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Castro Warns of Nuclear 'Holocaust'
HAVANA - Ailing Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has issued a dire warning of a nuclear "holocaust" as he mustered enough strength to address the country's parliament for the first time since his health crisis four years ago.
Fidel Castro speaks during a special session of parliament in his first official government appearance in front of lawmakers in four years in Havana, Cuba, Saturday Aug. 7, 2010. At left is Ricardo Alarcon, president of parliament.
(AP/Javier Galeano) The soon-to-be 84 father of the Cuban revolution looked much fitter and more energetic than in previous appearances as he rose to the podium of the National Assembly Saturday to expand on his favorite theme of recent days -- alleged US preparations for a nuclear war in the Middle East.
In a series of Internet articles and public comments, Castro has been talking about his fear that the United States and Israel are about to launch a nuclear attack on Iran.
With assembly members listening intently, Castro said it would be up to US President Barack Obama to issue an order to carry out such a strike, but that, if he realized the consequences of this action, "he would not give it".
"Fate would have it that at this precise moment, the president of the United States would be an offspring of an African man and a white woman, of Muslims and Christians," Castro said. "He won't give the order if he becomes aware" of the devastation it would cause.
"We are making a contribution to that persuasive effort," said the Cuban communist leader.
He stressed that should nuclear war be unleashed, "the existing world order would not survive and would immediately collapse."
According to Castro, Obama's advantage was that he was not comparable to former US president Richard Nixon, who was forced to resign in 1974 amid a political scandal.
"Nixon was a cynical man," commented the Cuban leader. "That country has had a lot of cynical presidents, as well as some ignorant ones."
Castro, who led Cuba for 48 years, was sidelined in 2006 after a gastrointestinal illness and subsequent operations forced him to leave the presidency now held by his brother Raul Castro, 79.
At one point, Fidel Castro was so frail that he could not stand or walk in public.
His address on Saturday, at times alongside his wife, Dalia Soto del Valle, seemed aimed at underscoring that he was physically back and still in the political fight.
Top leaders including the Cuban president and lawmakers cheered and cried out "Viva Fidel!" as the father of the revolution entered the chamber in an event broadcast live on state television and radio.
But Castro, who turns 84 on August 13, spoke for just over 10 minutes -- a fleeting appearance for a politician once famous for oratory going on for hours.
Castro was last seen at a ceremony marking a key event in the Cuban revolution on July 26, his seventh public appearance in three weeks.
Though no longer president, Fidel Castro does still hold the powerful position of first secretary of the Communist Party and remains a member of Cuba's legislature.
Cuban lawmakers spoke of their joy at seeing "comrade" Fidel addressing the assembly, with Eduardo Borges saying he was "very proud" of his return "now that the world is caught between war and peace."
Some Cubans said it was startling to see images of the aging leader back in front of the assembly.
"It was surreal to see Fidel Castro reappearing to tell us about the Iranian crisis and not the one in Cuba," a young Cuban artist told AFP on condition of anonymity.
On August 1, Raul Castro expanded opportunities for self-employment ahead of looming government plans to slash as many as one million jobs -- 20 percent of communist Cuba's work force -- from state payrolls.
The economy, 95 percent of which is currently in state hands, does not have the ability to absorb such vast numbers of jobless. Raul Castro's move aims to try to reduce the socioeconomic fallout, but an uphill battle is expected.
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Show AllCastro: (speaking of Obama ). " He won't give the order if he realizes the devastation it will cause ". Mr. Castro doesn't seem to realize that Barry is just a puppet, a figurehead, of the MIC, that gets to pretend he is the boss, and whether he realizes the devastation or not, the real war power is in the Pentagon and Barry like Congress, will do what he is told to do; or he knows he will end up like Kennedy after the Bay of Pigs fiasco.
Obama has already given so many orders that have caused great devastation, pushing the nuclear button won't faze him.
P.R., just a note here.
Castro 'saw' the big picture before most of us were even born, or were still pledging allegiance to the flag in public school.
Naive is one thing he isn't. He is trying to send a message. Name calling or bashing someone you wish to possibly influence wouldn't be very wise. Would it?
