July 19, 2005
Liberte, egalite and fraternite?
Non, mes amis.
From the Boston Herald:
Appeasing Castro prolongs tyrannyBy Peter Brookes
Tuesday, July 19, 2005 - Updated: 12:03 AM ESTLast Thursday, the French embassy in Havana decided to invite Fidel Castro's communist cronies over to help celebrate Bastille Day.
Shamefully, they expressly didn't invite any of Cuba's dissidents: France had promised to turn a cold shoulder to democracy activists struggling to free themselves from their own (island) prison.
So much for liberte, egalite and fraternite.
But it's not just the French who have decided to play along with Cuba's horrendous human-rights practices; the European Union as a whole has caved to Cuba's caudillo, Fidel Castro.
Back in 1996, the EU adopted a ``Common Position'' on Cuba, with the avowed goal of promoting democracy, respect for human rights and improvement in the often-dismal living conditions for the Cuban people. But the EU has shifted to appeasing Castro on these issues.
It started in March 2003, when Fidel threw 75 nonviolent democracy dissidents into jail. The next month, the EU slapped Cuba with economic sanctions, lowered the level of diplomatic contact and put regime opponents on the A-list for embassy parties. In response, Havana suspended relations with the EU.
The diplomatic chill lasted nearly 18 months. Then, last November, Havana threw a bone to the EU by releasing 14 of the 75 political prisoners for ``humanitarian reasons.''
That first hint of a Cuban concession was enough for Spain's socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who convinced the EU to cave, ending sanctions for a trial period. By January, the two sides had restored full diplomatic relations.
The EU also agreed to stop inviting dissidents to national celebrations. The claim was that ending the practice would advance ``constructive dialogue'' with the regime.
So how did Cuba express a ``constructive dialogue?''
In May, Cuban security services arrested and deported lawmakers and journalists from Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic who had traveled to Cuba to attend a dissident rally.
The EU's response?
Shockingly, the EU's Council of Foreign Ministers agreed to extend the suspension of the sanctions until at least next June. That is, even as it admitted that Cuba's government had made ``no satisfactory progress on human rights,'' the EU opted for more diplomatic happy talk.The EU council also tried to extend the ban on dissidents at embassy functions, but Germany, Denmark, Sweden and the Czech Republic all objected strongly. The issue was ultimately left up to each country's discretion.
All this undermines EU's much-touted moral authority. That's especially offensive to the many Europeans who lived for decades with the threat - or under the repressive yoke - of communism.
Vaclav Havel - the post-Cold War Czech president - urged the EU to support Cuba's dissidents.
Havel wrote earlier this year that the EU must ``defend its freedoms and values, and not abandon them'' by aligning with dictators or forgetting ``their experience with totalitarian regimes.''
He's right. Cuba's 11 million people deserve better. An estimated 300-plus political prisoners languish in Cuban jails.
The U.S. State Department's 2004 Report of Human Rights Practices says Cuba is a ``totalitarian state.''
With El Presidente nearing 80 years of age, it's time to start thinking about the post-Castro era.
One hundred and three years after independence, Cuba still isn't ``free.'' Instead of struggling under colonialism, it is has been crippled by Castro for 46 years.
The United States is already in touch with the island's political opposition. It makes sense for the EU to fully engage - and encourage - regime opponents, rather than pander to the failed Castro regime.
One day, a Cuban Vaclav Havel may lead a new Cuba. But if the EU continues to placate Castro's grip on the island, Cuba Libre may never become more than a slogan.
Posted by Val Prieto at July 19, 2005 06:27 AM
Comments
All of it falls into their age-long tradition of appeasing murdering tyrants, from Count Dracula to Hitler and Stalin and his killing-clown-tools. Surprised? Not a tad.
Surprised by the diligence of Zapatin and the zapatistas in supporting cagastro? Not at all.
Posted by: CB at July 19, 2005 07:03 AM
Then, when the times comes, we won't be seeing any of those countries doing anything to stabilize the situation in Cuba. It's very likely that after 46 years of tyranny and abuses the change will take a violent turn. We well be forced to intercede to stabilize the situation, since it becomes a security matter for the US. Wait and see, the EU will go bonkers on that one. They will say that we are an occupation army, that we are abusing prisoners and civil populatin alike, that the cagastro goons in the loose (and in the lose) are insurgents, and much more. They never called the Russian Army an occupation army, as far as I can recall. Or by the way, they haven't ever said that cagastro abuses the civil population or that the sex tourists do too.
They call on the Americans for their own liberation when appeasement fails (always) but they don't want the Americans to liberate others. What for a nice state of mind where logics are totally thwarted and cowardice reigns supreme?
Posted by: CB at July 19, 2005 07:19 AM
Regarding the French, what can we expect from the most collaborationist country in Europe during the Nazi occupation? The country which produced thousands of volunteers for the SS-Charlemagne division, annihilated defending the madman of Berlin in April 1945. In their relationship with feed-el, the Froggies are just being themselves.
A nation of prostitutes then, a nation of prostitutes now, filled with envy and resentment against the USA, because the USA is everything they are not.
