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I do not think more innocent people were among 2.7 million prisoners in USSR 1950 then among 2.5 million prisoners in USA 2016.
I do. Not even close.
How can we know? Maybe a few hundred thousand prisoners in USA 2016 are innocent?
From 1899 to 1958 the illiteracy rate dropped from 72% (Census of 1899) to 18% (Cuba's Ministry of Education archives) for persons older than 10 years of age, a remarkable achievement. Cubans were not just literate but also educatedHe did many good things and many not so good things.
1st world levels of literacy and a longer life expectancy than Americans thanks to the education and health systems. Not so great on the economic front, not helped by a tough US embargo.
United States, in spite of our hostile relationship with Castro, managed to keep and operate a military base in Cuba throughout his more than fifty year regime. Do you think an enormous undercurrent of strategic military strategy exists that sustains a tenuous balance of power and world order? Spend an hour or so researching the take over of Diego Garcia by British Intelligence and the U.S. Military.
I love the United States. I understand it's culture and systems better than those of any other country. That stated, I also recognize our Government does not posses an inherent moral and intellectual superiority over all the other countries of the world. No, our Government, instead, holds an established military superiority over all other countries, thus maintaining over 1000 military bases on foreign soil. Don't kid yourself about why we involve ourselves in other countries. Take Puerto Rico and Jamaica, two of the other Caribbean Islands, as examples. I have family in Puerto Rico and I began taking trips into Jamaica in the 1970s. I personally find Jamaica far more charming and enjoyable than Puerto Rico. For the few of you who might not know, Puerto Rico enjoys status as a U.S. territory with an option of statehood.. an option which the people of Puerto Rico have repeatedly rejected.
He definitely didn't restore it, and I think that's the main complaint people had with him. He went from bad and made everything much, much, much worse for his own people through communism.
That is incorrect. Mercenaries are mercenaries regardless of what entity employs them. Mercenaries are not part of state sponsored military organizations by definition, but a state can hire them, and they do. They remain mercenaries.
Lots of ignorance in this topic area.
Batista killed a lot more people in a much shorter timeframe, along with huge wealth inequality and little to no health and education for the poor.
Castro was a dictator, but by any conceivable metric, he was an improvement on what had been before him.
Cuba was replaced from one dictator by another- and the country is still mired in poverty. Hardly an improvement.
Yeah we can equally add that Castro has hugely helped American company Chevron which has the biggest stake in Angola's oil production.
Well, Chevron is a for-profit enterprise; it's supposed to make money for extracting oil, and it was doing that in Angola long before Castro's troops arrived to back the MPLA. On the other hand, the country is a kleptocrat's paradise while half of Angolans live on less than $2 per day.
Batista killed a lot more people in a much shorter timeframe, along with huge wealth inequality and little to no health and education for the poor.
Castro was a dictator, but by any conceivable metric, he was an improvement on what had been before him.
Batista was more ruthless and murderous than Castro and the poor were even worse off under him.
I'm still waiting for the right wingers to criticise dictators like Batista and Pinochet.
I was speaking to the specific context of American fighters in Angola and Namibia in the 70's and 80's. If you're talking about the dictionary term "mercenary" then absolutely yes, they can be employed by anyone.
Agreed, however the US never employed mercenaries to aid SA.
I was speaking to the specific context of American fighters in Angola and Namibia in the 70's and 80's. If you're talking about the dictionary term "mercenary" then absolutely yes, they can be employed by anyone.
Exactly. You seem never to have heard of the failed American policy of "constructive engagement" which even the authors of the policy admitted failed. America may have had an external public friendly policy of trying to soften or challenge apartheid but in private did everything it could to appease Pretoria. When you say it was your professional background, I doubt you had anything to do with Chester Crocker's department or dealings.
