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Claims on contested holdings in Cuba

20 points by bootload 11y ago

refurb 11y ago
Wow, this guy's bias is really showing. Young Cubans—well-educated and healthy, thanks to the communist system—comprise an attractive workforce. The scent of predatory capitalism wafted through the air. It's amazing how some people will completely ignore a brutal dictatorship if other things align with their agenda.
- brownbat 11y ago
  Hitchens talks in "Letters to a Young Contrarian" about being a young communist, and actually working with some of those forming the government in Cuba. They said, "our revolution will be different, our people will be free. We will even allow satire, on all but one topic." Hitchens: "Oh? What topic is that?" Communists: "Why, the government, of course!" Thus began his disillusionment...
  - kentrado 11y ago
    A communist government is a bit like an anarchist government, innit?
- x5n1 11y ago
  Brutal dictatorship over, time for the Capitalist vultures to move in to claim the beaten down country's treasures, people already have nothing let's privatize what's owed to people who don't need it. You know because it's right. In other news Mark Zuckerberg fails to pay around 1/2 of his 45 billion dollar wealth to the taxes and instead has privatized it through a potentially "faux" charity. Trust me he needs that 20 or so billion dollars more than the Cubans.
  - refurb 11y ago
    Brutal dictatorship over Did I miss something? Cuba is still a dictatorship. As for the capitalists coming in, I'm sure it'll be the gov't and their families that benefit most, not the average Cuban.
- tmnvix 11y ago
  I don't dispute that the author may be biased but that doesn't invalidate the statements made. From what I know of Cuba I'm inclined to believe both of those statements. And no, I'm not a fan of the Cuban government. I just don't think that not mentioning the 'brutal dictatorship' amounts to ignoring it. Should it be mentioned at all times to assure readers of a lack of bias? Ironically, your insistence on mentioning it makes me suspect that you yourself have a bias.

20 points by bootload 11y ago

Wow, this guy's bias is really showing. Young Cubans—well-educated and healthy, thanks to the communist system—comprise an attractive workforce. The scent of predatory capitalism wafted through the air. It's amazing how some people will completely ignore a brutal dictatorship if other things align with their agenda.

brownbat 11y ago
Hitchens talks in "Letters to a Young Contrarian" about being a young communist, and actually working with some of those forming the government in Cuba. They said, "our revolution will be different, our people will be free. We will even allow satire, on all but one topic." Hitchens: "Oh? What topic is that?" Communists: "Why, the government, of course!" Thus began his disillusionment...
- kentrado 11y ago
  A communist government is a bit like an anarchist government, innit?
x5n1 11y ago
Brutal dictatorship over, time for the Capitalist vultures to move in to claim the beaten down country's treasures, people already have nothing let's privatize what's owed to people who don't need it. You know because it's right. In other news Mark Zuckerberg fails to pay around 1/2 of his 45 billion dollar wealth to the taxes and instead has privatized it through a potentially "faux" charity. Trust me he needs that 20 or so billion dollars more than the Cubans.
- refurb 11y ago
  Brutal dictatorship over Did I miss something? Cuba is still a dictatorship. As for the capitalists coming in, I'm sure it'll be the gov't and their families that benefit most, not the average Cuban.
tmnvix 11y ago
I don't dispute that the author may be biased but that doesn't invalidate the statements made. From what I know of Cuba I'm inclined to believe both of those statements. And no, I'm not a fan of the Cuban government. I just don't think that not mentioning the 'brutal dictatorship' amounts to ignoring it. Should it be mentioned at all times to assure readers of a lack of bias? Ironically, your insistence on mentioning it makes me suspect that you yourself have a bias.