US troops on the ground to partner with their Al Qaeda-linked
and Kurdish proxy forces. He declared that Russia and Iran should not be
allowed to continue “winning the battlefield uncontested.”
Democratic Senator Chris Coons
criticized Trump’s recent threat to withdraw US troops, telling
reporters, “It’s important for us to remain engaged in Syria.” He added,
“If we completely withdraw, our leverage in any diplomatic resolution
or reconstruction or any hope for a post-Assad Syria goes away.”
The recklessness of the American ruling elite was expressed in an op-ed column published yesterday in the New York Times by Susan Rice, who served as ambassador to the UN and then national security adviser under Obama.
In the column, Rice categorically
opposes any withdrawal of American troops. She calls for the Trump
administration to indefinitely maintain its occupation of roughly a
third of Syrian territory along the country’s northern and eastern
borders with Turkey and Iraq—a region that includes the country’s
petroleum resources. This is in line with calls being made in the US
media with increasing frequency and openness for a permanent carve-up of
the country.
Rice writes that Washington and
its allies must “help secure, rebuild and establish effective local
governance in liberated areas.” These are code words for establishing
neo-colonial control over the territory and using it as a base for
operations against the Assad regime and Russian and Iranian forces.
Dispensing with the fraudulent
chemical weapons pretext used to justify the US and allied bombing, Rice
points to the aims of such an intervention: “This will allow the United
States to thwart Iranian ambitions to control territory spanning Iraq,
Syria and Lebanon; retain influence in major oil-producing areas, and
deny Mr. Assad a substantial portion of Syrian territory, pending a
diplomatic solution.”
One of the shocking things about the above? Susan Rice -- she's apparently trying to revive the long discredited Domino Theory.
For those too young to remember, The Domino Theory was the justification for the never-ending war on Vietnam. Matthew Weber (HISTORY COLLECTION) explains:
It wasn’t until 1965 that the
United States truly became part of the Vietnam war. The goal of the US’s
involvement in Vietnam was to push back against Soviet influence in
Asia. It was said by many that if Vietnam fell, the entirety of Asia
would fall to Communism. This was the Domino Theory.
The Domino theory was first
posited in the US by Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954 in a news conference:
“Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you
would call the “falling domino” principle. You have a row of dominoes
set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last
one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could
have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound
influences.”
It was seen by many in the US
Government that if Vietnam fell, any influence the US had in Asia would
go with it. This is the reason why so much effort was put into the
Vietnam war, despite the US having no real, tangible, reason to fight.
The thing is, the Domino Theory
was determined to be unrealistic by the CIA on June 9, 1964. In 1964,
President Lyndon Johnson asked the CIA to answer the question: “Would
the rest of Southeast Asia necessarily fall if Laos and South Vietnam
came under North Vietnamese control?” In a memo, the CIA answered that
only Cambodia would fall to Communism if Vietnam fell.
So Rice is, in effect, arguing that if the US does not maintain troops in Syria, Syria will 'fall' to Iran. Yes, she really is that stupid. Blinded by her lust for blood, she demonstrates yet again that she was never qualified to be the Secretary of State.
"Violence is for those who have lost their imagination."
-Doctor in Iraq, holding a child hit by a bomb in March 2003
She's never grasped the 'soft power' -- diplomacy. Or as the US government so frequently translates diplomacy: bribery. Think of all the influence the trillion or so dollars allocated to the Iraq War could have bought in the region.
Equally true, should Iran attempt what Rice fears it will, it would likely have the effect of destroying Iran -- that is the more plausible outcome. Iran's already torn internally with strife. Meanwhile, it's attempts to control Iraq have not gone well. There's a reason that all this time later, they're not attempting to redraw the border between Iraq and Iran -- a long disputed border. Iran realizes that to attempt to redraw the border currently would be seen by many Iraqis as the last straw. Outside of the militias, few Iraqis are feeling warm towards Iran. It's overstepped and even the government of Iran grasps that which is why, as Iraq prepares for election, Iran's stressing terms like 'aid' and 'assist' in their state TV messaging. If Iran were to attempt to control the region -- or even just heavily influence it -- the tight control the Iranian government maintains on its people would falter -- allowing the protests within the country to grow even larger which would lead some Iranians to believe the time was ripe for revolt. It's message is too fundamentalist to export successfully to its neighbors. Faced with attempting to export that and maintain it within Iran at the same time, something would most likely give, as history has demonstrated.
