Castro blasts Ahmadinejad's Anti-Semitism and admits error on Cuban Missile Crisis
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Swiffness!
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Castro opened our initial meeting by telling me that he read the recent Atlantic article carefully, and that it confirmed his view that Israel and America were moving precipitously and gratuitously toward confrontation with Iran. This interpretation was not surprising, of course: Castro is the grandfather of global anti-Americanism, and he has been a severe critic of Israel. His message to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, he said, was simple: Israel will only have security if it gives up its nuclear arsenal, and the rest of the world's nuclear powers will only have security if they, too, give up their weapons. Global and simultaneous nuclear disarmament is, of course, a worthy goal, but it is not, in the short term, realistic.
Castro's message to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, was not so abstract, however. Over the course of this first, five-hour discussion, Castro repeatedly returned to his excoriation of anti-Semitism. He criticized Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust and explained why the Iranian government would better serve the cause of peace by acknowledging the "unique" history of anti-Semitism and trying to understand why Israelis fear for their existence.
He began this discussion by describing his own, first encounters with anti-Semitism, as a small boy. "I remember when I was a boy - a long time ago - when I was five or six years old and I lived in the countryside," he said, "and I remember Good Friday. What was the atmosphere a child breathed? `Be quiet, ? is dead.' ? died every year between Thursday and Saturday of Holy Week, and it made a profound impression on everyone. What happened? They would say, `The Jews killed ? .' They blamed the Jews for killing ? ! Do you realize this?"
He went on, "Well, I didn't know what a Jew was. I knew of a bird that was a called a 'Jew,' and so for me the Jews were those birds. These birds had big noses. I don't even know why they were called that. That's what I remember. This is how ignorant the entire population was."
He said the Iranian government should understand the consequences of theological anti-Semitism. "This went on for maybe two thousand years," he said. "I don't think anyone has been slandered more than the Jews. I would say much more than the Muslims. They have been slandered much more than the Muslims because they are blamed and slandered for everything. No one blames the Muslims for anything." The Iranian government should understand that the Jews "were expelled from their land, persecuted and mistreated all over the world, as the ones who killed ? . In my judgment here's what happened to them: Reverse selection. What's reverse selection? Over 2,000 years they were subjected to terrible persecution and then to the pogroms. One might have assumed that they would have disappeared; I think their culture and religion kept them together as a nation." He continued: "The Jews have lived an existence that is much harder than ours. There is nothing that compares to the Holocaust." I asked him if he would tell Ahmadinejad what he was telling me. "I am saying this so you can communicate it," he answered.
Castro went on to analyze the conflict between Israel and Iran. He said he understood Iranian fears of Israeli-American aggression and he added that, in his view, American sanctions and Israeli threats will not dissuade the Iranian leadership from pursuing nuclear weapons. "This problem is not going to get resolved, because the Iranians are not going to back down in the face of threats. That's my opinion," he said. He then noted that, unlike Cuba, Iran is a "profoundly religious country," and he said that religious leaders are less apt to compromise. He noted that even secular Cuba has resisted various American demands over the past 50 years.
We returned repeatedly in this first conversation to Castro's fear that a confrontation between the West and Iran could escalate into a nuclear conflict. "The Iranian capacity to inflict damage is not appreciated," he said. "Men think they can control themselves but Obama could overreact and a gradual escalation could become a nuclear war." I asked him if this fear was informed by his own experiences during the 1962 missile crisis, when the Soviet Union and the U.S. nearly went to war other over the presence of nuclear-tipped missiles in Cuba (missiles installed at the invitation, of course, of Fidel Castro). I mentioned to Castro the letter he wrote to Khruschev, the Soviet premier, at the height of the crisis, in which he recommended that the Soviets consider launching a nuclear strike against the U.S. if the Americans attack Cuba. "That would be the time to think about liquidating such a danger forever through a legal right of self-defense," Castro wrote at the time.
I asked him, "At a certain point it seemed logical for you to recommend that the Soviets bomb the U.S. Does what you recommended still seem logical now?" He answered: "After I've seen what I've seen, and knowing what I know now, it wasn't worth it all."
I was surprised to hear Castro express such doubts about his own behavior in the missile crisis - and I was, I admit, also surprised to hear him express such sympathy for Jews, and for Israel's right to exist (which he endorsed unequivocally).
After this first meeting, I asked Julia to explain the meaning of Castro's invitation to me, and of his message to Ahmadinejad. "Fidel is at an early stage of reinventing himself as a senior statesman, not as head of state, on the domestic stage, but primarily on the international stage, which has always been a priority for him," she said. "Matters of war, peace and international security are a central focus: Nuclear proliferation climate change, these are the major issues for him, and he's really just getting started, using any potential media platform to communicate his views. He has time on his hands now that he didn't expect to have. And he's revisiting history, and revisiting his own history."
