Posts Tagged ‘Fidel castro’
Jan 8, 2012 Nuclear war warning from two different sources Dr. Owuor and Fidel Castro
In the past I have posted articles written by Fidel Castro about the dangers of a nuclear war where Iran was the cause of this confrontation. Well Fidel is at it again and he has written an article about nuclear war dangers. On the same token Dr. Owuor has a video done about the same theme coming as a warning from Jesus.
The article by Fidel is important in the sense that he has at his command the most advanced espionage system and information gathering machine outside the free world, comparable to any major nation of the World.
Nando
http://www.granma.cu/espanol/reflexiones/6enero-reflexiones.html
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La Habana, 6 de Enero de 2012 |
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REFLEXIONES DEL COMPAÑERO FIDEL (Tomado de CubaDebate) No es cuestión de optimismo o pesimismo, saber o ignorar cosas elementales, ser responsables o no de los acontecimientos. Los que pretenden considerarse políticos debieran ser lanzados al basurero de la historia cuando, como es norma, en esa actividad ignoran todo o casi todo lo que se relaciona con ella. No hablo por supuesto de los que a lo largo de varios milenios convirtieron los asuntos públicos en instrumentos de poder y riquezas para las clases privilegiadas, actividad en la que verdaderos récords de crueldad han sido impuestos durante los últimos ocho o diez mil años sobre los que se tienen vestigios ciertos de la conducta social de nuestra especie, cuya existencia como seres pensantes, según los científicos, apenas rebasa los 180 mil años. No es mi propósito enfrascarme en tales temas que seguramente aburrirían a casi el ciento por ciento de las personas continuamente bombardeadas con noticias a través de medios, que van desde la palabra escrita hasta las imágenes tridimensionales que comienzan a exhibirse en costosos cines, y no está lejano el día en que también predominen en las ya de por sí fabulosas imágenes de la televisión. No es casual que la llamada industria de la recreación tenga su sede en el corazón del imperio que a todos tiraniza. Lo que pretendo es situarme en el punto de partida actual de nuestra especie para hablar de la marcha hacia el abismo. Podría incluso hablar de una marcha “inexorable” y estaría seguramente más cerca de la realidad. La idea de un juicio final está implícita en las doctrinas religiosas más extendidas entre los habitantes del planeta, sin que nadie las califique por ello de pesimistas. Considero, por el contrario, deber elemental de todas las personas serias y cuerdas, que son millones, luchar para posponer y, tal vez impedir, ese dramático y cercano acontecimiento en el mundo actual. Numerosos peligros nos amenazan, pero dos de ellos, la guerra nuclear y el cambio climático, son decisivos y ambos están cada vez más lejos de aproximarse a una solución. La palabrería demagógica, las declaraciones y los discursos de la tiranía impuesta al mundo por Estados Unidos y sus poderosos e incondicionales aliados, en ambos temas, no admiten la menor duda al respecto. El primero de enero de 2012, año nuevo occidental y cristiano, coincide con el aniversario del triunfo de la Revolución en Cuba y el año en que se cumple el 50 Aniversario de la Crisis de Octubre de 1962, que puso al mundo al borde de la guerra mundial nuclear, lo que me obliga a escribir estas líneas. Carecerían de sentido mis palabras si tuviesen como objetivo imputar alguna culpa al pueblo norteamericano, o al de cualquier otro país aliado de Estados Unidos en la insólita aventura; ellos, como los demás pueblos del mundo, serían las víctimas inevitables de la tragedia. Hechos recientes ocurridos en Europa y otros puntos muestran las indignaciones masivas de aquellos a los que el desempleo, la carestía, las reducciones de sus ingresos, las deudas, la discriminación, las mentiras y la politiquería, conducen a las protestas y a las brutales represiones de los guardianes del orden establecido. Con frecuencia creciente se habla de tecnologías militares que afectan la totalidad del planeta, único satélite habitable conocido a cientos de años luz de otro que tal vez resulte adecuado si nos movemos a la velocidad de la luz, trescientos mil kilómetros por segundo. No debemos ignorar que si nuestra maravillosa especie pensante desapareciera transcurrirían muchos millones de años antes de que surja nuevamente otra capaz de pensar, en virtud de los principios naturales que rigen como consecuencia de la evolución de las especies, descubierta por Darwin en 1859 y que hoy reconocen todos los científicos serios, creyentes o no creyentes. Ninguna otra época de la historia del hombre conoció los actuales peligros que afronta la humanidad. Personas como yo, con 85 años cumplidos, habíamos arribado a los 18 con el título de bachiller antes de que concluyera la elaboración de la primera bomba atómica. Hoy los artefactos de ese carácter listos para su empleo —incomparablemente más poderosos que los que produjeron el calor del sol sobre las ciudades de Hiroshima y Nagasaki— suman miles. Las armas de ese tipo que se guardan adicionalmente en los depósitos, añadidas a las ya desplegadas en virtud de acuerdos, alcanzan cifras que superan los veinte mil proyectiles nucleares. El empleo de apenas un centenar de esas armas sería suficiente para crear un invierno nuclear que provocaría una muerte espantosa en breve tiempo a todos los seres humanos que habitan el planeta, como ha explicado brillantemente y con datos computarizados el científico norteamericano y profesor de la Universidad de Rutgers, New Jersey, Alan Robock. Los que acostumbran a leer las noticias y análisis internacionales serios, conocen cómo los riesgos del estallido de una guerra con empleo de armas nucleares se incrementan a medida que la tensión crece en el Cercano Oriente, donde en manos del gobierno israelita se acumulan cientos de armas nucleares en plena disposición combativa, y cuyo carácter de fuerte potencia nuclear ni se admite ni se niega. Crece igualmente la tensión en torno a Rusia, país de incuestionable capacidad de respuesta, amenazada por un supuesto escudo nuclear europeo. Mueve a risas la afirmación yanki de que el escudo nuclear europeo es para proteger también a Rusia de Irán y Corea del Norte. Tan endeble es la posición yanki en este delicado asunto, que su aliado Israel ni siquiera se toma la molestia de garantizar consultas previas sobre medidas que puedan desatar la guerra. La humanidad, en cambio, no goza de garantía alguna. El espacio cósmico, en las proximidades de nuestro planeta, está saturado de satélites de Estados Unidos destinados a espiar lo que ocurre hasta en las azoteas de las viviendas de cualquier nación del mundo. La vida y costumbres de cada persona o familia pasó a ser objeto de espionaje; la escucha de cientos de millones de celulares, y el tema de las conversaciones que aborde cualquier usuario en cualquier parte del mundo deja de ser privado para convertirse en material de información para los servicios secretos de Estados Unidos. Ese es el derecho que va quedando a los ciudadanos de nuestro mundo en virtud de los actos de un gobierno cuya constitución, aprobada en el Congreso de Filadelfia en 1776, establecía que todavía los hombres nacían libres e iguales y a todos les concedía el Creador determinados derechos, de los cuales no les quedan ya, ni a los propios norteamericanos ni a ciudadano alguno del mundo siquiera el de comunicar por teléfono a familiares y amigos sus sentimientos más íntimos. La guerra, sin embargo, es una tragedia que puede ocurrir, y es muy probable que ocurra; mas, si la humanidad fuese capaz de retrasarla un tiempo indefinido, otro hecho igualmente dramático está ocurriendo ya con creciente ritmo: el cambio climático. Me limitaré a señalar lo que eminentes científicos y expositores de relieve mundial han explicado a través de documentos y filmes que nadie cuestiona. Es bien conocido que el gobierno de Estados Unidos se opuso a los acuerdos de Kyoto sobre el medio ambiente, una línea de conducta que ni siquiera concilió con sus más cercanos aliados, cuyos territorios sufrirían tremendamente y algunos de los cuales, como Holanda, desaparecerían casi por entero. El planeta marcha hoy sin política sobre este grave problema, mientras los niveles del mar se elevan, las enormes capas de hielo que cubren la Antártida y Groenlandia, donde se acumula más del 90 % del agua dulce del mundo, se derriten con creciente ritmo, y ya la humanidad, el pasado 30 de noviembre de 2011, alcanzó oficialmente la cifra de 7 mil millones de habitantes que en las áreas más pobres del mundo crece de forma sostenida e inevitable. ¿Es que acaso los que se han dedicado a bombardear países y matar millones de personas durante los últimos 50 años se pueden preocupar por el destino de los demás pueblos? Estados Unidos es hoy no solo el promotor de esas guerras, sino también el mayor productor y exportador de armas en el mundo. Como es conocido, ese poderoso país ha suscrito un convenio para suministrar 60 mil millones de dólares en los próximos años al reino de Arabia Saudita, donde las transnacionales de Estados Unidos y sus aliados extraen cada día 10 millones de barriles de petróleo ligero, es decir, mil millones de dólares en combustible. ¿Qué será de ese país y de la región cuando esas reservas de energía se agoten? No es posible que nuestro mundo globalizado acepte sin chistar el colosal derroche de recursos energéticos que la naturaleza tardó cientos de millones de años en crear, y cuya dilapidación encarece los costos esenciales. No sería en absoluto digno del carácter inteligente atribuido a nuestra especie. En los últimos 12 meses tal situación se agravó considerablemente a partir de nuevos avances tecnológicos que, lejos de aliviar la tragedia proveniente del derroche de los combustibles fósiles, la agrava considerablemente. Científicos e investigadores de prestigio mundial venían señalando las consecuencias dramáticas del cambio climático. En un excelente documental fílmico del director francés Yann Arthus-Bertrand, titulado Home, y elaborado con la colaboración de prestigiosas y bien informadas personalidades internacionales, publicado a mediados del año 2009, este advirtió al mundo con datos irrebatibles lo que estaba ocurriendo. Con sólidos argumentos exponía las consecuencias nefastas de consumir, en menos de dos siglos, los recursos energéticos creados por la naturaleza en cientos de millones de años; pero lo peor no era el colosal derroche, sino las consecuencias suicidas que para la especie humana tendría. Refiriéndose a la propia existencia de la vida, le reprochaba a la especie humana: “¼ Te beneficias de un fabuloso legado de 4 000 millones de años suministrado por la Tierra. Solamente tienes 200 000 años, pero ya has cambiado la faz del mundo”. No culpaba ni podía culpar a nadie hasta ese minuto, señalaba simplemente una realidad objetiva. Sin embargo, hoy tenemos que culparnos todos de que lo sepamos y nada hagamos por tratar de remediarlo. En sus imágenes y conceptos, los autores de esa obra incluyen memorias, datos e ideas que estamos en el deber de conocer y tomar en cuenta. En meses recientes, otro fabuloso material fílmico exhibido fue Océanos, elaborado por dos realizadores franceses, considerado el mejor filme del año en Cuba; tal vez, a mi juicio, el mejor de esta época. Es un material que asombra por la precisión y belleza de las imágenes nunca antes filmadas por cámara alguna: 8 años y 50 millones de euros fueron invertidos en ella. La humanidad tendrá que agradecer esa prueba de la forma en que se expresan los principios de la naturaleza adulterados por el hombre. Los actores no son seres humanos: son los pobladores de los mares del mundo. ¡Un Oscar para ellos! Lo que motivó para mí el deber de escribir estas líneas no surgió de los hechos referidos hasta aquí, que de una forma u otra he comentado anteriormente, sino de otros que, manejados por intereses de las transnacionales, han estado saliendo a la luz dosificadamente en los últimos meses y sirven a mi juicio como prueba definitiva de la confusión y el caos político que impera en el mundo. Hace apenas unos meses leí por primera vez algunas noticias sobre la existencia del gas de esquisto. Se afirmaba que Estados Unidos disponía de reservas para suplir sus necesidades de este combustible durante 100 años. Como dispongo en la actualidad de tiempo para indagar sobre temas políticos, económicos y científicos que pueden ser realmente útiles a nuestros pueblos, me comuniqué discretamente con varias personas que residen en Cuba o en el exterior de nuestro país. Curiosamente, ninguna de ellas había