Politics is a cesspool in which opportunists wallow in a slime of corruption and nepotism. While this is old news in our part of the world, I found that this was pretty much the way of life even in the Communist Utopia of Cuba.
“During the past few years family members of both Fidel and Raul Castro have come to occupy important positions in Cuba's government. This Castro clan represents in addition to the military, the security apparatus and the Communist Party, a significant force in Cuba's political and economic structures.”
The list below is in the order of Name, Relationship, and Position held.
Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart
Fidel Castro's son
Advisor, Ministry of Basic Industry
Col. Alejandro Raul Castro Espin
Raul Castro's son
Chief, Intelligence Information Services, Ministry of the Interior; Coordinator, Intelligence Exchange with China
Ramon Castro Ruz
Fidel's and Raul's oldest brother
Advisor, Ministry of Sugar
Dr. Antonio Castro Soto
Fidel Castro's son
Investment Chief, Frank Pais Hospital. Doctor for Cuba's baseball team
Col. Luís Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja
Raul Castro's son-in-law
Chief Executive Officer of Grupo GAESA (Grupo de Administración de Empresas, S.A.) which supervises military enterprises
Major Raul Alejandro Rodríguez Castro
Raul Castro's grandson
Raul Castro's military guard in charge of his personal security
Deborah Castro Espin
Raul Castro's daughter
Advisor, Ministry of Education
Mariela Castro Espin
Raul Castro's daughter
Head, Center for Sexual Education
Marcos Portal Leon
Married to Raul Castro's niece
In charge of nickel industry, member of the Central Committee of Cuba's Communist Party
Alfonsito Fraga
Related to Raul Castro
Ministry of Foreign Relations
I would not worry about this kind of naked nepotism but for the fact that the Commies always accuse their ideological opponents of succumbing to the follies of power politics.
The Commies with a capital ‘C’ are the same everywhere: opportunists, frauds, and blood-suckers. A life of sweat and toil is for the masses while perks and luxuries are for the Red Hued.
In the light of the above list, I can say that Fidel Castro was certainly NOT the Last Man Standing (with apologies to David Baldacci).
Long Live the Revolution!! The Revolution to Deprive People of their Freedom and Happiness!!!
Source:
Cuba Transition Project
http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FACTS_Web/Cuba%20Facts%20Issue%2039%20April.htm
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
India's Tibet Travails
A short backgrounder on Tibet:
Tibet, before its occupation by China in 1959, was a theocracy. The occupation saw the killing of thousands of Buddhist monks by communist China’s military. In the years after the escape of the Dalai Lama, the besieged nation’s top spiritual leader, on horseback to India, almost all symbols of the ancient heritage of Tibet have been systematically erased. Jawaharlal Nehru had, even before the ’62 war, recognized Tibet as part of China.
Today there is a Tibetan government-in-exile with its headquarters in McLeodganj in Himachal Pradesh. Thousands of Tibetans—both first generation refugees and their descendants—have made India their home. Over the years, India extended moral and diplomatic support to the Tibetans.
All that is changing and how.
Last year the U.S. Congress conferred the 'Congressional Gold Medal' on the Dalai Lama. China was quick to denounce the U.S. move to honour its bête noire.
For fear of antagonising China and its stooges in India – the Indian commies (like Prakash Karat & A. B. Bardhan), the UPA government asked its ministers (& top bureaucrats) to avoid meeting the Dalai Lama upon his return from the U.S. (In more normal times, such meetings would not even classify as news. But then we live in not-so normal times.)
In March this year, India’s External Affairs Minister (EAM), Pranab Mukherjee, ‘advised’ the Dalai Lama not to conduct any political activities from India. The EAM said that “[We] will continue to extend the Dalai Lama all hospitality, but during his stay in India, he should not do any political activity that could adversely affect relations between India and China”.
I believe that this policy of publicly distancing herself from the Tibetans is a deliberate move by the Government of India. The reasons for this significant shift are not far to seek:
(a) Nuclear Deal. India needs China’s approval in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to get a waiver;
(b) Trade. Burgeoning trade between the two nations – as of now, China is India’s second biggest trade partner;
(c) Reciprocity. Kashmir is India’s bugbear just as Tibet is China’s.