Good cogent point, Readytotransform,thanks.
You are most welcome, P.R.
“Castro said it would be up to US President Barack Obama to issue an order to carry out such a strike, but that, if he realized the consequences of this action, ‘he would not give it’.”
Paul Revere: “the real war power is in the Pentagon”
From all indications, neither the Pentagon nor the oil lobby wants open war with Iran. The big push is coming from the Israel Lobby, whose primary loyalty lies with fanatical Zionists in Israel. Their strategy has long been to use the U.S. military to neutralize Iranian opposition to Israeli territorial expansion.
The progress of the lunatic Resolution 1553 through our corrupt Congress means that Fidel’s assessment may indeed be correct; Congress has already sold out to the Zionists. Will Barry do the same?
Based on the prez’s track record so far, I’d lay odds that he’ll cave just like Congress, even though an attack on Iran will probably result in millions of casualties and the collapse of our economy (what's left of it).
I agree. Good post Ostrogoth. The big push is coming from the Israel lobby as it looks like factions in Israel were behind the inside job of 911. Israel may push it and start it but the Pentagon could be dragged into a war that it may want to avoid; nevertheless, I stand by my statement that the real war power is in the Pentagon.
""Nixon was a cynical man," commented the Cuban leader. "That country has had a lot of cynical presidents, as well as some ignorant ones.""
-- Obama is even more cynical and quite ignorant.
What a speech, even if it is propaganda!
Imagine having to prove Castro "RIGHT"?
How would this type of 'propaganda' help Cuba?
It has been predicted over and over by many others. No?
Ray McGovern just had his piece on CD last week.
A most outrageous and stupid comment.
At least you have the insiders knowledge on nuclear war. Mind sharing it with us? Most of us understand English fairly well. Try using it when posting. Maybe that's why your comments are "outrageous for the crowd here".
You kiss your mother with that mouth? Even for a liberal with no argument i think you kinda crossed the line there. Get yourself under control before you post again.
Thanks!
"And yes, I suppose I am a fan of Castro, given that there are only half a dozen folks on the planet who can walk upright and appear human, and he is one of them"
Best one i heard in a while. Do you come up with stuff yourself or is someone helping you.
Chameleon, from a previous post I got the impression that you supported/support the majority of tha e USA's imperial wars post WWII.
If my impression is correct, you sir, are complicit in War Crimes.
Whether a wake up call comes from Castro or whomever, we must get rid of ALL nukes or the planet will perish.
Amen. The Iranian people are my brothers and sisters too.
I will not support our foul M.I.C. in attacking their nation, no matter how much of an idiot their leader is.
Amazing man Fidel.
After hundreds of attempts of the USA to assassinate him he still cares about the people in the USA and World Peace.
For those still wondering about who Oswald really was, he was not a Marxist at all, he was an agent working to get his "Communist Credits" to enter Cuba and deliver the newly engineered Virus just made for Fidel.
The Cubans and Russia were on to Oswald so his failure to enter Cuba in September 63, made him the perfect patsy to blame the para military coup with LBJ's cover-up elimination of JFK who was planning for some Peace in the world.
Check the witness here, Judith Baker, who worked with DR. Ochner, David Ferrie, Jack Ruby, Clay Shaw and the CIA to make and deliver the new Cancer virus.
Check the Oswald's Lover videos.... this stuff was censored from the History Channel but most of it is still here.
http://hubpages.com/hub/John_F_Kennedy_
Assassination_What_Really_Happened
Anyone, who was at the age of reason on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time, knows that the JFK assassination was a Coup d'état. (That's another reason THEY want to get rid of us Seniors.)
I, myself, was teaching school and had gone home (nearby) for lunch, when the announcement came.
Back at school, the Principal hosted a Pep Rally for a football game that evening. (No one, really, was yet aware of the news.)
He made three announcement after the cheers, two regarding the game and school spirit. The third was (in a matter-of-fact, indifferent tone) that President Kennedy had been assassinated.
George (41) Bush said he doesn't remember where he was at the time.
Ask any old timer where he was on that day and I defy you to find one who doesn't remember.