escuchado una palabra sobre el asunto. No era desde luego la primera vez que eso sucedía. Uno se asombra de hechos importantes de por sí que se ocultan en un verdadero mar de informaciones, mezcladas con cientos o miles de noticias que circulan por el planeta. Persistí, no obstante, en mi interés sobre el tema. Han transcurrido solo varios meses y el gas de esquisto no es ya noticia. En vísperas del nuevo año se conocían ya suficientes datos para ver con toda claridad la marcha inexorable del mundo hacia el abismo, amenazado por riesgos tan extremadamente graves como la guerra nuclear y el cambio climático. Del primero, ya hablé; del segundo, en aras de la brevedad, me limitaré a exponer datos conocidos y algunos por conocer que ningún cuadro político o persona sensata debe ignorar. No vacilo en afirmar que observo ambos hechos con la serenidad de los años vividos, en esta espectacular fase de la historia humana, que han contribuido a la educación de nuestro pueblo valiente y heroico. El gas se mide en TCF, los cuales pueden referirse a pies cúbicos o metros cúbicos —no siempre se explica si se trata de uno o de otro— depende del sistema de medidas que se aplique en un determinado país. Por otro lado, cuando se habla de billones suelen referirse al billón español que significa un millón de millones; tal cifra en inglés se califica como trillón lo cual debe tenerse en cuenta cuando se analizan las referidas al gas que suelen ser voluminosas. Trataré de señalarlo cuando sea necesario. El analista norteamericano Daniel Yergin, autor de un voluminoso clásico de historia del petróleo afirmó, según la agencia de noticias IPS, que ya un tercio de todo el gas que se produce en Estados Unidos es gas de esquisto. “¼ la explotación de una plataforma con seis pozos puede consumir 170.000 metros cúbicos de agua e incluso provocar efectos dañinos como influir en movimientos sísmicos, contaminar aguas subterráneas y superficiales, y afectar el paisaje”. El grupo británico BP informa por su parte que “Las reservas probadas de gas convencional o tradicional en el planeta suman 6.608 billones —millón de millones— de pies cúbicos, unos 187 billones de metros cúbicos, [¼ ] y los depósitos más grandes están en Rusia (1.580 TCF), Irán (1.045), Qatar (894), y Arabia Saudita y Turkmenistán, con 283 TCF cada uno”. Se trata del gas que se venía produciendo y comercializando. “Un estudio de la EIA —una agencia gubernamental de Estados Unidos sobre energía— publicado en abril de 2011 encontró prácticamente el mismo volumen (6.620 TCF o 187,4 billones de metros cúbicos) de shale gas recuperable en apenas 32 países, y los gigantes son: China (1.275 TCF), Estados Unidos (862), Argentina (774), México (681), Sudáfrica (485) y Australia (396 TCF)”. Shale gas es gas de esquisto. Obsérvese que de acuerdo a lo que se conoce Argentina y México poseen casi tanto como Estados Unidos. China, con los mayores yacimientos, posee reservas que equivalen a casi el doble de aquellos y un 40 % más que Estados Unidos. “¼ países secularmente dependientes de proveedores extranjeros contarían con una ingente base de recursos en relación con su consumo, como Francia y Polonia, que importan 98 y 64 por ciento, respectivamente, del gas que consumen, y que tendrían en rocas de esquistos o lutitas reservas superiores a 180 TCF cada uno”. “Para extraerlo de las lutitas —señala IPS— se apela a un método bautizado ‘fracking’ (fractura hidráulica), con la inyección de grandes cantidades de agua más arenas y aditivos químicos. La huella de carbono (proporción de dióxido de carbono que libera a la atmósfera) es mucho mayor que la generada con la producción de gas convencional. “Como se trata de bombardear capas de la corteza terrestre con agua y otras sustancias, se incrementa el riesgo de dañar subsuelo, suelos, napas hídricas subterráneas y superficiales, el paisaje y las vías de comunicación si las instalaciones para extraer y transportar la nueva riqueza presentan defectos o errores de manejo”. Baste señalar que entre las numerosas sustancias químicas que se inyectan con el agua para extraer este gas se encuentran el benceno y el tolueno, que son sustancias terriblemente cancerígenas. La experta Lourdes Melgar, del Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, opina que: “‘Es una tecnología que genera mucho debate y son recursos ubicados en zonas donde no hay agua’¼ “. “Las lutitas gasíferas —expresa IPS— son canteras de hidrocarburos no convencionales, encalladas en rocas que las guarecen, por lo que se aplica la fractura hidráulica (conocida en inglés como ‘fracking’) para liberarlas a gran escala”. “La generación de gas shale involucra altos volúmenes de agua y la excavación y fractura generan grandes cantidades de residuos líquidos, que pueden contener químicos disueltos y otros contaminantes que requieren tratamiento antes de su desecho.” “La producción de esquisto saltó de 11.037 millones de metros cúbicos en 2000 a 135.840 millones en 2010. En caso de seguir a este ritmo la expansión, en 2035 llegará a cubrir 45 por ciento de la demanda de gas general, según la EIA. “Investigaciones científicas recientes han alertado del perfil ambiental negativo del gas lutita. “Los académicos Robert Howarth, Renee Santoro y Anthony Ingraffea, de la estadounidense Universidad de Cornell, concluyeron que ese hidrocarburo es más contaminante que el petróleo y el gas, según su estudio ‘Metano y la huella de gases de efecto invernadero del gas natural proveniente de formaciones de shale’, difundido en abril pasado en la revista Climatic Change. “‘La huella carbónica es mayor que la del gas convencional o el petróleo, vistos en cualquier horizonte temporal, pero particularmente en un lapso de 20 años. Comparada con el carbón, es al menos 20 por ciento mayor y tal vez más del doble en 20 años’, resaltó el informe”. “El metano es uno de los gases de efecto invernadero más contaminantes, responsables del aumento de la temperatura del planeta”. “‘En áreas activas de extracción (uno o más pozos en un kilómetro), las concentraciones promedio y máximas de metano en pozos de agua potable se incrementaron con proximidad al pozo gasífero más cercano y fueron un peligro de explosión potencial’, cita el texto escrito por Stephen Osborn, Avner Vengosh, Nathaniel Warner y Robert Jackson, de la estatal Universidad de Duke. “Estos indicadores cuestionan el argumento de la industria de que el esquisto puede sustituir al carbón en la generación eléctrica y, por lo tanto, un recurso para mitigar el cambio climático. “‘Es una aventura demasiado prematura y riesgosa’”. “En abril de 2010, el Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos puso en marcha la Iniciativa Global de Gas Shale para ayudar a los países que buscan aprovechar ese recurso para identificarlo y desarrollarlo, con un eventual beneficio económico para las transnacionales de esa nación”. He sido inevitablemente extenso, no tenía otra opción. Redacto estas líneas para el sitio web Cubadebate y para Telesur, una de las emisoras de noticias más serias y honestas de nuestro sufrido mundo. Para abordar el tema dejé transcurrir los días festivos del viejo y el nuevo año.
Fidel Castro Ruz |
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Nando
Havana, January 6, 2012
REFLECTIONS BY COMRADE FIDEL
The march toward the abyss
(Taken from CubaDebate)
It’s not about optimism or pessimism, or ignore to know basic things, be responsible or events. Those who claim to be considered politicians should be thrown into the dustbin of history when, as usual, ignored in this activity all or most of what comes with it.
I am not speaking of course of which over millennia became public affairs instruments of power and wealth for the privileged classes, activity in the real records of cruelty that have been imposed over the last eight or ten thousand years for which you have certain vestiges of the social behavior of our species, whose existence as thinking beings, scientists, barely exceeds 180 thousand years.
I do not intend to engage in such matters probably bored to almost one hundred percent of people constantly bombarded with news through media, ranging from the written word to the three-dimensional images that begin to exhibit in expensive movie theaters, and is not far off on predominate also in the already stunning images of television. It is no coincidence that so-called entertainment industry has its headquarters in the heart of the rule that all bullying.
What I want is situated in the actual starting point of our species to talk about the march toward the abyss. I could even talk of a march “inexorable” and would surely be closer to reality. The idea of a final opinion is implicit in the religious doctrines most prevalent among the inhabitants of the planet, without anyone to qualify so pessimistic. Believe, however, fundamental duty of all serious people and strings, there are millions, fighting to delay and perhaps prevent, the dramatic and close event in the world.
Numerous dangers threaten us, but two of them, nuclear war and climate change are crucial and both are increasingly far from approaching a solution.
The demagogic talk, statements and speeches from the tyranny imposed on the world by America and its powerful and unconditional allies in both subjects, do not admit the slightest doubt.
The first of January 2012, Western and Christian New Year coincides with the anniversary of the triumph of the revolution in Cuba and the year that marks the 50th anniversary of the October Crisis of 1962 that brought the world to the brink of nuclear world war, which compels me to write these lines.
My words would be meaningless if they had any fault attributable target the American people, or any other U.S. ally in the unusual adventure, they, like other peoples, would be the inevitable victims of the tragedy. Recent events in Europe and elsewhere show the indignation of those massive unemployment, famine, falls in income, debt, discrimination, lies and politics, leading to protests and the brutal repression of the guardians of order.
With increasing frequency we talk about military technologies that affect the entire planet habitable only moon known to hundreds of light years of another that it may be appropriate if we move at the speed of light, three hundred thousand kilometers per second.
We should not ignore that if our wonderful thinking species disappeared millions of years would pass before there is another able to think again, under the natural principles that govern because of the evolution of species, discovered by Darwin in 1859 and today recognized by all serious scientists, believers or not.
No other time in human history met the current dangers facing humanity. People like me with 85 years of age, had arrived at 18 with a bachelor’s degree before the end of the development of the first atomic bomb.
Today the artifacts of that character ready for use, incomparably more powerful than the heat of the sun occurred on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki into the thousands.
Such weapons are stored in warehouses in addition, added to those already deployed under agreements reached figures of over twenty thousand nuclear missiles.
The use of only one hundred of these weapons would be enough to create a nuclear winter causing a gruesome death in a short time all human beings on the planet, as explained by computerized data brilliantly and American scientist and professor at the University Rutgers, New Jersey, Alan Robock.
Those who used to read the serious international news and analysis, known as the risk of an outbreak of war using nuclear weapons will increase as the tension mounts in the Near East, where Israeli government in the hands of hundreds of weapons accumulate Nuclear full combat readiness, and whose strong character of nuclear power or supported or denied. Tension also grows around Russia, a country of unquestioning responsiveness, threatened by an alleged nuclear shield in Europe.
Move Yankee laughter the claim that the European nuclear shield is to protect from Iran to Russia and North Korea. So weak is the Yankee position in this delicate matter, that its ally Israel did not even bother to ensure prior consultation on measures that could trigger war.
Humanity, however, has no guarantees. Cosmic space in the vicinity of our planet, is saturated with the United States satellites for spying what’s going on up on the roofs of the houses of any nation in the world. The life and habits of each person or family became the subject of espionage listening to hundreds of millions of cell phones, and the subject of discussions to address any user anywhere in the world ceases to be private information become material for the U.S. secret services.