(d) 1962 defeat. Rarely acknowledged but nevertheless our humiliating defeat continues to shape our almost condescending attitude towards China.
However, what worries me more is that if this could happen when the Dalai Lama is around, imagine what would happen after his death. As of now, the Tibetan community (outside Tibet) does not boast of even a single individual with the charisma, and more importantly, spiritual hold, to replace the Dalai Lama. So is the Tibetan movement doomed? Let me not sit in judgement here.
I hate to sound pessimistic, but maybe the Indian government is simply waiting for the Dalai Lama to pass away. At least then, we would not have to put up the charade of standing up for the freedom-loving, oppressed, and repressed.
Tibet, before its occupation by China in 1959, was a theocracy. The occupation saw the killing of thousands of Buddhist monks by communist China’s military. In the years after the escape of the Dalai Lama, the besieged nation’s top spiritual leader, on horseback to India, almost all symbols of the ancient heritage of Tibet have been systematically erased. Jawaharlal Nehru had, even before the ’62 war, recognized Tibet as part of China.
Today there is a Tibetan government-in-exile with its headquarters in McLeodganj in Himachal Pradesh. Thousands of Tibetans—both first generation refugees and their descendants—have made India their home. Over the years, India extended moral and diplomatic support to the Tibetans.
All that is changing and how.
Last year the U.S. Congress conferred the 'Congressional Gold Medal' on the Dalai Lama. China was quick to denounce the U.S. move to honour its bête noire.
For fear of antagonising China and its stooges in India – the Indian commies (like Prakash Karat & A. B. Bardhan), the UPA government asked its ministers (& top bureaucrats) to avoid meeting the Dalai Lama upon his return from the U.S. (In more normal times, such meetings would not even classify as news. But then we live in not-so normal times.)
In March this year, India’s External Affairs Minister (EAM), Pranab Mukherjee, ‘advised’ the Dalai Lama not to conduct any political activities from India. The EAM said that “[We] will continue to extend the Dalai Lama all hospitality, but during his stay in India, he should not do any political activity that could adversely affect relations between India and China”.
I believe that this policy of publicly distancing herself from the Tibetans is a deliberate move by the Government of India. The reasons for this significant shift are not far to seek:
(a) Nuclear Deal. India needs China’s approval in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to get a waiver;
(b) Trade. Burgeoning trade between the two nations – as of now, China is India’s second biggest trade partner;
(c) Reciprocity. Kashmir is India’s bugbear just as Tibet is China’s.
(d) 1962 defeat. Rarely acknowledged but nevertheless our humiliating defeat continues to shape our almost condescending attitude towards China.
However, what worries me more is that if this could happen when the Dalai Lama is around, imagine what would happen after his death. As of now, the Tibetan community (outside Tibet) does not boast of even a single individual with the charisma, and more importantly, spiritual hold, to replace the Dalai Lama. So is the Tibetan movement doomed? Let me not sit in judgement here.
I hate to sound pessimistic, but maybe the Indian government is simply waiting for the Dalai Lama to pass away. At least then, we would not have to put up the charade of standing up for the freedom-loving, oppressed, and repressed.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Afghanistan's Opium Brides
One of my major interests is to read and write on international affairs. (I write for my company publication.) Societies especially those that promote violence elsewhere have always sustained my interest for a good 19 years now. As a logical corollary, I am equally interested in societies that are at the receiving end of such exported, often proxy, violence.
One such society is Afghanistan. A God-forsaken place (the Taliban would kill me for this blasphemy!), Afghanistan is one of the world's most lawless states wracked by ethnic, sectarian, and political violence. Almost all violence is perpetrated by the Taliban (the word comes from Talib, meaning 'student'), created and nurtured by Pakistan.
Pakistan promoted the Taliban and helped it capture Kabul in 1996, in the process ousting a pro-India regime. One major objective behind this Paki move was to secure the Durand Line (the boundary line between Afghanistan & Pakistan). Why? Well, Pakistan strategised that if the western border could be secured by putting in place a pro-Pak regime in Kabul, then it could move its military forces away from the Durand Line to the eastern border with India, esp. in Kashmir. (In light of these facts, we can well appreciate the rise in infiltration and terrorist activity in J&K, all culminating in the Kargil misadventure by the Pak army.)