You can go to Google and bring up photos of the crime scene, and an blurry image of '41' at Dealey Plaze, running the whole show.
The other great tragedy of days past (excluding the recent ones you know about) was the 1968 defeat of George McGovern, a decorated World War II combat veteran, who lost to the cowboy actor who seemed a better warrior.
Logic will not play in America; the population is basically too ignorant and brainwashed.
I expect our real military leaders someday will lead their own Coup d'état; they are, after all, pledged to defend our Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. That is their oath, not to 'keep the rich safe.'
By the way, while you are Googling, check out 'Operation Northwoods."
Does that seem strangely familiar to any of you?
Well yes, Operation Northwoods as I read was a plan the military would stage terrorist attacks on NY Subways and even US forces disguised as Cubans for an excuse to invade Cuba Again... I believe JFK fired a general for that one.
Actually Bush 41 (CIA) running for the house, was in Tyler Texas giving a speech and he usually talked how JFK was a coward for not invading Cuba again when the hit went down.
The photo of the man in front of the depository looked a lot like Bush but he was too short, just average and Big George is 6'2". He has been identified as a police detective according to the Sixth Floor museum, Gary Mack..
I found a photo that looks like Bush from the back and just the right height leaning on a police car at Parkland that nobody has Identified.
Barbara's story was that they were flying from Tyler to Fort Worth to drop off their friend pilot then a quick stop in Dallas airport for a "commercial flight" home to Houston... that is her story.
Barbara did not mention that Bush called the FBI about a false hit-man and said "this is confidential" and we are on our way to Dallas.
Which leads right to what I saw because I was told the killing was supposed to happen and told others so I was being watched and right after the killing near Huntsville I was forced onto a 2nd Shadow chartered Bus that stopped at a small airport near Houston where Ferrie was the first to get on and asked me if I knew "that man" as he pointed to Bush who got on some time after. I did know him as a kid in the 50's but I kept quiet like i was told before the trip. I saw Bush and Hoover talking sitting next to each other and there was time for him to be in Dallas because there was also two Dallas Cops with a taller Oswald look alike in their custody... he had tears in his eyes and he was a dead man that night well after Bush and Hoover and men in suits got off in Houston.
I thought I would be shot that night too... but somehow they let me live.
The cover-up came right away.
Anyway the Justice Dept. and FBI has had my report for many years and if they could crack it I would be in prison now.
I also told Leon Panetta when he was representative in California around the late 70's.
I asked Leon when it would be safe to talk about it and he said after calling somebody about it.. "After Superman Dies".
It is funny or not that Barbara referred to Bush as "Superman".
They know the truth but it is very inconvenient because every president has covered it up since.
Most interesting posts, Mr. Glover.
Thank you.
"George (41) Bush said he doesn't remember where he was at the time.
Ask any old timer where he was on that day and I defy you to find one who doesn't remember."
That tells you he's lying. I was in second year University in England and remember the exact room where the TV was on and the time. I imagine the same is true of the entire Western world.
I was in 8th grade math class in Anchorage Alaska..I remember that our teacher, A strange, eccentric, tall stringy fellow that never wore socks told us that it is important to realize "that life goes on"..
This was somehow comforting as I was looking out the window into the dark Alaskan silloette of the Chugach range where the NIKE sites were located, just waiting to witness A missile launch. It was A sort of deja-vu experince from the Cuban missile crises. I don't think that the youth of today can even appreciate the terror of the Nuclear War Terror thoughts that my generation grew up with...
George Bush is his usual LIAR self..I know of NO-ONE that has been spared of Alzheimers that doesn't vividly recall where they were at that terrible moment..
If only we had more sage and caring voices like castro's in this country, actually, we do, just not in the centers of power. You find some of these voices in Congressional reps like Peter deFazio or ...Kurt Schrader of Oregon, ardent spokesmen for goood policies on all sorts of issues. We need to take back America's heartland for the heart and mind of a healthy and vibrant people in full use of their mental faculties, not signing them off to perverted preacher types with phony-baloney value systems as sick as they come. But overall the US is a lost cause, if you want my opinion. The imperial death sucking sound is a vast vortex of evil consumptive ugliness. It is in a real hurry to blow it all sky high, just telling us a lie. Let it rot voluntarily. McDonalds is doing a much better job than any phony terrorist network could imagine. It is doing so very rapidly on its own and accelerating in the processs........