That’s the right that is left to the citizens of our world under the acts of a government whose constitution, passed by Congress in Philadelphia in 1776, stated that even men were born free and equal and all the Creator gave them certain rights , which are not now, nor the Americans themselves or to any citizen of the world even to communicate by phone to family and friends their innermost feelings.
The war, however, is a tragedy that can occur is very likely to happen, but, if humanity was able to delay indefinitely, another equally dramatic fact is already occurring with increasing pace: climate change. I will just point out what eminent scientists and exhibitors of global visibility explained through documents and films that nobody questions.
It is well known that the U.S. government opposed the Kyoto agreements on the environment, a course of conduct even reconciled with his closest allies, whose territory would suffer tremendously and some of which, like Holland, vanish almost in full.
The world today without political progress on this serious problem, while sea levels rise, the huge ice sheets covering Antarctica and Greenland, where it accumulates more than 90% of the world’s fresh water, melt with increasing pace, and humanity and, on November 30, 2011, officially reached the figure of seven billion people in the poorest areas of the world is growing steadily and inevitable. Could it be that those who have dedicated themselves to bomb countries and kill millions of people over the past 50 years may worry about the fate of other peoples?
United States today is not only the promoter of these wars, but also the largest producer and exporter of weapons in the world.
As is known, powerful country that has signed an agreement to provide 60 billion dollars in the coming years as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where U.S. multinationals and their allies removed each day 10 million barrels of light oil, ie one billion dollars in fuel. What will become of this country and the region where these energy reserves are exhausted? It is possible that our globalized world accepts without question the colossal waste of energy resources that it took nature hundreds of millions of years to create, and whose essential costs squandering expensive. It would not be at all worthy of intelligent character attributed to our species.
In the last 12 months this situation has worsened considerably since new technological advances that, far from alleviating the tragedy from the waste of fossil fuels, significantly worse.
Scientists and world-class researchers came noting the dramatic consequences of climate change.
In an excellent documentary film by French director Yann Arthus-Bertrand, called Home, and developed with the collaboration of prestigious and well-informed international figures, published in mid 2009, it warned the world with irrefutable data that was happening. With strong arguments exposing the disastrous consequences of using, in less than two centuries, energy resources created by nature hundreds of millions of years, but the worst was not the colossal waste, but the suicidal consequences for the human species would have. Referring to the very existence of life, he criticized the human species: “¼ You benefit from a fabulous legacy of 4 000 million years provided by the Earth. You have only 200 000 years, but you’ve changed the face of the world” .
I could not blame or blame anyone until that moment, simply stated an objective reality. However, today we have to blame all that we know and nothing we do to try to remedy it.
In his images and concepts, the authors of this work include reports, data and ideas that we have the duty to know and consider.
In recent months, another fabulous footage shown was Oceans, developed by two French filmmakers, considered the best film of the year in Cuba, perhaps, in my opinion, the best of this era.
It is an astounding material for the accuracy and beauty of the images never before filmed by a camera: 8 years and 50 million euros were invested in it. Humanity will have to be grateful for the proof of the way they express the principles of nature unadulterated by man. The actors are not human beings: they are the people of the world’s oceans. An Oscar for them!
Which led to me the duty of writing did not emerge from the events referred to here, that in one way or another I mentioned earlier, but others, driven by interests of transnational corporations, have been coming to light dosed recent months and in my opinion serve as definitive proof of the confusion and political chaos that reigns in the world.
Just months ago I first read some news about the existence of shale gas. It was alleged that the United States reserves available to meet the fuel needs for 100 years. Since I have time today to investigate political, economic and scientists can be really useful to our people, I contacted several people quietly living in Cuba or abroad in our country. Interestingly, none of them had heard a word about it. It was certainly the first time that happened. One is astonished in themselves important facts that are hidden in a sea of information, mixed with hundreds or thousands of news circulating on the planet.
Persisted, however, my interest in the subject. Only several months have passed and shale gas is no longer news. On the eve of new year already knew enough data to clearly see the world the inexorable march toward the abyss, so extremely threatened by serious risks such as nuclear war and climate change. The first, as I spoke, the second, for the sake of brevity, I will expose some known facts and to know that no political picture or sensible person should ignore.
No hesitation in stating that the two events observed with the serenity of the years lived in this spectacular phase of human history that have contributed to the education of our brave and heroic.
The gas is measured in TCF, which can refer to cubic feet or cubic meters, not always be explained if it is one or other system-dependent measures to be implemented in a particular country. On the other hand, when talking about trillion trillion Spanish often refer to it means a million million, that figure is classified as English trillion which must be taken into account when analyzing the gas referred to usually bulky. Try to point out when necessary.
The American analyst Daniel Yergin, author of a voluminous history of oil classic said, according to news agency IPS, already one third of all gas produced in the U.S. is shale gas.
“¼ the operation of a six-well platform may consume 170,000 cubic meters of water and even cause harmful effects such as earthquakes influence, contaminate ground and surface waters and affect the landscape.”
The British group BP reported on his part that “The proven reserves of conventional or traditional gas on the planet 6608 add-billion-trillion cubic feet, some 187 billion cubic meters [¼] and the largest deposits are in Russia (1,580 TCF), Iran (1045), Qatar (894), and Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan, with 283 TCF each. ” This is the gas that had been producing and marketing.
“A study of the EIA-agency U.S. government on energy, published in April 2011 found virtually the same volume (6620 TCF or 187.4 billion cubic meters) of recoverable shale gas in just 32 countries, and the giants are: China (1,275 TCF), United States (862), Argentina (774), Mexico (681), South Africa (485) and Australia (396 TCF). ” Shale gas is shale gas. Note that according to what is called Argentina and Mexico have nearly as much as the United States. China, with the largest deposits, has reserves amounting to almost double of those and 40% more than the U.S..
“¼ secular countries dependent on foreign suppliers would have a huge resource base in relation to consumption, such as France and Poland, which imports 98 percent and 64 percent respectively of the gas they consume, as they would in shale or shale rocks TCF reserves in excess of 180 each. “
“To remove the IPS-shale-points are resorted to a method named ‘fracking’ (hydraulic fracturing), with the injection of large amounts of water over sand and chemical additives. The carbon footprint (the proportion of carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere) is much higher than that generated by conventional gas production.
“As it is bombarding the Earth’s crust layers with water and other substances increases the risk of damage to subsurface soils, groundwater and surface water groundwater, landscape and roads if the facilities to extract and transport the new wealth defects or errors in management. “
Suffice to say that among the many chemicals that are injected with water to extract this gas are benzene and toluene, which are carcinogenic substances terribly.
The expert Lourdes Melgar, the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, believes that:
“‘It is a technology that generates much discussion and resources are located in areas where no water’ ¼”.
“The gas shale-expressing IPS-are unconventional hydrocarbons quarries, stranded on rocks that shelter, which is applied by hydraulic fracturing (known in English as ‘fracking’) to release a large scale.”
“The shale gas generation involves high volumes of water and the excavation and fracture generate large amounts of liquid waste, which may contain dissolved chemicals and other pollutants requiring treatment prior to disposal.”
“The production of shale jumped from 11.037 million cubic meters in 2000 to 135,840 million in 2010. If you continue at this rate of expansion in 2035 will cover 45 percent of overall gas demand, according to EIA.
“Recent scientific research has warned of the negative environmental profile of shale gas.
“Academics Robert Howarth, Renee Santoro and Anthony Ingraffea of Cornell University in the U.S., concluded that the hydrocarbon is more polluting than oil and gas, according to study” the traces of methane and greenhouse gases from natural gas shale formations’, released in April in the journal Climatic Change.
“‘The carbon footprint is higher than conventional gas or oil, viewed at any time horizon, but particularly in a period of 20 years. Compared with coal, is at least 20 percent greater and perhaps more than doubled in 20 years’, noted the report. “
“Methane is a greenhouse gas more pollutants responsible for increasing global temperatures.”
“‘In areas of active mining (one or more wells in a mile), average and maximum concentrations of methane in water wells increased with proximity to the nearest gas well and were a potential explosion hazard,” quotes the text written by Stephen Osborn, Avner Vengosh, Nathaniel Warner and Robert Jackson of Duke University’s state.
“These indicators question the argument that the shale industry can replace coal in electricity generation and, therefore, a resource for mitigating climate change.
“‘It is too early and risky adventure.’”
“In April 2010, the Department of State United States launched the Global Initiative for Shale Gas assist countries seeking to leverage this resource to identify and develop, with an eventual economic benefits for the transnational corporations that nation.”
I have been unavoidably large, had no choice. I write these lines to the website Cubadebate and Telesur, one of the most serious news stations and honest of our suffering world.
To address Allow the holidays the old and the new year.
Fidel Castro Ruz
January 4, 2012
9 and 15 p.m.
Nando
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5Jok_JQ7-Y&feature=youtube_gdata_player
UPDATED- prophecy of nuclear war coming to iran- Dr. Owuor
Nando
April 20, 2011 More dead fish in Los Angeles, a warning of earthquake?
This is another dead fish story for Los Angeles. Is twice enough of a warning?
Nando
Deborah
(URL) Possible Earthquake Precursor: Dead fish wash ashore north of Los Angeles
http://www.dutchsinse.com/blog/?p=566
Dead fish wash ashore north of Los Angeles — possible earthquake precursor
watch the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v3C2oytBFI
Usually the sign of some kind of seismic activity… the area North of Los Angeles, (oxnard, CA) watch out for earthquake activity relatively soon on a larger than normal scale.
Todays news story… we see Sardines and Anchovies — wash ashore north of Los Angeles … official line… AGAIN .. .low oxygen … this isn’t the FIRST low oxygen story.. what is going on?
Biologists care to comment on this? Anyone?!
Mar 28, 2011 Is WWIII close at hand and is Fidel Castro linked to it by a Christian who was given a prophecy by an angel?
In this blog I have written several articles on the warnings given by Fidel Castro about the consequences of an attack on the nuclear plants in Iran. In my articles I made a comment if God was using Fidel as a prophet.
In this post Harvey Troyer links Mr. Dimitru Dudivan to the statements by Fidel.
For those of you who have never heard of Dimitru he has been with Jesus already for a few years, but his story and prophetic ministry are quite remarkable. He was a Romanian Christian who was very active in the smuggling of Bibles into Romania and was captured by the Romanian secret police. He endured repeated torture until one day his torturer promised to apply electroshock till he killed him. His cell was filled with hungry rats that would take pieces of flesh from him. In deep prayer to Jesus the Lord sent an angel to protect him and the night of the threat by his jailer he was beaten severely by this man. The next day the torturer was found with every bone of his body broken in pieces and the panic that took hold of the jailers was such that he was released.
I think an angel was sent to him with the message that he had to come to America with a prophetic warning of impending destruction and it is this warning that is related in this post below.
Nando
http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/march2011/harveyt328.htm
Harvey Troyer (28 March 2011)
“ Desert Storm War III is Now Imminent—Fidel Castro and Cuba are Linked to Dumitru Duduman—Castro warns Iran Attack will Start Nuclear War (Article #6)“
March 26, 2011
Dear John Tng and faithful doves,
Subj:Desert Storm War III is Now Imminent—Fidel Castro and Cuba are Linked to Dumitru Duduman—Castro warns Iran Attack will Start Nuclear War (Article #6)
Please understand that the extremely imminent Pre-Tribulation WW III will include more than just the Ezekiel 38, 39 Gog/Magog War.