When the Taliban captured power, of course in league with Al-Qaeda, it became the first terrorist organisation in the world to run a state. The Taliban government was, as expected, recognised by three states only - Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
The Taliban imposed a very strict and ultra-orthodox variety of Islam on the multi-ethnic society of Afghanistan. Men had to grow beards; women had to sit at home and could venture out only if accompanied by male member of the family. All forms of entertainment - TV, cinema, music - were banned on grounds of being unIslamic.
The country under the Taliban resembled a medievel state with terrorism and opium being its major exports. It was from here that Osama planned the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. In hindsight, the spectacular attack on the twin towers also brought about the terrorist regime's downfall.
America issued an ultimatum: Either you are with us, or against us. Pakistan, faced with a Hobson's choice and afraid of dire consequences, preferred to sleep with the Taliban's enemy. The War on Terror had begun when the Pakis threw out their baby (read Taliban) with the hot water.
Backed by the U.S.-led coalition forces and India, the Northern Alliance, a ragtag alliance of desperate warlords all united by their fear and hatred of the Taliban, captured power. Ever since, the Taliban, now covertly supported by the Pak military and the ISI, has been trying, albeit in vain, to recapture Kabul.
Where do the Taliban get money to fund their military strikes against the U.S. & NATO peace-keeping forces? The zealots extract ransom from opium farmers. While Islam forbids the cultivation of such crops, it is a matter of convenience for the Taliban. (I guess 'faith in religion' has always been a matter of convenience.)
Today Afghanistan contributes 91 per cent of all opium produced in the world. Most of it is grown in the south, especially in the Helmand province controlled by the Taliban.
The Hamid Karzai administration, under pressure from the U.S., has systematically destroyed thousands of acres of opium farms. While the move appears positive, it has brought in its wake massive suffering to those whose farmlands have been destroyed. How?
In a land where the State, if we look at the welfare function of it, is absent, eking out the simplest form of existence often becomes a matter of life and death. No irrigation, no organised credit, no seed bank, and no help of any kind from the State have pushed even the unwilling farmer into producing opium.
A dangerous consequence of the destruction of the opium farms has been the growth in the number of the opium brides. What's this?
Let me explain this social tragedy. When an opium farmer borrows money from a drug trafficker, who's hand-in-glove with the Taliban and corrupt government officials, to raise a crop, he promises to pay the trafficker a particular quantity of the crop (opium).
The razing of thousand of acres of standing crop by the government has driven the opium farmer to the edge. The ruthless drug trafficker, as is his wont, presents a stark choice to the opium farmer: face death or give the daughter in marriage.
More than the fear of death, it is for his love of the whole family, the farmer is forced to 'sell' his daughter to the drug trafficker. The girl, in most cases is under 14; the drug trafficker is generally not below 40. Girls married off in this fashion are called opium brides.
Such opium brides live a life worse than death. They are not allowed to commit suicide, for death would be an escape, escape from the clutches of hell.
She works like a slave, from the crack of the dawn to the end of the day. She can't leave the house without being accompanied by a male member of the family; can't talk to anyone deemed a stranger; can't attend school or educate herself, and is covered from head to toe by a burqa.
For all practical purposes, she remains the trafficker's sex slave, to be sexually and physical assaulted by him. All this would happen to someone who is below 14.
If a farmer would say no i.e. not 'sell' his daughter, then he meets death in a ghastly manner. Wish to know how?
First, the farmer's hands and legs are bound. Next, he is thrown into a windowless room with a smouldering fire. The farmer slowly chokes his way to death.
I strongly believe that violence is endemic to societies which lack respect for basic human freedoms. The Taliban's atrocities have only reinforced my belief.
One such society is Afghanistan. A God-forsaken place (the Taliban would kill me for this blasphemy!), Afghanistan is one of the world's most lawless states wracked by ethnic, sectarian, and political violence. Almost all violence is perpetrated by the Taliban (the word comes from Talib, meaning 'student'), created and nurtured by Pakistan.