So Rice's attempt to revive The Domino Theory should fail. But with a US news media already eager to re-sell The Cold War who knows how much help Susan and her crazed notions might get from the whores of the media.
Peter Crowley (ANTIWAR.COM) notes the whorish nature of the media:
The talking heads of MSNBC, Fox
News or CNN rationalize and justify perpetual war-inducing civilian
deaths as something that is inevitable. In doing so, they often tell
fibs and subtly mangle the truth. For instance, just after Friday
night’s (or Saturday morning, in Syria) U.S.-led airstrikes against the
Syrian regime, Fox News showed a map of Syrian airstrikes that
seemed to suggest airstrikes occurred throughout Syria, including in
Alawite regions of the east, such as Latakia. However, airstrikes
occurred in only three locations: east of Homs and in Damascus.
MSNBC was little better. Though
Defense Secretary James Mattis and General Joseph Dunford informed the
press that the airstrikes had ended, at least until the ‘next time’
Assad allegedly uses chemical weapons, Rachel Maddow and her guest Richard Engel salivated over the prospect that airstrikes would continue into perpetuity.
In each case, through the
apparent mistake on the Syria map and contemplating perpetual
airstrikes, the media seemed to be goading the administration to
conduct more airstrikes against Syria.
It highlights the Nietzschean
cobwebs that the media wraps our brains in, allowing us to forget more
pressing questions, such as:
Why Trump would order airstrikes
hours before the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
was to investigate the very chemical attack for which Syria was to be
punished? Well, if you prefer not to look at evidence, then bomb. Hans
Blix knows this all too well.
If there was an actual use of
chemical weapons, what about the dangers to civilians when facilities
that supposedly manufacture dangerous toxins are bombed? Wouldn’t these
unleashed gases spread to civilian areas?
Perhaps, more importantly, what
was the motive? Why would the Syrian military use chemical weapons when
Assad has been defeating the rebels and winning the civil war, while
knowing that their use would invite foreign intervention. Clearly, a
staged chemical attack that directed the blame to Assad would be in the
rebels’ interest. It would specifically be in the interest of the Salafi
extremist group Jaish al-Islam that has been Syrian military’s main
target in Douma.
What about potential that
U.S.-led airstrikes could lead to a confrontation, or even a war, with
Russia? While the media’s talking heads touched upon this, it did not
sway their fervent support for intervention.
Thanks to media-induced cobwebs,
Americans will go on supporting US state violence and resultant civilian
deaths in exorbitant numbers.
Turning to Iraq War supporter Barbara Bush, the former First Lady has passed away. She was vengeful person who as noted for her petty grudges and her jealousy of Nancy Reagan. She was noted for so much, none of it good. She willing took part in a media cat fight to defeat another woman (her comments regarding Geraldine Ferraro). There's nothing good to be said about her. So leave it to the 'resistance' to promote her.
Rest in peace and power, Barbara Bush.
Activist and 2008 Green Party presidential nominee Rosa Clemente responds:
This is so so disappointing. The things she and her family have down to global Black people is criminal, to say the least. She is part of the system of white supremacy, anti Black, anti feminist, as Malcolm said “who taught you to hate yourself?”
And she's not the only one. Cindy Sheehan notes:
Death does not confer respectability on such a privileged and cold-hearted life. She and her killer spouse reportedly played golf the day after their young daughter died from leukemia. This kind of behavior cannot be made up: It's deplorable and reprehensible. Maybe the death of such a one should not be celebrated, but neither should we weep. The Bush's wealth and the wealth of the other oligarchs can be proven to be ill-gotten by the exploitation of the rest of us and they should be resented, not worshiped.
