Meanwhile, Down In Havana

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Since everyone seems pretty plugged-in to the "Christmas versus secularism" controversy (see Hugh Hewitt's summary here) I thought it would be good for this little blog to help focus on Cuba, perhaps the last truly Stalinist regime on Earth. For those on the loony or near-loony left (Oliver Stone comes to mind) Cuba still evokes nostalgia for the Cold War, when communist strongmen were viewed downright sympathetically. After all, they were just like their democratic counterparts when you got right down to it, weren't they?

For rhetoric typical of that era, recall U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young, who famously said there were "political prisoners" in the USA. Ambassador Young's vacuous rhetoric is one reason that Ronald Reagan became president.

Well, maybe the bell is getting ready to toll for Fidel Castro. John Hughes writes about the pressures on Cuba and Castro here. In light of the demise of the Soviet Union, apparently the only thing that will save Fidel now is help from the European Union. I would not be surprised at all for to see the EU bail Castro out (after all, France is involved in the EU), but it also appears that there are voices within the EU who think helping Castro would be "unconscionable." Does it suprise anyone that those voice come from former Soviet satellite states?

As is often said here, read the whole thing.