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/09/fidel-to-ahmadinejad/62566/
*waits for one of them ole anti-semite azz ? to get mad @ Castro*
Castro's message to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, was not so abstract, however. Over the course of this first, five-hour discussion, Castro repeatedly returned to his excoriation of anti-Semitism. He criticized Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust and explained why the Iranian government would better serve the cause of peace by acknowledging the "unique" history of anti-Semitism and trying to understand why Israelis fear for their existence.
He began this discussion by describing his own, first encounters with anti-Semitism, as a small boy. "I remember when I was a boy - a long time ago - when I was five or six years old and I lived in the countryside," he said, "and I remember Good Friday. What was the atmosphere a child breathed? `Be quiet, ? is dead.' ? died every year between Thursday and Saturday of Holy Week, and it made a profound impression on everyone. What happened? They would say, `The Jews killed ? .' They blamed the Jews for killing ? ! Do you realize this?"
He went on, "Well, I didn't know what a Jew was. I knew of a bird that was a called a 'Jew,' and so for me the Jews were those birds. These birds had big noses. I don't even know why they were called that. That's what I remember. This is how ignorant the entire population was."
He said the Iranian government should understand the consequences of theological anti-Semitism. "This went on for maybe two thousand years," he said. "I don't think anyone has been slandered more than the Jews. I would say much more than the Muslims. They have been slandered much more than the Muslims because they are blamed and slandered for everything. No one blames the Muslims for anything." The Iranian government should understand that the Jews "were expelled from their land, persecuted and mistreated all over the world, as the ones who killed ? . In my judgment here's what happened to them: Reverse selection. What's reverse selection? Over 2,000 years they were subjected to terrible persecution and then to the pogroms. One might have assumed that they would have disappeared; I think their culture and religion kept them together as a nation." He continued: "The Jews have lived an existence that is much harder than ours. There is nothing that compares to the Holocaust." I asked him if he would tell Ahmadinejad what he was telling me. "I am saying this so you can communicate it," he answered.
Castro went on to analyze the conflict between Israel and Iran. He said he understood Iranian fears of Israeli-American aggression and he added that, in his view, American sanctions and Israeli threats will not dissuade the Iranian leadership from pursuing nuclear weapons. "This problem is not going to get resolved, because the Iranians are not going to back down in the face of threats. That's my opinion," he said. He then noted that, unlike Cuba, Iran is a "profoundly religious country," and he said that religious leaders are less apt to compromise. He noted that even secular Cuba has resisted various American demands over the past 50 years.
We returned repeatedly in this first conversation to Castro's fear that a confrontation between the West and Iran could escalate into a nuclear conflict. "The Iranian capacity to inflict damage is not appreciated," he said. "Men think they can control themselves but Obama could overreact and a gradual escalation could become a nuclear war." I asked him if this fear was informed by his own experiences during the 1962 missile crisis, when the Soviet Union and the U.S. nearly went to war other over the presence of nuclear-tipped missiles in Cuba (missiles installed at the invitation, of course, of Fidel Castro). I mentioned to Castro the letter he wrote to Khruschev, the Soviet premier, at the height of the crisis, in which he recommended that the Soviets consider launching a nuclear strike against the U.S. if the Americans attack Cuba. "That would be the time to think about liquidating such a danger forever through a legal right of self-defense," Castro wrote at the time.
I asked him, "At a certain point it seemed logical for you to recommend that the Soviets bomb the U.S. Does what you recommended still seem logical now?" He answered: "After I've seen what I've seen, and knowing what I know now, it wasn't worth it all."
I was surprised to hear Castro express such doubts about his own behavior in the missile crisis - and I was, I admit, also surprised to hear him express such sympathy for Jews, and for Israel's right to exist (which he endorsed unequivocally).
After this first meeting, I asked Julia to explain the meaning of Castro's invitation to me, and of his message to Ahmadinejad. "Fidel is at an early stage of reinventing himself as a senior statesman, not as head of state, on the domestic stage, but primarily on the international stage, which has always been a priority for him," she said. "Matters of war, peace and international security are a central focus: Nuclear proliferation climate change, these are the major issues for him, and he's really just getting started, using any potential media platform to communicate his views. He has time on his hands now that he didn't expect to have. And he's revisiting history, and revisiting his own history."
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/09/fidel-to-ahmadinejad/62566/
*waits for one of them ole anti-semite azz ? to get mad @ Castro*
Comments
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I know this off topic, but is there any other situation or incident in history where it is closed off from investigation?
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BiblicalAtheist wrote: »I know this off topic, but is there any other situation or incident in history where it is closed off from investigation?
The Holocaust is not "closed off" from investigation. You can investigate all you want. How many Holocaust documentaries have there been?