Maybe he was just trying to remind Obama that he did get the Peace Prize. Maybe too, Castro's reappearance will remind Obama to remember the Bay of Pigs, and that NOT taking an action can be even more powerful.
For the U.S. to launch a first strike nuclear attack against a non-threatening country (Iran) would be a profoundly evil and immoral act.
The blow back from the rest of the world would be swift and powerful. No one wants a mad, psychotic country that murders millions and millions of innocent people to continue.
" No one wants a mad, psychotic country that murders millions and millions of innocent people to continue."
That is the current position and the world is still trying to figure out how to manage the problem.
Despite the title, the article didn't actually quote Castro as alleging a 'Holocaust'.
True, but even if he had said it, it would be an appropriate application of the term.
Remember Nagasaki:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/nagasaki/
All we are saying is Give Peace A Chance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeDocgPpGd4
IMAGINE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okd3hLlvvLw&feature=related
"a level of casualties on American armed forces not seen since the Second World War"
For those who believe in the illusion of a "limited war" against Iran
http://www.juancole.com/
As Dick Cheney said, "They volunteered didn't they!" The Power Elite could care less about American Soldiers and their losses and family losses.......Every one on Wall Street is in it for the money! Every one in the Military Industrial Complex is in it for the money...Every one in the mass media is in it for the money....
No one wants to stop the murder of civilians, or the deaths of soldiers!
So even Castro knows of the impending attack of Iran.....The warships were moved in June 6, 2010.....Israeli submarines, loaded with missles armed with nuclear warheads, are in place......Russia has their severe drought and hundreds of fires ("Search "Chemtrails Videos", you might learn how great our DOD has become!)
Dr Rauni Kilde predicted that once NATO sent its ships North of Norway in September, the attacks in Iran would begin......
As "The New World Order" takes charge, more civilians and more soldiers will die and Henry and Zbigniew could care less!
Um, in case you haven't noticed, the Zionists own our foreign policy, and believe that they can force the US to nuke Iran. I think they can, and more importantly, will. We are just a bunch of hicks to the Israelis, the well-being of the US citizenry is of absolutely no interest to them. Our politicians are legally corrupt, and under control of these monsters. Get ready for the upheaval, and prepare to watch your military-service age relatives go fight for Israel.
Let's end the trade embargo.
All I really care about is not having to travel to a foreign country to buy Cuban Cigars. Although, Macanudos are damn good.
Oh, and there's the women.
Maybe the music too.
This wouldn't help the Commies, would it?
I don't think we (the human race) will ever go into full-scale nuclear war.
Yes, someone might drop a bomb somewhere, but the destruction would be so bad that there would be an immediate halt for peace talks.
I think that the voices for peace far outweigh the few who desire conflict, and the public won't stand for such all-out destruction. IMHO.
Blessings,
brian
I don't think we (the human race) will ever go into full-scale nuclear war.
Yes, someone might drop a bomb somewhere, but the destruction would be so bad that there would be an immediate halt for peace talks.
I think that the voices for peace far outweigh the few who desire conflict, and the public won't stand for such all-out destruction. IMHO.
Blessings,
brian
Looking in better health than ever! Fidel's amoeba-brained enemies of the far-right will never exhaust the possibilities of making fools of themselves. They will contrive to do so in any and every circumstance.
Not so long ago, after he became ill for a while, and had failed to make a public appearance, said morons were crowing, "He's dead! He's dead! They're keeping it from the public!"
They won't feel any shame or humiliation, because they are incapable of such feelings, or of guilt, or of any of the higher sentiments of human beings.
I say we offer the return the Guantanamo Bay in exchange for the release of all political prisoners in Cuba. That is if Obama doesn't worry about being labeled "soft on terror" or "soft of Communism" by Cheney and Co.
I'm all for ending the trade embargo but Cuba's human rights record is dismal.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/cuba