It will include the sudden destruction of Damascus, Syria in one night as described in Isaiah Chapter 17. It will include Desert Stroms War III in Isaiah Chapter 21, which I have called the “Lynchpin” to WW III, and this segment of this great war will include the sudden total destruction of End-time Babylon (America) as described in Isaiah Chapters 13, 18, 19, 21, 47; Jeremiah Chapters 50 and 51; Revelation Chapter 18, etc. (See my America The Babylon Mini Prophecy Bible, color-coded in NIV text, and companion booklet World War III and the Destiny of America.)
It will also include the Psalm Chapter 83 War which Bill Salus has been emphasizing (the destruction of the inner circle of Israel’s enemies, i.e., those sharing a common border with Israel). It will include the Jeremiah 25:15-38 War; and, it will include the Zechariah Chapters 11, 12 and 13 War, which is the same war essentially as the Psalm 83 War and much more. And of course it will include and end with the Ezekiel 38, 39 Gog/Magog War.
Due to America’s long-standing and current deceitful dealings with Israel concerning the forced dividing of Israel’s land and capitol city Jerusalem, which God has strictly forbidden and warned against doing in His holy Bible, I believe that America has betrayed Israel and greatly provoked Almighty God. Of this you can be sure because God has prophesied it so in advance in His holy word. I see the Desert Storm War III as the “trigger” to America’s judgment and demise (Isaiah 21:9-10). Sudden judgment by fire will truly come as a “Whirlwind”. It will be an all out thermonuclear war. Fire and sulfur will rain down on many, and America (the real End-time Babylon) will be ground zero marked by God for total destruction!
God will save the righteous in a lighting speed Rapture at the very last minute as the fire is coming in, just as he saved the three young Hebrew men Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the “intense Fiery Furnace” in the first Babylon. (Remember, the angel of the Lord told Dumitru Dudaman to tell the Church of the Lord that He will save them from the fire of America’s nuclear destruction the same way that He saved the three young ones from the furnace of fire and how He saved Daniel in the Lion’s den).
If you want proof that America is the real End-time Babylon go to page 271, Chap 19 of David Flynn’s new book, Temple at the Center of Time. It is available on Amazon.Com
David found that “America” can be found in the Bible spaced at 17 letters ELS (Equal Letter Sequence) in Daniel 3:3 the very story of the Fiery Furnace as mentioned above. Wow! LOOK IT UP! David Flynn further points out that the mathematical relationship of the 17 ELS sequence within 33 Hebrew words convert navigationally to the exact latitude (38.50) of Washington DC in minutes and seconds! Also, America’s Federal Capitol building sets exactly on the 77th longitudinal meridian, at 00 minutes and 33 seconds. According to the Gnostic occult traditions, the number 77 was chosen as a direct defiance of Jehovah God based on the ancient patriarch Lamech’s threatend curse to avenge himself 77 times if anyone harmed him. Wow! This is a must-read book!
Click on the PDF File link below to read Article #6 titled: How are Fidel Castro and (Cuba) Linked to Dumitru Dudaman?
Harvey Troyer (YBIC)
Emmaus Road Ministries
Desert Storm War III is Now Imminent Castro and Cuba Linked to Dumitru Dudaman Article 6.pdf
Laura T (21 March 2011) “EARTHQUAKE SIGNS (CA)”
This interview is very interesting from a scientific point of view by itself. The fact is that from a spiritual point of view is also very interesting. Numerous post in this blog have documented the major prophecies that are related to earthquakes.
Nando
http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/march2011/laurat321-1.htm
Laura T (21 March 2011)
“EARTHQUAKE SIGNS (CA)“
Received this today. This interview took place this week on FOX w/ a noted earthquake scientist who accurately predicted several major quakes in Ca. Talks of the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and 3 of the 4 corners have been hit recently: Chile, NZ, Japan. Worth watching. Whatever will be, will be. Not much we can do about it but expect the unexpected and be spiritually prepared most of all ~
Dec 30, 2010 Is Tomorrow the day of the Rapture and the Beginning of the Tribulation
Tomorrow we will be in the last day of the year 2010. A lot of natural and man made disasters have occurred in this year, for the Christians who follow the prophecies of the Bible it has been a year that has been full of signs for the soon start of the Tribulation and for the Rapture of the Christians. The article below points to another possible day count as a final sign pointing to the Rapture in Dec 31, 2010. All these postulates are based on numbers related to events that could be signs given by Jesus for a warning although it may not be for a Rapture countdown.
The solar and lunar eclipses are a fact and their dates are of extreme significance as celestial pointers to the historical events that are to befall in the inhabitants of the earth as pre-ordained by Jesus.
Let us see what the message is and reflect on the possible meaning of these signs and events. It will be foolish to ignore and discard as mere coincidence.
It was the end of the year 1958 on Dec 31 that I was celebrating at my home in Cuba when my First cousin who was a lieutenant colonel in the Cuban air force called my house to say that Batista the then president of Cuba had arrived with all his family and all his political supporters to take planes that will take them out of the island.
It was on that night that Castro had become the new leader of Cuba by the abdication of Batista. The world changed 100 % for me and the people of Cuba.
Is the world going to experience the same awakening on the morning of January 1, 2011 when all the Christians leave the world in the Rapture?
Celebration one day, un-imaginable grief the following morning?
Nando
http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/dec2010/harveyt1230.htm
Harvey Troyer (30 Dec 2010)
“ Final Signs for Such a Time as This—Will 2010 Still be the Year of the Rapture/Sudden Destruction?“
December 29, 2010
Dear John Tng and faithful doves,
Re: Final Signs for Such a Time as This—Will 2010 Still be the Year of the Rapture/Sudden Destruction?
December 31, 2010 MIDNIGHT will reveal the final answer to everyone. Be ready!
The Chilean Mine Disaster (August 5, 2010) and the miraculous rescue/resurrection of the 33 Miners after 69 days on (October 13, 2010), may be one of the final clues.
I just this evening discovered that the number of days from the rescue/resurrection day of the Chilean Miners to the end of 2010 (December 31, 2010) is also 69 days! I do not believe that this is just a coincidence, in view of all the other overwhelming evidence and signs that 2010 is the year of the Rapture/SD.
Please do the math yourself and see how these two back-to-back 69 day periods make up this sign, which points to New Year’s Eve December 31, 2010.
Correlation of dates:
1) Aug 5th, 2010 to Oct 13th, 2010 = 69 days
2) Oct 14th, 2010 to Dec 31st, 2010 = 69 days
If anyone else has already discovered this sign, please let me know. I do not recall reading about it. I made this discovery while reviewing a list of Signs for the Year 2010, posted by Cindy by the Sea. Click on URL LINK below:
Pasted from <http://cindybythesea.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/a-year-for-signs/>
We had an annular solar eclipse on January 15th,2010. On Sunday July 11, 2010 we had the third in a total of three total solar eclipses, which fell for three consecutive years in a row on the Jewish date the first of Av.
And, last but not least, we had a lunar eclipse blood red moon on December 21st, 2010 which was our 10-day warning.
[Joel 2:31 (Acts 2:20)NIV] The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. These scriptures have been fulfilled now just as prophesied.
All the birth pangs have also been experienced just as prophesied. It is time for the baby to be born!!! On Saturday February 27, 2010 we had an earthquake centered 71 miles from Chile’s second largest city, Concepcion. At a magnitude of 8.8, it was 700-800 times stronger than the earthquake which struck Haiti the month before.
Most of us know by now that 280 days (40 weeks of human gestation) from the 8.8 Concepcion Chile earthquake was December 3/4. However, the period of human gestation can be stretched.
I read that approximately five out of every 100 babies will be overdue, past the 42 weeks gestation. From the Concepcion quake of February 27, 2010 to the 43rd week is the overdue limit. It will not go into the 44th week. The 44th week of this gestation would land on January 1st, 2011, which will be too late. It appears that December 31st is the final limit for this baby to be born!!!
Please click on the PDF File Below to read my main article titled: Is the Year 2010 the Year of the Prophesied Rapture and Sudden Destruction (World War III)?
Harvey Troyer (YBIC)
Emmaus Road Ministries
Oct 23, 2010 Castro predicts nuclear war
I have posted several articles were Fidel Castro has warned that the world will go to its destruction if it attacks Iran.
He predicts that such an attack would result in a nuclear world war.
Nando
http://itn.co.uk/7d04be965d69a7deb2fffe696a458555.html
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Castro predicts nuclear war
Thu Oct 21 2010 23:50:18
Former Cuban President Fidel Castro has warned that the world is on the brink of nuclear war which threatens all of humanity.
On a Cuban government website, the ageing Castro could be seen repeating his warnings that nuclear war was imminent if the US, in alliance with Israel, attacks Iran.
“The use of nuclear arms in a new war implies the end of humanity,” he said. “Any world government is obligated to respect the right to life of all nations and of the entirety of the world’s people. Today, there is an imminent risk of war using this type of weapon and I do not harbor the slightest doubt that an attack by the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran would inevitably become a global nuclear conflict,” he said
In July, the 84-year-old leader of Cuba’s Revolution emerged from four years of seclusion following a 2006 illness that led to his ceding power to his brother, current Cuban President Raul Castro.
Since July, Fidel has made several public appearances, all repeating his dire predictions.
Bookmark with:
Sept 8, 2010 Fidel Castro Has Changed his Heart? Jeffrey Goldberg: Castro has misgivings about how he handled the Cuban Missile Crisis
Sept 8, 2010
The day has been one of surprises. Today the second part of the interview of Jeffrey Goldberg came out. As you know I am Cuban born and the history of the Revolution has been intertwined with my personal history.
The things that Fidel has discussed in this interview, the position he has taken in support of Israel and the themes that he has talked with respect to the internal affairs of Cuba are revolutionary to say the least.
A friend of mine came at lunch time to talk about the matter and he told me that if he was truly touched by God to turn from evil and repent that he would have to stop enslaving his people and admit his mistakes.
This afternoon the second revelation of his talks was posted in the Atlantic and these are things that I never would have dreamed for Fidel to say.
He made it a point to show his involvement with the Jews by inviting Adela Dworin, the president of Cuba’s Jewish community and Goldberg to the show at the aquarium the next day.
Well Fidel is surely sending the Iranians a strong message of his displeasure with their antisemitic position and their provocations of a nuclear war.
Nando
Jeffrey Goldberg
Jeffrey Goldberg is a national correspondent for The Atlantic. Author of the book Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror, he has reported from the Middle East and Africa. He also writes the magazine’s advice column.
His book Prisoners has been hailed as one of the best books of 2006 by the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Slate Magazine, the Progressive, Washingtonian Magazine, and Playboy. Goldberg is the recipient of the 2003 National Magazine Award for Reporting for his coverage of Islamic terrorism. He is also the winner of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists prize for best international investigative journalist; the Overseas Press Club award for best human rights reporting; and the Abraham Cahan Prize in Journalism. He is also the recipient of 2005′s Anti-Defamation League Daniel Pearl Prize.
In 2001, Goldberg was appointed the Syrkin Fellow in Letters of the Jerusalem Foundation and was appointed in 2002 to be a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.
Fidel: ‘Cuban Model Doesn’t Even Work For Us Anymore’
There were many odd things about my recent Havana stopover (apart from the dolphin show, which I’ll get to shortly), but one of the most unusual was Fidel Castro’s level of self-reflection. I only have limited experience with Communist autocrats (I have more experience with non-Communist autocrats) but it seemed truly striking that Castro was willing to admit that he misplayed his hand at a crucial moment in the Cuban Missile Crisis (you can read about what he said toward the end of my previous post - but he said, in so many words, that he regrets asking Khruschev to nuke the U.S.).