What you can't do is come along and say "THE HOLOCAUST WAS A HOAX! MILLIONS DIDN'T REALLY DIE!! ITS ALL A JEWISH CONSPIRACY!!!" and not expect people to call you a anti-semitic ? ? who should eat ? and die slow. -
Swiffness! wrote: »The Holocaust is not "closed off" from investigation. You can investigate all you want. How many Holocaust documentaries have there been?
What you can't do is come along and say "THE HOLOCAUST WAS A HOAX! MILLIONS DIDN'T REALLY DIE!! ITS ALL A JEWISH CONSPIRACY!!!" and not expect people to call you a anti-semitic ? ? who should eat ? and die slow.
Yeah you can only investigate the writings about the holocaust. You can't go and investigate the sites nor the official documents. -
BiblicalAtheist wrote: »Yeah you can only investigate the writings about the holocaust. You can't go and investigate the sites nor the official documents.
Do you think the holocaust was all faked? -
ThaChozenWun wrote: »Do you think the holocaust was all faked?
I couldn't very well say either way. I can only attest to what I have experienced. -
Castro da GOAT.BiblicalAtheist wrote: »You can't go and investigate the sites nor the official documents.
yeah you can
well, maybe not YOU specifically -
KTULU IS BACK wrote: »Castro da GOAT.
yeah you can
well, maybe not YOU specifically
Oh, good to have that cleared up. -
BiblicalAtheist wrote: »Yeah you can only investigate the writings about the holocaust. You can't go and investigate the sites nor the official documents.
WTF? Yes, you can go and investigate the sites. Google "auschwitz tour". Thousands, if not millions, of tourists visit the concentration camps each year.
Documents? ? is the most documented genocide in history, son.
Try here: http://www.shoaheducation.com/documentselection.html
or more comprehensively, here - http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_holocaust/documents/home_documents.htmlBiblicalAtheist wrote: »I couldn't very well say either way. I can only attest to what I have experienced.
By that logic, HOW DO YOU KNOW WORLD WAR 2 HAPPENED? You weren't there to experience that either.
You ain't foolin nobody with your Holocaust denial ? . -
All that Holocaust denial ? is really pathetic.
But with that said, and given the horrendous realities of the Holocaust, the "unique history of anti-semitism" is not an excuse to dismiss any questionable acts on Israel's part. Especially since the Nazis weren't Palestinian.
Fidel is a smart guy. He should know it's not ok to ? the mailman cause your wife ? the poolboy. -
Yes they visit, but actual testing of the soils, the chambers etc are allowed? Idk, it was just a question.Swiffness! wrote: »WTF? Yes, you can go and investigate the sites. Google "auschwitz tour". Thousands, if not millions, of tourists visit the concentration camps each year.
Oh yeah, I've seen all kinds of documents on it.Swiffness! wrote: »Documents? ? is the most documented genocide in history, son.
Exactly, so I can only go by what I've read/hear. But to speak form experience, theres nothing.Swiffness! wrote: »By that logic, HOW DO YOU KNOW WORLD WAR 2 HAPPENED? You weren't there to experience that either.
I didn't deny ? you ? head. Get the pickle out of your ass an calm down you pissy ? .Swiffness! wrote: »You ain't foolin nobody with your Holocaust denial ? . -
shootemwon wrote: »All that Holocaust denial ? is really pathetic.
oh no, they're not denying anything, they just want to "investigate" whether it all happened because ummmmm U.S soldiers walking into a ? camp filled with starving malnourished Jewish people and big piles of Jewish corpses doesn't REALLY prove anything.......
"You take all the pictures you can, because one day some ? will come along and say it didn't happen. You can't delete from history." - Dwight D. Eisenhower -
According to Goldberg, Castro said, "I don't think anyone has been slandered more than the Jews. I would say much more than the Muslims."
Castro's full of it. He should know that blacks are the most slandered group in the World. They're treated like second class citizens in his own country. I admire Iran's President for opposing the Jews even if he is wrong because he's the only that has the guts to do it. -
shootemwon wrote: »Fidel is a smart guy. He should know it's not ok to ? the mailman cause your wife ? the poolboy.
the poolboy is bourgeois ?
the mailman is a lumpenprole -
Swiffness! wrote: »oh no, they're not denying anything, they just want to "investigate" whether it all happened because ummmmm U.S soldiers walking into a ? camp filled with starving malnourished Jewish people and big piles of Jewish corpses doesn't REALLY prove anything.......
"You take all the pictures you can, because one day some ? will come along and say it didn't happen. You can't delete from history." - Dwight D. Eisenhower
Though six million Jews supposedly died in the gas chambers, not one body has ever been autopsied and found to have died of gas poisoning. We have been shown piles of bodies from World War II, but most of these persons died of typhus or starvation or Allied bombings and a great many of those were murdered Germans, not Jews. Roughly the equivalent of ten football fields should be packed full of gassed bodies to present as evidence, yet not one body has ever been discovered.
