Castro

Why would you want to argue if with the government if your life was better than it would have been with a different government? This free speech thing isn't all it's cracked up to be.

How about Singapore? It's a democracy - voting is compulsory, but there isn't really much choice and woe betide you if you don't do as the government wants. The consequences aren't so dire as in Cuba - human rights activists describe them as 'misfortunes'.

Castro was by no means perfect but he did ensure good standards for all in relation to the very basics of life - health, housing, education and sustenance
Not quite for all - only as long as they did not dissent or argue with the government.

Can you imagine what would have happened had they marched in protest as people have done in this country?
The Russian guns would have come out of the cupboard and mowed them all down.

Well, I do have sympathy for Cubans who fled and went to America because they had to leave their homeland and many left relatives behind, never seeing them again.

It just struck me that the same people who have such sympathy for the Cubans who travel to a new life in the USA are very much the people who condemned many of the people in the Calais camps as 'economic migrants' who should be sent home. Isn't that double standards?
Well, that is a very confusing statement

I expect Cubans who escaped to America went to avoid being killed or imprisoned, much like the Syrian refugees today.

Mentioning 'economic migrants' in the same context just confuses the issue.

quite a modest life style? Oh well

djen
Here's a link to Trump's statement about the death of Castro:

www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/26/here-is-donald-trumps-reaction-to-fidel-castros-death/

No doubt Obama's first reaction may have been Castro has died too but, being sensible he wouldn't tweet it!!

There are plenty of absolute pigs throughout the world who rule by tyranny and who enrich themselves at the expense of their own people. There are also so-called democracies where vast numbers of people are ill-educated, have little access to good healthcare and have terrible or no housing.

Castro was by no means perfect but he did ensure good standards for all in relation to the very basics of life - health, housing, education and sustenance. And he had quite a modest lifestyle himself.

Many of the people who fled Cuba when Castro took over were criminals who hated him for closing down the casinos, prostitution rings and other activities that exploited ordinary people.

And Castro was open to - you can get somethings right, now how about etc .

I agree with you, Elegran. Like most former teachers, I usually imagine Michael Gove as a hyperactive imp with horns. Even so, I occasionally thought he got a few things right.

Any socialist regime is bound to have people who think they're worth more than the average and will try to go to a country where they are paid more. That's why the former East Germany erected the Wall. Its economy couldn't take the number of professionals, doctors, teachers. etc who were leaving for the West.

Strangely enough, after reunification, many former East Germans looked back fondly to the times when there was no unemployment, childcare was state-funded and there was less commercial pressure. I did a two week exchange with a German teacher just after the Wall came down and the people I met weren't totally in favour of reunification, especially as they were treated as second class citizens by the 'Wessies'.

PS. The most embarrassing part of that trip was sitting at a table in a pub next to a group of old men discussing the bombing of Dresden. They hadn't realised that I was British. :-(

No, according to my reasoning, if the Tories get something right we say, "That was good! See, you CAN sometimes get it right. Now how about this and this . . ."

Elegran, based on your reasoning if the Tories get somethings right we are ok

rosesarered can I ask which of my statements about Cuba you think is untrue? Is it the free healthcare? the medical missions to Haiti and other countries? the increase in literacy and free education? If you can identify any untruth I will support my comments.
As far as moving to Cuba is concerned I think the comparison is untenable. However if you were to offer me a choice between Cuba and Haiti where the government is US backed and presumably on the road to democracy, I would choose Cuba because at least in Cuba children have the chance to survive.

No, ab a dictatorship is not the way to go (and I don't see anyone saying that it is)- unless the dictator is a saint, of course, in which case he/she will control all the factors involved perfectly, so that everyone is living in Paradise with none of the things you mention, or any others that have not yet come to light. Saints are few and far between, particularly in leaders with absolute power, whatever their motives were when they started out.

But if he got something right, then that has to be admitted - like not ignoring it if a naughty child is actually nice to someone for a change.

So a dictatorship is the way to go if some get a better health service and life expectancy is extended - unless you are shot , no freedom of speech either , still these are only faults

I'm not sure you really understand what communism is all about, roses, but never mind.

I don't think anybody has claimed that Castro's Cuba was a desirable place for people to live, especially for those brought up in a liberal democracy. Cuba wasn't doing that badly until Russia cut off aid.

Anyway, a couple of statistics...according to the WHO, Cuba's life expectancy (2015) is 79.1, which isn't bad for a country which allegedly has a collapsing health care system. It's just behind the US (79.3) and the UK (81.2). Haiti's life expectancy is 63.5. Without Castro, Cuba could very well have turned into the kind of shambolic, corrupt place that Haiti is.

It was a daft question trisher to start with.Nobody has sympathy for the people who escaped the murderous Castro, and got to the US, they have sympathy for the ones who could not get away.Castro did not use socialism, he used communism to suppress anyone who disagreed with him, and became a depicable tyrant.

Problems ! His faults ? Easily dismissed by some . Firing squads. Enforced HIV tests, internment camps for homosexuals. People driven from their country. Tv and Radio state controlled. No freedom of press.

I asked a question rosesarered if it struck a nerve that's tough, but please don't put words in my mouth.
I've acknowledged Cuba's achievements in spite of the problems that is all.

I imagine you will be moving to Cuba any time trisher as it is obviously so marvellous.

It just struck me that the same people who have such sympathy for the Cubans who travel to a new life in the USA are very much the people who condemned many of the people in the Calais camps as 'economic migrants' who should be sent home. Isn't that double standards?

Correction - The Laboury Party has said no definite decision on Corbyn attending the funeral has yet been made

Corbyn and Jerry Adams will attend the funeral. The American republicans have said no way should Obama or Kerry attend, Putin will attend. No comment from the government , it is said Boris is unlikely to attend , May has not yet made any public acknowledgement of the death

I think Obama has got the right idea.

www.indy100.com/article/barack-obamas-and-donald-trumps-first-reactions-to-castros-death-couldnt-have-been-more-different-7441046

Of course it was sarcasm!
(anniebach's remark)

I'm surprised anyone thought she actually meant it