Froggies, accept this: the Duke of Wellington kicked Nappie's ass at Waterloo. Get over it.
Posted by: Alberto Quiroga at July 19, 2005 07:27 AM
France: Its greatest soldier was a fourteen-year old girl, and its greatest general was Italian.
Posted by: George L. Moneo at July 19, 2005 07:47 AM
France stopped being great many years ago. They have avoided dignity as the bubonic plague. And their anti Americanism has been patent since the days of the liberation battles during first world war, it reached the peak at the end of the second war, when once the kisses to the liberators had dried, the anti American banter started.
For the record, many of the casualties in the post Normandy operations were due to the treason of the French. In their unprecedent cowardice they pointed out to the Germans where the GIs were. Then, pathetic enough, the ones fighting the Germans in the Resistence were for the most part communists, so they were also oposed to the Americans. Only the overwhelming victory against the Germans and the sheer force showed in the fight prevented them from fighting the American forces and doing the work of the Russians by proxy. Personally, I would have never included that ridiculous moustache of De Gaulle in the Liberation Parade in Paris.
Posted by: CB at July 19, 2005 08:21 AM
"Only the overwhelming victory against the Germans and the sheer force showed in the fight prevented them from fighting the American forces"
Bah, they would have crapped in their pants at the very thought of fighting GI's (or Brits, or nearly anybody) at any time.
Bleep the french. Hell, even castro has the decency not to pretend he's an ally and friend of the US when that's clearly not the case - just like with the french (and please don't jump on me for the back-handed "compliment" to fidel, that's not the way it's meant).
Posted by: Jay at July 19, 2005 09:16 AM
Jay, I meant the communist forces that were the maquisard in France. They were "remote controlled" by the Russians, and some of them put up good fights. But when they saw what the GIs accomplished in a short period of time, with a lot of fire power, they simply plied against the woodwork. But the plan was there: the Russians wanted them to fight the Americans so they could establish an outpost for the Soviet Empire and therefore they could strangle Spain and Portugal (where they had beed defeated)
The French regular army, well, they were busy surrendering.
Posted by: CB at July 19, 2005 09:57 AM
The EU only likes to do things they believe are their original idea, and heaven forbid it would cost them a Euro.
Posted by: max at July 19, 2005 02:23 PM
Unbrelievable. Once again, the French choose the losing side of history.
Posted by: A.M. Mora y Leon at July 19, 2005 08:42 PM
The french are subhuman scum who must be made to pay one day for their crimes against humanity by collaborating with murderers.
Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at July 19, 2005 09:45 PM
Figure it this way: Castro has defied the US for decades and it's in vogue in Europe to be anti-American (at least, for the leadership).
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at July 19, 2005 10:05 PM
DID YOU HEAR THAT NEXT MONTH THE FRENCH IS GIVING THAT PIG ALICIA ALONSO AN AWARD OF THE HIGHEST HONOR FOR AN ARTIST???
WHY IS FRANCE EVEN ON THE WORLD'S MAP???
Posted by: CARMEN at July 19, 2005 10:12 PM
"Collaborating with murderers"? They ARE murderers. Or did you not hear about their army shooting unarmed civilians in the Ivory Coast?
Plus of course theres that whole Greenpeace thing but I have to admit to mixed emotions about that.
Posted by: Jay at July 19, 2005 10:28 PM
"Duke of Wellington kicked Nappie's ass at Waterloo"
Now THIS is the funny part of THAT debacle...
(GOD I LOVE History!)
Napoleon, had laid a BRILLIANT trap for Wellington BUT , he had to depend on an ACTUAL Frenchman to carry out the trap.
So the idea was that Wellington would go after Napoleons brigade thinking that would be the ELITE brigade, but Napoleon had taken a lesser contingent and allowed another French general ( name escapes me but Ill find it) to come up the south west BEHIND Wellington while they were engaged in battle. Wellington would be been fighting two flanks at the same time and his men would’ve been outnumbered .
BUT with TYPICAL French FUCK-UP-NESS the French general kept going north about 12 miles past where the actual fight was taking place!
So there is good old Naps is just there holding his Italian pee-pee while Wellington kicked his ass.
After he realized that the surprise rear attack was just NOT going to happen, he ordered to retrieve.
I think the French general caught up with him the day AFTER! and just claimed to having gotten lost.
It was a well known fact Napoleon thought the French soldiers to be cowards. His ranking officers morons and THAT just didn’t sit well with the troops , so history has it that the infamous French general who fucked up Napoleon did it after receiving a substantial reward from the brits.
Another bit of ancient history is the amount of times the French have tried to go south into Spanish territory and claim it as theirs nd time and time again they have been beaten to a pulp.
Funny because you'd think that two countries with a common border would have soldiers of about the same caliber of heroism , but for SOME fucking reason , the French are just lying , cheating cowards and have been since the beginning of time.
Posted by: KillCastro at July 19, 2005 11:48 PM
FUCK THE FRENCH!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Jose Aguirre at July 20, 2005 07:40 PM