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/holohoax.htm -
BiblicalAtheist wrote: »Yes they visit, but actual testing of the soils, the chambers etc are allowed? Idk, it was just a question.
"test the soil"? You ? muhfucka, what is that supposed to do? All them THOUSANDS of documents, THOUSANDS of pictures, THOUSANDS of survivors that saw their entire families murdered not enough for you? Nevermind all the ? War Criminals that CONFESSED. So what do you want to test for? What would be "enough" proof for you? You need a time machine to be sure that the ? HOLOCAUST happened? -
Though six million Jews supposedly died in the gas chambers, not one body has ever been autopsied and found to have died of gas poisoning. We have been shown piles of bodies from World War II, but most of these persons died of typhus or starvation or Allied bombings and a great many of those were murdered Germans, not Jews. Roughly the equivalent of ten football fields should be packed full of gassed bodies to present as evidence, yet not one body has ever been discovered.
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/holohoax.htm
lol, your homies are here to rescue you, Biblical Atheist.
1st sentence from that link:
"Within five minutes, any intelligent, open-minded person can be convinced that the Holocaust gassings of World War II are a profitable hoax."
lmao smh, ? yaself -
Swiffness! wrote: »"test the soil"? You ? muhfucka, what is that supposed to do? All them THOUSANDS of documents, THOUSANDS of pictures, THOUSANDS of survivors that saw their entire families murdered not enough for you? Nevermind all the ? War Criminals that CONFESSED. So what do you want to test for? What would be "enough" proof for you? You need a time machine to be sure that the ? HOLOCAUST happened?
Holy christ, go change your ? already. Getting all bent out of shape over a question. -
Though six million Jews supposedly died in the gas chambers, not one body has ever been autopsied and found to have died of gas poisoning. We have been shown piles of bodies from World War II, but most of these persons died of typhus or starvation or Allied bombings and a great many of those were murdered Germans, not Jews. Roughly the equivalent of ten football fields should be packed full of gassed bodies to present as evidence, yet not one body has ever been discovered.
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/holohoax.htm
wow
i've already exposed this poster as a racist
and now he's posting holocaust denial links
y'all ban blank every two weeks just because he says jews have big noses
and this guy ain't banned?
damn -
I'm sick of the BS the Jews put out. I was shocked just like everyone else when I read about the Holocaust in High School. But after seeing how they slaughtered the Palestinians in Gaza a year ago I started to question exactly who the hell they really were.
-
KTULU IS BACK wrote: »wow
i've already exposed this poster as a racist
and now he's posting holocaust denial links
y'all ban blank every two weeks just because he says jews have big noses
and this guy ain't banned?
damn
I'm racist just because I said Black People are ? Incarnated? I've been hearing that all my life and I'm sure others have too. I just wanted to spread a little positivity around. This is a mostly Black forum. -
BiblicalAtheist wrote: »Holy christ, go change your ? already. Getting all bent out of shape over a question.
Your "question" was code for "The Holocaust didn't happen". There is such a thing as "insinuation", ? . How bout you answer Chozen's question on the first page?
[video=facebook;326958620205]http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=326958620205[/video] -
I'm racist just because I said Black People are ? Incarnated?
you're racist because you posted the racist "black roots science" links that I completely destroyed, making you look like a fool
also, yes, you're racist for saying one race is ? . that's obvious and it doesn't matter that you've heard it before. it's racist.
and you're racist for posting holocaust denial resources.
and you're racist generally. -
Swiffness! wrote: »Your "question" was code for "The Holocaust didn't happen". There is such a thing as "insinuation", ? . How bout you answer Chozen's question on the first page?
I asked a question because I was pretty sure I read somewhere that the official documents were sealed, not just to common people but to anyone. And I was also pretty sure that I've read that people who have proposed to do testing of the soil and chambers were denied. That's why I asked. And then you get all emotionally charged instead of just simply saying 'No biblicalatheist, that is not correct" like Ktulu did.
And I did answer ChozenWun, which would be the same answer I would give to ANYTHING I didn't/couldn't personally experience.
EDIT: all I could speak on is what I've read or heard of anything I didn't personally experience -
BiblicalAtheist wrote: »And then you get all emotionally charged instead of just simply saying 'No biblicalatheist, that is not correct" like Ktulu did.
Yeah. I get emotionally charged about fools actin like there ain't enough proof of the most documented genocide in history.
You can go back to not being sure whether black people were *actually* slaves, seeing as how you were never a slave and all. -
Swiffness! wrote: »
You can go back to not being sure whether black people were *actually* slaves, seeing as how you were never a slave and all.
Wow, I must be psychic or something, cuz I knew you were going to say that.
EDIT: and I wasn't acting like there wasn't enough proof, I was asking a question about something I thought I read.