Pakistan promoted the Taliban and helped it capture Kabul in 1996, in the process ousting a pro-India regime. One major objective behind this Paki move was to secure the Durand Line (the boundary line between Afghanistan & Pakistan). Why? Well, Pakistan strategised that if the western border could be secured by putting in place a pro-Pak regime in Kabul, then it could move its military forces away from the Durand Line to the eastern border with India, esp. in Kashmir. (In light of these facts, we can well appreciate the rise in infiltration and terrorist activity in J&K, all culminating in the Kargil misadventure by the Pak army.)
When the Taliban captured power, of course in league with Al-Qaeda, it became the first terrorist organisation in the world to run a state. The Taliban government was, as expected, recognised by three states only - Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
The Taliban imposed a very strict and ultra-orthodox variety of Islam on the multi-ethnic society of Afghanistan. Men had to grow beards; women had to sit at home and could venture out only if accompanied by male member of the family. All forms of entertainment - TV, cinema, music - were banned on grounds of being unIslamic.
The country under the Taliban resembled a medievel state with terrorism and opium being its major exports. It was from here that Osama planned the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. In hindsight, the spectacular attack on the twin towers also brought about the terrorist regime's downfall.
America issued an ultimatum: Either you are with us, or against us. Pakistan, faced with a Hobson's choice and afraid of dire consequences, preferred to sleep with the Taliban's enemy. The War on Terror had begun when the Pakis threw out their baby (read Taliban) with the hot water.
Backed by the U.S.-led coalition forces and India, the Northern Alliance, a ragtag alliance of desperate warlords all united by their fear and hatred of the Taliban, captured power. Ever since, the Taliban, now covertly supported by the Pak military and the ISI, has been trying, albeit in vain, to recapture Kabul.
Where do the Taliban get money to fund their military strikes against the U.S. & NATO peace-keeping forces? The zealots extract ransom from opium farmers. While Islam forbids the cultivation of such crops, it is a matter of convenience for the Taliban. (I guess 'faith in religion' has always been a matter of convenience.)
Today Afghanistan contributes 91 per cent of all opium produced in the world. Most of it is grown in the south, especially in the Helmand province controlled by the Taliban.
The Hamid Karzai administration, under pressure from the U.S., has systematically destroyed thousands of acres of opium farms. While the move appears positive, it has brought in its wake massive suffering to those whose farmlands have been destroyed. How?
In a land where the State, if we look at the welfare function of it, is absent, eking out the simplest form of existence often becomes a matter of life and death. No irrigation, no organised credit, no seed bank, and no help of any kind from the State have pushed even the unwilling farmer into producing opium.
A dangerous consequence of the destruction of the opium farms has been the growth in the number of the opium brides. What's this?
Let me explain this social tragedy. When an opium farmer borrows money from a drug trafficker, who's hand-in-glove with the Taliban and corrupt government officials, to raise a crop, he promises to pay the trafficker a particular quantity of the crop (opium).
The razing of thousand of acres of standing crop by the government has driven the opium farmer to the edge. The ruthless drug trafficker, as is his wont, presents a stark choice to the opium farmer: face death or give the daughter in marriage.
More than the fear of death, it is for his love of the whole family, the farmer is forced to 'sell' his daughter to the drug trafficker. The girl, in most cases is under 14; the drug trafficker is generally not below 40. Girls married off in this fashion are called opium brides.
Such opium brides live a life worse than death. They are not allowed to commit suicide, for death would be an escape, escape from the clutches of hell.
She works like a slave, from the crack of the dawn to the end of the day. She can't leave the house without being accompanied by a male member of the family; can't talk to anyone deemed a stranger; can't attend school or educate herself, and is covered from head to toe by a burqa.
For all practical purposes, she remains the trafficker's sex slave, to be sexually and physical assaulted by him. All this would happen to someone who is below 14.
If a farmer would say no i.e. not 'sell' his daughter, then he meets death in a ghastly manner. Wish to know how?
First, the farmer's hands and legs are bound. Next, he is thrown into a windowless room with a smouldering fire. The farmer slowly chokes his way to death.
I strongly believe that violence is endemic to societies which lack respect for basic human freedoms. The Taliban's atrocities have only reinforced my belief.
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