MORE ON Fidel Castro:
Jeffrey Goldberg: Castro has misgivings about how he handled the Cuban Missile Crisis
Even more striking was something he said at lunch on the day of our first meeting. We were seated around a smallish table; Castro, his wife, Dalia, his son; Antonio; Randy Alonso, a major figure in the government-run media; and Julia Sweig, the friend I brought with me to make sure, among other things, that I didn’t say anything too stupid (Julia is a leading Latin American scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations). I initially was mainly interested in watching Fidel eat – it was a combination of digestive problems that conspired to nearly kill him, and so I thought I would do a bit of gastrointestinal Kremlinology and keep a careful eye on what he took in (for the record, he ingested small amounts of fish and salad, and quite a bit of bread dipped in olive oil, as well as a glass of red wine). But during the generally lighthearted conversation (we had just spent three hours talking about Iran and the Middle East), I asked him if he believed the Cuban model was still something worth exporting.
“The Cuban model doesn’t even work for us anymore,” he said.
This struck me as the mother of all Emily Litella moments. Did the leader of the Revolution just say, in essence, “Never mind”?
I asked Julia to interpret this stunning statement for me. She said, “He wasn’t rejecting the ideas of the Revolution. I took it to be an acknowledgment that under ‘the Cuban model’ the state has much too big a role in the economic life of the country.”
Julia pointed out that one effect of such a sentiment might be to create space for his brother, Raul, who is now president, to enact the necessary reforms in the face of what will surely be push-back from orthodox communists within the Party and the bureaucracy. Raul Castro is already loosening the state’s hold on the economy. He recently announced, in fact, that small businesses can now operate and that foreign investors could now buy Cuban real estate. (The joke of this new announcement, of course, is that Americans are not allowed to invest in Cuba, not because of Cuban policy, but because of American policy. In other words, Cuba is beginning to adopt the sort of economic ideas that America has long-demanded it adopt, but Americans are not allowed to participate in this free-market experiment because of our government’s hypocritical and stupidly self-defeating embargo policy. We’ll regret this, of course, when Cubans partner with Europeans and Brazilians to buy up all the best hotels).
But I digress. Toward the end of this long, relaxed lunch, Fidel proved to us that he was truly semi-retired. The next day was Monday, when maximum leaders are expected to be busy single-handedly managing their economies, throwing dissidents into prison, and the like. But Fidel’s calendar was open. He asked us, “Would you like to go the aquarium with me to see the dolphin show?”
I wasn’t sure I heard him correctly. (This happened a number of times during my visit). “The dolphin show?”
“The dolphins are very intelligent animals,” Castro said.
I noted that we had a meeting scheduled for the next morning, with Adela Dworin, the president of Cuba’s Jewish community.
“Bring her,” Fidel said.
Someone at the table mentioned that the aquarium was closed on Mondays. Fidel said, “It will be open tomorrow.”
And so it was.
Late the next morning, after collecting Adela at the synagogue, we met Fidel on the steps of the dolphin house. He kissed Dworin, not incidentally in front of the cameras (another message for Ahmadinejad, perhaps). We went together into a large, blue-lit room that faces a massive, glass-enclosed dolphin tank. Fidel explained, at length, that the Havana Aquarium’s dolphin show was the best dolphin show in the world, “completely unique,” in fact, because it is an underwater show. Three human divers enter the water, without breathing equipment, and perform intricate acrobatics with the dolphins. “Do you like dolphins?” Fidel asked me.
“I like dolphins a lot,” I said.
Fidel called over Guillermo Garcia, the director of the aquarium (every employee of the aquarium, of course, showed up for work — “voluntarily,” I was told) and told him to sit with us.
“Goldberg,” Fidel said, “ask him questions about dolphins.”
“What kind of questions?” I asked.
“You’re a journalist, ask good questions,” he said, and then interrupted himself. “He doesn’t know much about dolphins anyway,” he said, pointing to Garcia. He’s actually a nuclear physicist.”
“You are?” I asked.
“Yes,” Garcia said, somewhat apologetically.
“Why are you running the aquarium?” I asked.
“We put him here to keep him from building nuclear bombs!” Fidel said, and then cracked-up laughing.
“In Cuba, we would only use nuclear power for peaceful means,” Garcia said, earnestly.
“I didn’t think I was in Iran,” I answered.
Fidel pointed to the small rug under the special swivel chair his bodyguards bring along for him.
“It’s Persian!” he said, and laughed again. Then he said, “Goldberg, ask your questions about dolphins.”
Now on the spot, I turned to Garcia and asked, “How much do the dolphins weigh?”
They weigh between 100 and 150 kilograms, he said.
“How do you train the dolphins to do what they do?” I asked.
“That’s a good question,” Fidel said.
Garcia called over one of the aquarium’s veterinarians to help answer the question. Her name was Celia. A few minutes later, Antonio Castro told me her last name: Guevara.
“You’re Che’s daughter?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“And you’re a dolphin veterinarian?”
“I take care of all the inhabitants of the aquarium,” she said.
“Che liked animals very much,” Antonio Castro said.
It was time for the show to start. The lights dimmed, and the divers entered the water. Without describing it overly much, I will say that once again, and to my surprise, I found myself agreeing with Fidel: The aquarium in Havana puts on a fantastic dolphin show, the best I’ve ever seen, and as the father of three children, I’ve seen a lot of dolphin shows. I will also say this: I’ve never seen someone enjoy a dolphin show as much as Fidel Castro enjoyed the dolphin show.
In the next installment, I will deal with such issues as the American embargo, the status of religion in Cuba, the plight of political dissidents, and economic reform. For now, I leave you with this image from our day at the aquarium (I’m in the low chair; Che’s daughter is behind me, with the short, blondish hair; Fidel is the guy who looks like Fidel if Fidel shopped at L.L. Bean):
Sept 8, 2010 Is Fidel Being Blessed By God? Fidel to Ahmadinejad: ‘Stop Slandering the Jews’
The interview by Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic Magazine revealed an aspect of Fidel Castro that I had not seen in him before.
He was concerned with the fairness of the treatment of the Jews by Ahmadinejad. Mr Goldberg was caught by surprise by the statement of Fidel about the suffering and persecution that the Jews have suffered and that the president of Iran was wrong in his antisemitism against Israel. He was also asked if he changed his mind about the existence of God and he replied that he was still a dialectical materialist, which is not a direct no, but implies a no.
It is very important that we pay attention to these statements by Fidel because in the Christian circles the following scripture is quoted very often to explain the curses that God brings on those who curse the descendants of Israel’,
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+12&version=NIV
Genesis 12 (New International Version)
Genesis 12
The Call of Abram
1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
but the blessing part is also true and binding by His Word. So Fidel is being blessed by God for this defense of the Jews and Israel. He stated the right of existence for the State of Israel and the wrongness of blaming the Jews for the killing of God. This blaming or cursing is going on today in the world by the majority of Nations and specially Muslim Nations who want to destroy Israel. and it is the position that many Christian denominations have taken in disobedience of the Bible.
Has the Lord Jesus Christ stated His love and protection for Israel through the lips of Fidel. Is there hope for the salvation of Fidel in like manner to that of the crucified robber next to Jesus who was saved at the last moment of his live?
The spiritual implications to the World is that the position of hate and destruction of Israel is wrong and that by taking that position they are going against the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a moral, spiritual indictment against the Nations of the World given by the most unlikely of sources. It is true that God works in mysterious ways.
Nando
Jeffrey Goldberg – Jeffrey Goldberg is a national correspondent for The Atlantic. Author of the book Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror, he has reported from the Middle East and Africa. He also writes the magazine’s advice column.
Bio | All Posts | Email Goldberg | Books
Jeffrey Goldberg is a National Correspondent for The Atlantic. Before joining The Atlantic in 2007, he was Middle East correspondent, and Washington correspondent, for the New Yorker. Previously, he served as a correspondent for the New York Times Magazine, and New York Magazine. He has also written for the Forward, and was a columnist for The Jerusalem Post.
His book Prisoners has been hailed as one of the best books of 2006 by the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Slate Magazine, the Progressive, Washingtonian Magazine, and Playboy. Goldberg is the recipient of the 2003 National Magazine Award for Reporting for his coverage of Islamic terrorism. He is also the winner of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists prize for best international investigative journalist; the Overseas Press Club award for best human rights reporting; and the Abraham Cahan Prize in Journalism. He is also the recipient of 2005′s Anti-Defamation League Daniel Pearl Prize.
In 2001, Goldberg was appointed the Syrkin Fellow in Letters of the Jerusalem Foundation and was appointed in 2002 to be a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.
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Fidel to Ahmadinejad: ‘Stop Slandering the Jews’
Sep 7 2010, 12:06 PM ET
A couple of weeks ago, while I was on vacation, my cell phone rang; it was Jorge Bolanos, the head of the Cuban Interest Section (we of course don’t have diplomatic relations with Cuba) in Washington. “I have a message for you from Fidel,” he said. This made me sit up straight. “He has read your Atlantic article about Iran and Israel. He invites you to Havana on Sunday to discuss the article.” I am always eager, of course, to interact with readers of The Atlantic, so I called a friend at the Council on Foreign Relations, Julia Sweig, who is a preeminent expert on Cuba and Latin America: “Road trip,” I said.
I quickly departed the People’s Republic of Martha’s Vineyard for Fidel’s more tropical socialist island paradise. Despite the self-defeating American ban on travel to Cuba, both Julia and I, as journalists and researchers, qualified for a State Department exemption. The charter flight from Miami was bursting with Cuban-Americans carrying flat-screen televisions and computers for their technologically-bereft families. Fifty minutes after take-off, we arrived at the mostly-empty Jose Marti International Airport. Fidel’s people met us on the tarmac (despite giving up his formal role as commandante en jefe after falling ill several years ago, Fidel still has many people). We were soon deposited at a “protocol house” in a government compound whose architecture reminded me of the gated communities of Boca Raton. The only other guest in this vast enclosure was the president of Guinea-Bissau.
I was aware that Castro had become preoccupied with the threat of a military confrontation in the Middle East between Iran and the U.S. (and Israel, the country he calls its Middle East “gendarme”). Since emerging from his medically induced, four-year purdah early this summer (various gastrointestinal maladies had combined to nearly kill him), the 84-year-old Castro has spoken mainly about the catastrophic threat of what he sees as an inevitable war.
I was curious to know why he saw conflict as unavoidable, and I wondered, of course, if personal experience – the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 that nearly caused the annihilation of most of humanity – informed his belief that a conflict between America and Iran would escalate into nuclear war. I was even more curious, however, to get a glimpse of the great man. Few people had seen him since he fell ill in 2006, and the state of his health has been a subject of much speculation. There were questions, too, about the role he plays now in governing Cuba; he formally handed off power to his younger brother, Raul, two years ago, but it was not clear how many strings Fidel still pulled.
The morning after our arrival in Havana, Julia and I were driven to a nearby convention center, and escorted upstairs, to a large and spare office. A frail and aged Fidel stood to greet us. He was wearing a red shirt, sweatpants, and black New Balance sneakers. The room was crowded with officials and family: His wife, Dalia, and son Antonio, as well as an Interior Ministry general, a translator, a doctor and several bodyguards, all of whom appeared to have been recruited from the Cuban national wrestling team. Two of these bodyguards held Castro at the elbow.