If you are a member of JSTOR, you can access a range of academic, peer reviewed papers on the actual history of what happened in Angola.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25065268?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Alternately, I suggest you head down to Amazon or your local library and find this book.
https://www.amazon.com/Constructive-Engagement-Chester-Crocker-American/dp/0821417827
Reagan's "constructive engagement" was largely an extension of policy already initiated under Carter --as early as 1978-- to attempt to enlist the South Africans in diplomatic initiatives throughout southern Africa. It was Reagan, btw, who sent the first African-American US Ambassador to Pretoria.
there were never American fighters in Namibia. In Angola there was support for Savimbi, but this included no American fighters. Not to put too fine a point on it, I saw this movie the first time. My US government career began in 1976, and included twelve years of service in Africa.
~ Agreed, however the US never employed mercenaries to aid SA.
Yes but (this is where you originally butted in) the freeing of Southern African nations was not an American success, you guys did everything you could to halt liberation and freedoms for the natives. Doesn't matter that you send an African American in, it was what your policies and actions stood for that counted.
Maybe you missed the trials in Luanda of the American fighters?
That was never a claim I made. There were however American mercenaries in Angola including Gary Martin Acker, Daniel Francis Gearhart and Gustavo Marcelo Grillo. These were the ones who were captured and tried, others may have escaped back into Zaire when the Cubans routed UNITA and South African forces with British mercenaries who also escaped back into Zaire.
Yes but (this is where you originally butted in) the freeing of Southern African nations was not an American success, you guys did everything you could to halt liberation and freedoms for the natives. Doesn't matter that you send an African American in, it was what your policies and actions stood for that counted.
Maybe you missed the trials in Luanda of the American fighters?
That was never a claim I made. There were however American mercenaries in Angola including Gary Martin Acker, Daniel Francis Gearhart and Gustavo Marcelo Grillo. These were the ones who were captured and tried, others may have escaped back into Zaire when the Cubans routed UNITA and South African forces with British mercenaries who also escaped back into Zaire.
First, the individuals named were with the thoroughly incompetent FNLA (Holden Roberto et al), not UNITA. As I said about Namibia, individual freelancers can't be ruled out. The Americans captured in 1976 were not in Angola with any sort of blessing from the US government. That was the year the Tunney Amendment ended all US activity in Angola until it was restarted under Reagan.
~ The US government can take pride in having assisted southern African liberation, to include both Zimbabwe and Namibia. In South Africa, Nelson Mandela's release from prison in 1990 and the end of apartheid in 1994 both represented achievement of US policy goals.
Funny. Your previous posts happily stated there were no American mercenaries, now you admit that and repeat the lie that I suggested they were there by US Govt instigation. I never said that.
You haven't read or watched any of the documentaries where any of those (including Risqué and Chester Crocker) who admit otherwise. Like I said yesterday, American politics and stance on Cuba doesn't allow you to admit any credit to Cuba whereas some of those US diplomats actually involved do.
Funny. Your previous posts happily stated there were no American mercenaries, now you admit that and repeat the lie that I suggested they were there by US Govt instigation. I never said that.
You haven't read or watched any of the documentaries where any of those (including Risqué and Chester Crocker) who admit otherwise. Like I said yesterday, American politics and stance on Cuba doesn't allow you to admit any credit to Cuba whereas some of those US diplomats actually involved do.
Funny. Your previous posts happily stated there were no American mercenaries, now you admit that and repeat the lie that I suggested they were there by US Govt instigation. I never said that.
You haven't read or watched any of the documentaries where any of those (including Risqué and Chester Crocker) who admit otherwise. Like I said yesterday, American politics and stance on Cuba doesn't allow you to admit any credit to Cuba whereas some of those US diplomats actually involved do.
That was never a claim I made. There were however American mercenaries in Angola including Gary Martin Acker, Daniel Francis Gearhart and Gustavo Marcelo Grillo. These were the ones who were captured and tried, others may have escaped back into Zaire when the Cubans routed UNITA and South African forces with British mercenaries who also escaped back into Zaire.
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