The only reason I bring her death up now, is not for the one solitary death of one of the political oligarchy, but because of what she represents: the pinnacle of diseased capitalism and imperialism. Like the indigenous people of the USA said, "we kill one soldier, and 100 others arise." The ideology of death and destruction that the life of Barbara Bush represented must be vigorously and militantly opposed, but first we have to be real and not pretend to be sad about something we are not, or should not waste our beautiful minds on.
‘Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? It’s not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on that?’ - Barbara Bush on Iraq in 2003.
The same Barbara Bush who said Katrina evacuees were better off because they were already poor? The same Barbara Bush who said the body bags and number of deaths from Iraq were irrelevant?
Cool.
In other developments . . .
Sources shows that,#KDP will maintain its top position of the #Kurdish parties in the upcoming #elections, whereas, the competition will remain between the #National Union ,the #Change and #Alliance for Justice and Democracy.
#Sulaymaniyah will be the center of this competition.
Predictions mean an election is approaching.
May 12th, elections are supposed to take place in Iraq. Ali Jawad (ANADOLU AGENCY) notes, "A total of 24 million Iraqis are eligible to cast their ballots to elect members of parliament, who will in turn elect the Iraqi president and prime minister." RUDAW adds, "Around 7,000 candidates have registered to stand in the May 12 poll, with 329 parliamentary seats up for grabs." RUDAW also notes that 60 Christian candidates are competing for the five allotted minority seats.
Luke Coleman shares his take on the upcoming elections in a series of Tweets:
Iraqi elections are getting pity grim. Another sex tape involving a female candidate leaked. I'm told that it's 100% the woman alleged, and it is another from Abadi's list. It underlines the continued rampant misogyny in Iraq, and is just another arrow in a quiver of dirty tricks
2. Alongside the traditional sex scandal tactics, Iraqi candidates are deeply into the models used in the West. One candidate is said to have spent $5k on boosting his FB page on the first day of campaigning alone. @NRT_English claims 7k new FB pages were created for the election
3. Social media responses to the sex tapes are consistently negative - not focusing on the people on screen, rather angry at those debasing an election which is already struggling to gain support because of impression of institutional corruption and mismanaged government.
4. A further election issue is the sheer scale of postering - it's always been bad, but it seems especially absurd this cycle. On the road Dukhan - Suli Monday, had to stop several times due to bunting blown across the road.
5. Long before campaigning officially began, the 'electronic armies' of some high level politicians were seeking to cast uncertainty with oddly New World Order lies. e.g. if turn out is below 25% the election will be considered void and the UN will take over running the country.
6. Which backfired in some places, as some younger voters felt that to be a preferable option to the current system and politicians.
7. Those banners and posters may be alluring, but don't make this same mistake as this guy. His actions in this video cost him over $30k in 'fasil', a tribal fine for impropriety.
8. The much-vaunted biometric voter registration system has been a limited success at best. Independent High Commission of Election (IHCE) claims 60% of voters will be registered in this way.
In other news, ARAB WEEKLY reports:
Talks between Exxon Mobil and Iraq on a multibillion-dollar infrastructure contract have reached an impasse, Iraqi officials and two industry sources said, in a potential setback to the oil major’s ambitions to expand in the country.
More than two years of negotiations on awarding the US firm a project to build a water treatment facility and related pipelines needed to boost Iraq’s oil production capacity have hit difficulties because the two sides differ on contract terms and costs, the officials and sources said.
Unless the differences can be resolved, the project could be awarded to another company in a tender, the officials said, without elaborating on the points of dispute.
Losing the contract could deal a blow to Exxon’s broader Iraqi plans, as it would be handed rights to develop at least two southern oilfields — Nahr Bin Umar and Artawi — as part of the deal.
The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley, PACIFICA EVENING NEWS and DISSIDENT VOICE -- updated:
Bang Bang Bang
7 hours ago
She's just not popular
7 hours ago
The joke that is MSNBC
8 hours ago
CBS shows still not renewed
8 hours ago
S'mores Chips Ahoy!
8 hours ago
Oh, shut up De Niro
9 hours ago