We shook hands, and he greeted Julia warmly; they have known each other for more than twenty years. Fidel lowered himself gently into his seat, and we began a conversation that would continue, in fits and starts, for three days. His body may be frail, but his mind is acute, his energy level is high, and not only that: the late-stage Fidel Castro turns out to possess something of a self-deprecating sense of humor. When I asked him, over lunch, to answer what I’ve come to think of as the Christopher Hitchens question – has your illness caused you to change your mind about the existence of God? – he answered, “Sorry, I’m still a dialectical materialist.” (This is funnier if you are, like me, an ex-self-defined socialist.) At another point, he showed us a series of recent photographs taken of him, one of which portrayed him with a fierce expression. “This was how my face looked when I was angry with Khruschev,” he said.
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, God is dead.’ God 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 God.’ They blamed the Jews for killing God! 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 God. 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.”
There is a great deal more to report from this conversation, and from subsequent conversations, which I will do in posts to follow. But I will begin the next post on this subject by describing one of the stranger days I have experienced, a day which began with a simple question from Fidel: “Would you like to go to the aquarium with me to see the dolphin show?”
Fidel calls on young people to fight to prevent a nuclear war
Sept 3, 2010
Fidel Castro for the first time in more than four years gave a public speech in the front steps of the University of Havana. This is a series of pronouncements that have come from Fidel.
It has been very unusual that he has done this invocation repeatedly and in so a grave way. He definitively is aware of more information that is available tot he public and is only known to a few selected individuals in some amount of countries.
When you add this to the many prophetic time lines and scriptural knowledge of those reading this letter it can become a very awesome warning that the Apocalypse is at the door and that the Rapture of the Church is also at the door.
I am including the official translation of his speech published in the Cuban government controlled newspaper Granma.
The Spanish editorial is also available at the link and I will try to get the video of the speech in Spanish.
Nando
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/cuba-i/3sept-fidel.html
Fidel calls on young people to fight to prevent a nuclear war
COMANDANTE en Jefe Fidel Castro confirmed today that it is possible to win the great battle to save the world from a nuclear war that would destroy it completely and also to defend the right of all human beings to live.
 PHOTO: Juvenal Balán |
Almost 65 years after his entry into higher education, the Cuban leader returned to the University of Havana where, as he has already said on previous occasions and reaffirmed once again this morning, he became a revolutionary and discovered his true destiny. He then went on to call on governments and peoples to safeguard peace, life and the future.
The time available to humanity to wage this battle is incredibly limited, warned the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, referring to the real and imminent danger of another war in the Middle East, the consequences of which are unforeseeable for the world and could be catastrophic.
Dressed in olive green, standing at the foot of the Alma Mater statue and before an enthusiastic crowd that filled the historic staircase and surrounding areas, Fidel read out his message to Cuba’s university students, which is also a call to fight against those who have imposed on the world a system that is currently threatening the very survival of the planet and the human race.
“We are here to convince, persuade and prevent a war that would bring an end to hope, in order to demonstrate that love for life is the commitment of all of us,” affirmed Maydel Gómez Lago, president of the Cuban Federation of University Students (FEU).
“Right up until the end, we will be demanding the right to life. We do not want to die in this absurd way, we want to fulfill our dreams,” the young woman emphasized. Calling on U.S. President Barack Obama, she insisted that he use the power that he has to prevent war from becoming a tragedy for all of us.
She called on university students all over the world to join this fight and stated: “We have the right to fight for our future, we have a duty to build it. We still have time. We will fight for peace, we could not forgive ourselves for doing anything less.”
Yoerky Sánchez Cuéllar, editor of the Alma Mater magazine – the voice of Cuban university students – also spoke, but in verse, demanding that the current occupant of the White House does not pull the trigger and also insisting on the destruction of all nuclear weapons.
“You must listen to Fidel/who is not being alarmist/or a catastrophist/ but who sees that this world/could be gone in a second/if peace does not conquer,” reflected – in rhyming verse – the young man who is also a National Assembly of People’s Power deputy.
“Here we are, Comandante/here are your youth/who feel grateful/to see you the picture of health/to hear you every moment/to read your Reflections/to understand the reasons/why you are concerned/and to have accompanied you in these new missions,” he concluded.
The following is a translation of the whole speech.
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2010/ing/m030910i.html
MESSAGE TO THE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS OF CUBA
My dear comrades:
I asked that we meet early, before the heat of our sun becomes too intense.
This stairway, to which I never imagined I would be returning, keeps some indelible memories of the years when I began to become aware of our era and our duty. One can acquire knowledge and awareness throughout one’s lifetime but never in any other stage of one’s existence will a person again have the purity and selflessness with which, being young, one faces up to life. At that age, I discovered my true destiny.
Thus it is inevitable that, at these moments, I am accompanied by the memory of so many comrades whom I knew exactly 65 years ago. It was during the first week of September that I entered this University, the only one in the country. It is best that I don’t even try to ask for each one of them, and I just hold on to the memory of when they were all young and full of enthusiasm and, as a rule, selfless and pure.
I am extremely encouraged to have present those who today, as we were in yesteryear, even incomparably more well-educated, freer and more aware.
In those days, the power of the brute force and the brutality of force fell upon this university hill, the lack of conscience and the corruption applied upon our people.
Thanks to the example of those preceding us, to the students massacred at the demand of the hordes called the Spanish volunteers, many of whom were born in this country who took up service for the Spanish tyranny, thanks to the Apostle of our Independence and to the blood spilt by dozens of thousands of patriots in three wars of Independence, we have really been preceded by a history which inspired our struggles. We didn’t deserve to be a colony of an empire that was even more powerful, that took over our Homeland and a good portion of our national conscience, sowing fatalism with the idea that it was impossible to shake off such a hefty yoke.
Worse still, a powerful exploiting sector had arisen which, at the service of the Empire’s interests, was plundering the wealth of our people, keeping them shackled and ignorant by force and, not on a few occasions, using others born in the country to act as the torturers and murderers of their own brothers and sisters.
The Revolution put an end to those horrors and it is because of that that we are able to meet here on this September morning.
How far away we were after the triumph to think that, on an occasion like this, we would be returning to meet in efforts even greater and with higher aims than those which, at a certain time, seemed to us to be the highest goals of peoples, in the name of justice and happiness for human beings.
It would not seem to be possible that a country as small as Cuba would be seen forced to carry the weight of the struggle against those who have globalized and submitted the world to an inconceivable plunder, and have imposed a system which today is threatening the very survival of humankind.
I am not speaking only in favour of the interests of our nation. One might say that such objectives have been left behind, in the measure that existence and the well-being of peoples stopped being our objectives, in the name of world interests, without which the life of nations is impossible. It is also certain that, in our struggles for national and social emancipation, our country, the bastion of Spanish colonialism in this hemisphere, was the first to be occupied and the last to rid itself of the yoke after more than 400 years of domination.
Our struggle for national liberation was mixed together with the tenacious efforts of the workers of our country for their social liberation. It was not an act of will; it was an act of fate. The merit of the Cuban people is that they knew how to understand and strengthen the indissoluble bonds between both. (Applause and cries of “¡Viva Fidel!”)
The time humankind has to fight this battle is incredibly limited. Throughout more than three months of unceasing struggle I modestly made the effort to reveal, to an inattentive world, the terrible dangers that threaten human life on our planet. It is well-known, and I have no other alternative than to remember the fact, that we are not living in an age of chivalry and the steel of the swords accompanied by crossbows that were preceded for centuries by battering rams that demolished walls or tried to do so, or war chariots drawn by horses with knives mounted on the wheels; weapons, in brief, always cruel, but with limited destructive power that humans used to wage war on each other since they invented the mace, up to World Wars I and II, when automatic weapons were used , tanks, combat planes and flying fortresses, submarines, torpedoes, armoured vehicles and aircraft carriers that raised the toll of lives lost to tens of millions of humans, and to hundreds of millions of victims of destruction, the wounded, the sick and the hungry, inevitable consequences of wars.
Two nuclear devices were used at the end of the last war. Mankind had never before conceived such terrible destruction and extermination. More than 60 years ago we speak of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; with that we have indicated that the destructive power of accumulated weapons is equal to more than four hundred and forty times the power of one of those bombs. That’s how it is, that’s what mathematics tells us. I add no more because I would have to use rather tough words about the causes and the people responsible for that extremely sad reality.
But that was not enough. The desire for economic and military domination by the first ones to use those terrifying instruments of destruction and death lead humankind to the real possibility of dying out, which we face today. I don’t need to give you arguments for something you already know very well. The problem of peoples today, shall we say, of more than seven billion human beings, is to prevent that such a tragedy should occur.
I am not happy speaking about the painful truth that constitutes something of shame for everything that is identified as policy or government. This truth was deliberately hidden from the world and the difficult task of warning humankind of the real danger it is facing has fallen upon Cuba. We must not falter in that activity. Faced with sceptics, our unmistakable duty is to continue fighting the battle. It is a fact that a growing number of persons in the world have become aware of the reality.
Commenting on the first part of the interview published on Monday, August 30 by the director of La Jornada in that prestigious Mexican newspaper, a citizen of Our America who read it on the CubaDebate website voiced his opinion with words that were so profound that I decided to include the crux of his thoughts in this message to the university students of Cuba:
“I call out to all the countries that today are involved in military conflicts. Please, always think about achieving true peace, that is what we need most. Our children, our grandchildren and the human beings of this world, all of us will thank you. We need to live in peace and security on a planet that day by day becomes less liveable. It is very easy to understand. Nuclear weapons should disappear, no country should have them, atomic energy should only be used for good. THE ONLY REAL VICTORY IS IN ACHIEVING PEACE.
“Today we face two great challenges: the consolidation of world peace and saving the planet from climatic changes. The first is to achieve a lasting peace on solid bases, the second is to reverse climate change. We have to become aware of these problems that we ourselves have created and that we are the protagonists of the changes we must attain. The panorama of the last century was not the same as the one in this century. Weaponry, at this time, is much more sophisticated and deadly and the planet is weaker and more polluted.
“World Conference on Climate Change in Cancun […] the only opportunity left to us. […] We are getting to a critical point where there is no turning back. At that moment, because we are afraid, we would like to do anything to save our lives, but by now everything is in vain and it is too late. The opportunities in our lives appear before us just once and we must know how to make use of them. Our Mother Nature is like a passive smoker who still has not become addicted, we are making her sick indiscriminately.”
“Nobody has the right to use violence against any human being, country or nation. Nobody can cut down a tree if he hasn’t first planted three. […] We cannot turn our backs on nature. Quite the opposite, we must always embrace her tightly. Because we ourselves are nature, we are part of that fan of many colours, sounds, balance and harmony. Nature is perfect.
“Kyoto signified hope for all human beings …”
“If we do nothing. Nobody will be saved, there will be no safe place on earth, not in the air, not in the cosmos. The great energy that accumulates daily because of the greenhouse effect, since the solar rays are trapped and emit more energy every day onto the surface of the earth. It will cause natural disasters having unpredictable consequences. Would there be anyone on earth with a button that would be able to stop such a disaster?”
“…we cannot lose any time on anachronistic wars that weaken us and use up our energies. Enemies make wars. Let us eliminate all the causes that make men see other men as their enemies. Not even those who face each other in a war are aware that this is the solution to their problems, they react to their emotions and ignore their consciences mistakenly thinking that the road to peace is war. I say, without the least margin for error, that peace is attained with peace and: IF YOU WANT PEACE, GET READY TO CHANGE YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS (Applause).”
Here you have the essence of his words, quite simple and within the reach of any citizen on earth.
On Wednesday, September 1st, as I was writing this message, information appearing on the CubaDebate website brought us the following news: “A new wave of leakage about an attack on Iran’s nuclear targets being prepared by Israel together with the United States might this time have a basis in reality, as expressed in an article printed this Tuesday by George Friedman, the executive director of the prestigious Stratfor Centre, which has some former CIA analysts among its collaborators..” He is a well educated person with prestige.
The information goes on to say:
“There have been numerous occasions on which different versions of the possible attack on the Islamic Republic presumably filtered from secret services have been spread. According to experts, it dealt with an attempt to exert psychological pressure on Teheran to make it seek consensus with the West.”
“…this technique didn’t work and it is highly unlikely that it will be used again with the same objective, states Friedman…”
“‘It is a paradox, but the new slew of rumours about war may this time be directed towards trying to convince Iran precisely that there will be no war, while in reality, war is now being prepared’ …”
“The analyst completely discards the fact that Tel Aviv is daring to embark on a military operation without counting on the support of the Pentagon.”
“At the same time, the expert warns that the most serious consequence of the possible attack against Iran would be that the Islamic Republic would block the Strait of Ormuz, between the Oman and Persian Gulfs, and that would collapse 45% of world oil supplies thus shooting prices sky high and making world economic recovery after the recession difficult.”
Thus concludes the information.
I find it incredible that the fear of an attack is due to consequences that the price of oil may suffer and to the struggle against the recession. I myself do not harbour the least doubt that the capacity for Iran’s conventional answer would provoke a ferocious war, control of which would escape the hands of the warring parties and it would become an irremediable global nuclear conflict. That is what I maintain.
An important AFP dispatch states that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned this Wednesday in a BBC interview when talking about his memoirs being released, that the international community might have no other alternative than the military option if Iran were to develop nuclear weapons.”
It continues:
“Blair concluded that he thought that there was no alternative to this if they continue developing nuclear weapons. They should receive this message loud and clear, he added, echoing a threat that has already been made several times by the US and Israel.
Of course, if they are manufacturing nuclear weapons they have no proof nor can they have any proof because they are using some research centres, doing research; they don’t have, for up to two or three years as they themselves have admitted, any material to begin manufacturing a bomb. This without taking into account that manufacturers of nuclear weapons have 25,000 nuclear weapons, without counting the unimaginable conventional ones. They have no proof of this, it’s a research centre. Is that a reason to attack them? Having a plant producing electrical energy, coming from uranium, that’s nothing constituting a crime and for them it is proof they are manufacturing weapons. They have already done it, they did it in 1981 against an Iraqi research centre, and they did it in 2007 against a Syrian research centre; they didn’t talk about that, it’s somewhat of a mystery why they didn’t speak of it. Because there are terrible things happening that nobody talks about and nobody prints them.
Well, that is the proof, because they are talking about attacking those reactors and those research centres. That’s why one cannot become confused by the little words “if they try” to manufacture nuclear weapons.
A new dispatch from the ITAR-TASS agency reports that sanctions against Iran will not report any desired results, the Iranian problem must not be resolved by any method using force. Today, Sergei Lavrov, head of Russian diplomatic services, stated this in his speech before students –what a coincidence – of the MGIMO International Affairs Institute.”
And the cable goes on:
“We come from the idea that no world problem should be resolved using force, he stated. Lavrov drew attention to the position of US President Barack Obama in regard to Iran, especially involving Iran in the negotiated process. We welcome a normalization in US-Iran relations, he added.
I would think that Russia is not just a member of the Security Council with the right to veto, but also a powerful country whose opinion cannot be ignored. Independently of the fact that in that Resolution of June 9th, all those with the right to veto supported the Resolution. Turkey and Brazil did not support it, and Lebanon abstained. That was a very important moment because the Resolution was approved; it authorized inspection of Iranian merchant vessels and also established a term, they said it was 90 days, and some say it expires on the 9th, other say on the 7th. It also says that on that day they have to inform if they attacked or not.
Now we must sit back and wait to see what they will do in this situation, how they value world opinion, what effect it will have, if they will invent another term or not, if they declare they are not going to do it, or if they ratify that they are going to do it, it might take a bit longer, but it cannot be a lot of time.
I recommend that we are watchful, that we ask our information media to communicate to us, so that we can closely follow the situation.
Thanks to the electronic media there are persons in the world, a growing number of persons who are being informed, because they cannot prevent that, besides even if the news agencies and the great information media in the hands of the powerful capitalist corporations keep silent, the world is finding out about it. I tell you this because of the number of messages that are arriving. I read you one opinion that I selected: it is at 4:52, at 4:54, another at 4:55, the comrades who collect these explain that they are coming from all parts of the world, not just from Latin America. It is impossible to collect and comment on them all, we have an idea about the state of opinions, about their credibility or not, and I can tell you that they are being given great credibility just as you are doing. It is clear, and that is decisive. It is a new stage, never have we seen a situation like this.
Therefore, I suggest to you, and to all our compatriots that are trying to be aware, and to our press media that inform us, because at times the international press keeps strangely silent and then suddenly a series of news items appears. The ones that are going to come out next, each day they will be more interesting.
Nobody can say exactly what is going to happen, because these events are unravelling.
What is going to happen on the 7th, the 9th, the 15th, the 20th? We have to make our plans, work plans, everyone makes their own. As for me, I will be concentrating; I am concentrating on this for a while now, collecting as much information as possible.
But in all this, we all play a part in the job, a part of the responsibility that doesn’t mean that we have to stop whatever we are doing.
Also, another very important country, it is the last one mentioned here, because it was the last cable, yesterday afternoon.
A Reuters dispatch states that the European Union is pressuring China to comply with sanctions against Iran.
Because besides the famous June 9th agreement, number 1929, establishing the sanctions I mentioned, these European satellite powers and those from other parts, imposed additional sanctions to strangle the country and, in this case, they were complaining about China, also about Russia in terms of what they were going to do, but it stated thus:
“The official responsible for the European Union foreign policy, Catherine Ashton, said on Thursday that China had been pressured to ensure that Chinese companies would not fill the void left by other companies that had abandoned Iran because of the sanctions …” It doesn’t say what sanctions, whether the ones by the Council or theirs, they must be referring to all of them, of course. .
Any honest person can understand the complexity of the very serious problem that today threatens the world.
Comrades, university students, as in other times which seem far away and which seem to me to have been just yesterday, I thank you for your presence and for the moral support you are providing for this struggle for peace (Applause). I urge you to not give up fighting for this. In this struggle, as in many others in years past, victory is possible (Applause).
May human life be preserved! May children and youth enjoy life in a world of justice! May parents and grandparents share with them the privilege of living!
The fair distribution of material and spiritual wealth, which mankind is capable of creating through the fabulous development of productive forces, that is the only possible alternative.
Thank you very much.
September 3, 2010
(Ovation.)
Translated by Granma International
Sept 1, 2010 Fidel Castro States that Nuclear War Can Start Sept 9, 2010
In his first interview with La Jornada newspaper from Mejico, Fidel Castro states his worry that a nuclear war can start on the 9th of this month. The whole interview is posted here with the link to the site.
Many articles on this site also think that on September 9, 2010 the Rapture and the possible start of the apocalypse can occur.
The article is in Spanish , but I will try to translate the underlined-bold part.
Nando
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/08/30/index.php?section=politica&article=002e1pol
Llegué a estar muerto, pero resucité
Hay que persuadir a Obama de que evite la guera nuclear
No quiero estar ausente en estos días. El mundo está en la fase más interesante y peligrosa de su existencia y yo estoy bastante comprometido con lo que vaya a pasar. Tengo cosas que hacer todavía
Lunes 30 de agosto de 2010, p. 2
La Habana. Estuvo cuatro años debatiéndose entre la vida y la muerte. En un entrar y salir del quirófano, entubado, recibiendo alimentos a través de venas y catéteres y con pérdidas frecuentes del conocimiento…
Mi enfermedad no es ningún secreto de Estado
, habría dicho poco antes de que ésta hiciera crisis y lo obligara a hacer lo que tenía que hacer
: delegar sus funciones como presidente del Consejo de Estado y, consecuentemente, como comandante en jefe de las fuerzas armadas de Cuba.
No puedo seguir más
, admitió entonces –según revela en ésta su primera entrevista con un medio impreso extranjero desde entonces–. Hizo el traspaso del mando, y se entregó a los médicos.
La conmoción sacudió a la nación entera, a los amigos de otras partes; hizo abrigar esperanzas revanchistas a sus detractores, y puso en estado de alerta al poderoso vecino del norte. Era el 31 de julio de 2006 cuando dio a conocer, de manera oficial, la carta de renuncia del máximo líder de la Revolución cubana.
Lo que no consiguió en 50 años su enemigo más feroz (bloqueos, guerras, atentados ) lo alcanzó una enfermedad sobre la que nadie sabía nada y se especulaba todo. Una enfermedad que al régimen, lo aceptara o no, iba a convertírsele en secreto de Estado
.
(Pienso en Raúl, en el Raúl Castro de aquellos momentos. No era sólo el paquete que le habían confiado casi de buenas a primeras, aunque estuviera acordado de siempre; era la delicada salud de su compañera Vilma Espín –quien poco después fallecería víctima de cáncer–, y la muy probable desaparición de su hermano mayor y jefe único en lo militar, en lo político, en lo familiar.)
Hoy hace 40 días Fidel Castro reapareció en público de manera definitiva, al menos sin peligro aparente de recaída. En un clima distendido y cuando todo hace pensar que la tormenta ha pasado, el hombre más importante de la Revolución cubana luce rozagante y vital, aunque no domine del todo los movimientos de sus piernas.
Durante alrededor de cinco horas que duró la charla-entrevista –incluido el almuerzo– con La Jornada, Fidel aborda los más diversos temas, aunque se obsesione con algunos en particular. Permite que se le pregunte de todo –aunque el que más interrogue sea él– y repasa por primera vez y con dolorosa franqueza algunos momentos de la crisis de salud que sufrió los pasados cuatro años.
Llegué a estar muerto
, revela con una tranquilidad pasmosa. No menciona por su nombre la divertículis que padeció ni se refiere a las hemorragias que llevaron a los especialistas de su equipo médico a intervenirlo en varias o muchas ocasiones, con riesgo de perder la vida en cada una.
Pero en lo que sí se explaya es en el relato del sufrimiento vivido. Y no muestra inhibición alguna en calificar la dolorosa etapa como un calvario
.
Yo ya no aspiraba a vivir, ni mucho menos… Me pregunté varias veces si esa gente (sus médicos) iban a dejarme vivir en esas condiciones o me iban a permitir morir… Luego sobreviví, pero en muy malas condiciones físicas. Llegué a pesar cincuenta y pico de kilogramos.
Sesenta y seis kilogramos
, precisa Dalia, su inseparable compañera que asiste a la charla. Sólo ella, dos de sus médicos y otros dos de sus más cercanos colaboradores están presentes.
–Imagínate: un tipo de mi estatura pesando 66 kilos. Hoy alcanzo ya entre 85 y 86 kilos, y esta mañana logré dar 600 pasos solo, sin bastón, sin ayuda.
Quiero decirte que estás ante una especie de re-su-ci-ta-do
, subraya con cierto orgullo. Sabe que además del magnífico equipo médico que lo asistió en todos estos años, con el que se puso a prueba la calidad de la medicina cubana, ha contado su voluntad y esa disciplina de acero que se impone siempre que se empeña en algo.
–No cometo nunca la más mínima violación –asegura–. De más está decir que me he vuelto médico con la cooperación de los médicos. Con ellos discuto, pregunto (pregunta mucho), aprendo (y obedece)…
Conoce muy bien las razones de sus accidentes y caídas, aunque insiste en que no necesariamente unas llevan a las otras. La primera vez fue porque no hice el calentamiento debido, antes de jugar basquetbol.
Luego vino lo de Santa Clara: Fidel bajaba de la estatua del Che, donde había presidido un homenaje, y cayó de cabeza. Ahí influyó que los que lo cuidan a uno también se van poniendo viejos, pierden facultades y no se ocuparon
, aclara.
Sigue la caída de Holguín, también cuan grande es. Todos estos accidentes antes de que la otra enfermedad hiciera crisis y lo dejara por largo tiempo en el hospital.
Tendido en aquella cama, sólo miraba a mi alrededor, ignorante de todos esos aparatos. No sabía cuánto tiempo iba a durar ese tormento y de lo único que tenía esperanza es de que se parara el mundo
, seguro para no perderse de nada. Pero resucité
, dice ufano.
–Y cuando resucitó, comandante, ¿con qué se encontró? –le pregunto.
–Con un mundo como de locos… Un mundo que aparece todos los días en la televisión, en los periodicos, y que no hay quien entienda, pero el que no me hubiera querido perder por nada del mundo –sonríe divertido.
Con una energía sorprendente en un ser humano que viene levantándose de la tumba –como él dice– y con la mismísima curiosidad intelectual de antes, Fidel Castro se pone al día.
Dicen, los que lo conocen bien, que no hay un proyecto, colosal o milimétrico, en el que no se empeñe con una pasión encarnizada y que en especial lo hace si tiene que enfrentarse a la adversidad, como había sido y era el caso.
Nunca como entonces parece de mejor humor.
Alguien que cree conocerlo bien le dijo: las cosas deben andar muy mal, porque usted está rozagante
.
La tarea de acumulación informativa cotidiana de este sobreviviente comienza desde que despierta. A una velocidad de lectura que nadie sabe con qué método consigue, devora libros; se lee entre 200 y 300 cables informativos por día; está pendiente y al momento de las nuevas tecnologías de la comunicación; se fascina con Wikileaks, la garganta profunda del Internet
, famosa por la filtración de más de 90 mil documentos militares sobre Afganistán, en los que este nuevo navegante
está trabajando.
–¿Te das cuenta, compañera, de lo que esto significa? –me dice–. Internet ha puesto en manos de nosotros la posibilidad de comunicarnos con el mundo. Con nada de esto contábamos antes –comenta, al tiempo que se deleita viendo y seleccionando cables y textos bajados de la red, que tiene sobre el escritorio: un pequeño mueble, demasiado pequeño para la talla (aun disminuida por la enfermedad) de su ocupante.
–Se acabaron los secretos, o al menos eso pareciera. Estamos ante un periodismo de investigación de alta tecnología
, como lo llama el New York Times, y al alcance de todo el mundo.
–Estamos ante el arma más poderosa que haya existido, que es la comunicación –ataja–. El poder de la comunicación ha estado, y está, en manos del imperio y de ambiciosos grupos privados que hicieron uso y abuso de él. Por eso los medios han fabricado el poder que hoy ostentan.
Lo escucho y no puedo menos que pensar en Chomsky: cualquiera de las trapacerías que el imperio intente debe contar antes con el apoyo de los medios, principalmente periódicos y televisión, y hoy, naturalmente, con todos los instrumentos que ofrece la Internet.
Son los medios los que antes de cualquier acción crean el concenso. Tienden la cama
, diríamos… Acondicionan el teatro de operaciones.
Sin embargo, acota Fidel, aunque han pretendido conservar intacto ese poder, no han podido. Lo están perdiendo día con día. En tanto que otros, muchos, muchísimos, emergen a cada momento…
Se hace entonces un reconocimiento a los esfuerzos de algunos sitios y medios, además de Wikileaks: por el lado latinoamericano, a Telesur de Venezuela, a la televisión cultural de Argentina, el Canal Encuentro, y a todos aquellos medios, públicos o privados, que enfrentan a poderosos consorcios particulares de la región y a trasnacionales de la información, la cultura y el entretenimiento.
Informes sobre la manipulación de los poderosos grupos empresariales locales o regionales, sus complots para entronizar o eliminar gobiernos o personajes de la política, o sobre la tiranía
que ejerce el imperio
a través de las trasnacionales, están ahora al alcance de todos los mortales.
Pero no de Cuba, que apenas dispone de una entrada de Internet para todo el país, comparable a la que tiene cualquier hotel Hilton o Sheraton.
Ésa es la razón por la que conectarse en Cuba es desesperante. La navegación es como si se hiciera en cámara lenta.
–¿Por qué es todo esto? –pegunto.
–Por la negativa rotunda de Estados Unidos a darle acceso a lnternet a la isla, a través de uno de los cables submarinos de fibra óptica que pasan cerca de las costas. Cuba se ve obligada, en cambio, a bajar la señal de un satélite, lo que encarece mucho más el servicio que el gobierno cubano ha de pagar, e impide disponer de un mayor ancho de banda que permita dar acceso a muchos más usuarios y a la velocidad que es normal en todo el mundo, con la banda ancha.
Por estas razones el gobierno cubano da prioridad para conectarse no a quienes pueden pagar por el costo del servicio, sino a quienes más lo necesitan, como médicos, académicos, periodistas, profesionistas, cuadros
del gobierno y clubes de Internet de uso social. No se puede más.
Pienso en los descomunales esfuerzos del sitio cubano Cubadebate para alimentar al interior y llevar hacia el exterior la información del país, en las condiciones existentes. Pero, según Fidel, Cuba podrá solucionar pronto esta situación.
Se refiere a la conclusión de las obras de cable submarino que se tiende del puerto de La Guaira, en Venezuela, hasta las cercanías de Santiago de Cuba. Con estas obras, llevadas adelante por el gobierno de Hugo Chávez, la isla podrá disponer de banda ancha y posibilidades de acometer una gran ampliación del servicio.
–Muchas veces se ha señalado a Cuba, y en particular a usted, de mantener una posición antiestadunidense a rajatabla, y hasta han llegado a acusarlo de guardar odio hacia esa nación –le digo.
—Nada de eso –aclara–. ¿Por qué odiar a Estados Unidos, si es sólo un producto de la historia?
Pero, en efecto: hace apenas como 40 días, cuando todavía no había terminado de resucitar
se ocupó –para variar–, en sus nuevas Reflexiones, de su poderoso vecino.
“Es que empecé a ver bien clarito los problemas de la tiranía mundial creciente… –y se le presentó, a la luz de toda la información que manejaba, la inminencia de un ataque nuclear que desataría la conflagración mundial.
Todavía no podía salir a hablar, a hacer lo que está haciendo ahora, me indica. Apenas podía escribir con cierta fluidez, pues no sólo tuvo que aprender a caminar, sino también, a sus 84 años, debió volver a aprender a escribir..
“Salí del hospital, fui para la casa, pero caminé, me excedí. Luego tuve que hacer rehabilitación de los pies. Para entonces ya lograba comenzar de nuevo a escribir.
El salto cualitativo se dio cuando pude dominar todos los elementos que me permitían hacer posible todo lo que estoy haciendo ahora. Pero puedo y debo mejorar… Puedo llegar a caminar bien. Hoy, ya te dije, caminé 600 pasos solo, sin bastón, sin nada, y esto lo debo conciliar con lo que subo y bajo, con las horas que duermo, con el trabajo.
–¿Qué hay detrás de este frenesí en el trabajo, que más que a una rehabilitación puede conducirlo a una recaída?
Fidel se concentra, cierra los ojos como para empezar un sueño, pero no… vuelve a la carga:
No quiero estar ausente en estos días. El mundo está en la fase más interesante y peligrosa de su existencia y yo estoy bastante comprometido con lo que vaya a pasar. Tengo cosas que hacer todavía.
¿Cómo cuáles?
–Como la conformación de todo un movimiento antiguerra nuclear –es a lo que viene dedicándose desde su reaparición.
Crear una fuerza de persuasión internacional para evitar que esa amenaza colosal se cumpla
representa todo un reto, y Fidel nunca ha podido resistirse a los retos.
“Al principio yo pensé que el ataque nuclear iba a darse sobre Corea del Norte, pero pronto rectifiqué porque me dije que ése lo paraba China con su veto en el Consejo de Seguridad…
Pero lo de Irán no lo para nadie, porque no hay veto ni chino ni ruso. Luego vino la resolución (de Naciones Unidas), y aunque vetaron Brasil y Turquía, Líbano no lo hizo y entonces se tomó la decisión.
Fidel convoca a científicos, economistas, comunicadores, etcétera, a que den su opinión sobre cuál puede ser el mecanismo mediante el cual se va a desatar el horror, y la forma en que puede evitarse. Hasta a ejercicios de ciencia ficción los ha llevado.
¡Piensen, piensen!
, anima en las discusiones. Razonen, imaginen
, exclama el entusiasta maestro en que se ha convertido en estos días.
No todo el mundo ha comprendido su inquietud. No son pocos los que han visto catastrofismo y hasta delirio en su nueva campaña. A todo esto habría que agregar el temor que a muchos asalta, de que su salud sufra una recaída.
Fidel no ceja: nada ni nadie es capaz de frenarlo siquiera. Él necesita, a la mayor brevedad, CONVENCER para así DETENER la conflagración nuclear que –insiste– amenaza con desaparecer a una buena parte de la humanidad. Tenemos que movilizar al mundo para persuadir a Barack Obama, presidente de Estados Unidos, de que evite la guerra nuclear. Él es el único que puede, o no, oprimir el botón.
Con los datos que ya maneja como un experto, y los documentos que avalan sus dichos, Fidel cuestiona y hace una exposición escalofriante:
–¿Tú sabes el poder nuclear que tienen unos cuantos países del mundo en la actualidad, comparado con el de la época de Hiroshima y Nagazaki?
Cuatrocientas setenta mil veces el poder explosivo que tenía cualquiera de las dos bombas que Estados Unidos arrojó sobre esas dos ciudades japonesas. ¡Cuatrocientas setenta mil veces más!
, subraya escandalizado.
Esa es la potencia que tiene cada una de las más de 20 mil armas nucleares que –se calcula– hay hoy día en el mundo.
Con mucho menos de esa potencia –con tan sólo 100– ya se puede producir un invierno nuclear que oscurezca el mundo en su totalidad.
Esta barbaridad puede producirse en cosa de unas días, para ser más precisos, el 9 de septiembre próximo, que es cuando vencen los 90 días otorgados por el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU para comenzar a inspeccionar los barcos de Irán.
–¿Tú crees que los iraníes van a retroceder? ¿Tú te los imaginas? Hombres valientes, religiosos que ven en la muerte casi un premio… Bien, los iraníes no van a ceder, eso es seguro. ¿Van a ceder los yanquis? Y, ¿qué va a pasar si ni uno ni otro ceden? Y esto puede ocurrir el próximo 9 de septiembre.
Un minuto después de la explosión, más de la mitad de los seres humanos habrán muerto, el polvo y el humo de los continentes en llamas derrotarán a la luz solar, y las tinieblas absolutas volverán a reinar en el mundo
, escribió Gabriel García Máquez con ocasión del 41 aniversario de Hiroshima. Un invierno de lluvias anaranjadas y huracanes helados invertirán el tiempo de los océanos y voltearán el curso de los ríos, cuyos peces habrán muerto de sed en las aguas ardientes… La era del rock y de los corazones trasplantados estará de regreso a su infancia glacial…
