From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Sun Jul 04 2010 - 03:20:19 EDT
Fidel Castro: How I wish I was wrong
By Fidel Castro
Fidel's Z Space
Thursday, Jul 1, 2010
WHEN these lines are published tomorrow, Friday, in Granma newspaper, the
26th of July, a date on which we always recall with pride the honor of
having resisted the onslaughts of the empire, will still be in the
distance, despite it being only 32 days away.
Those who determine every step of the worst enemy of humanity – United
States imperialism, a mixture of ignoble material interests, disdain and
underestimation for other people inhabiting the planet – have calculated
everything with mathematical precision.
In the Reflection of June 16 I wrote: "Diabolical news is filtering little
by little between games and games in the World Cup, in a way that nobody is
paying much attention to it."
The famous sports event has entered its most emotional moments. For 14
days, the teams made up of the best footballers from 32 countries have been
competing to advance toward the second round; afterward the phases of
quarter finals, semifinals and the final of the event come in successive
stages.
Fanaticism for sport is growing incessantly, captivating hundreds or
millions and possibly billions of people all over the planet.
On the other hand, one would have to ask how many of them know that, since
June 20, U.S. military vessels, including the Harry S. Truman aircraft
carrier, escorted by one or more nuclear submarines and other warships with
missiles and cannons that are more powerful that those of the old
battleships utilized in the last world war from 1939 to 1945, have been
navigating toward Iranian coasts via the Suez Canal.
The yanki naval forces are accompanied by Israeli military boats, with
equally sophisticated armaments, to inspect every vessel that leaves to
export and import commercial products required for the functioning of the
Iranian economy.
At the proposal of the United States, with support from the United Kingdom,
France and Germany, the UN Security Council approved a harsh resolution
that was not vetoed by any of the five countries which hold that right.
Another harsher resolution was approved with the agreement of the United
States Senate
Subsequently, a third, even harsher one was passed by the countries of the
European Union. All of this took place before June 20, which prompted an
urgent trip to Russia by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, according to the
news, to meet with the head of state of that powerful country, Dmitry
Medvedev, in the hope of negotiating with Iran and avoiding the worst.
Now it is about calculating when the naval forces of the United States and
Israel will be deployed facing the Iranian coasts, and joining up there
with aircraft carriers and other U.S. military boats which mount guard in
this region.
The worst part is that, just like the United States, Israel, its gendarme
in the Middle East, possesses extremely modern bomber aircraft and
sophisticated weapons supplied by the United States, which has converted it
into the sixth nuclear power on the planet given its firepower, among the
eight recognized as such, including India and Pakistan.
The Shah of Iran had been defeated by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979
without using a single weapon. The United States imposed the Shah after the
war on that nation with the use of chemical weapons, whose components it
supplied to Iraq together with the information needed by its combat units
and which were deployed by them against the Revolutionary Guards. Cuba
knows that because, at that time, as we have explained on other occasions,
it was president of the Non-Aligned Movement. We know very well the
devastation that it caused among the population. Mahmud Ahmadinejad, now
head of state in Iran, was chief of the sixth army of the Revolutionary
Guards and chief of the Guard Corps in the western provinces of that
country, which bore the brunt of that war.
Today, in 2010, after 31 years, both the United States and Israel are
underestimating the one million soldiers in the Iranian Armed Forces and
their capacity for fighting on land, and the air, sea and land forces of
the Revolutionary Guards.
In addition to these, there are the 20 million men and women, aged from 12
to 60, selected and systematically trained by its diverse military
institutions, from out of the 70 million people who inhabit the country.
The government of the United States drew up a plan to instigate a political
movement that, supporting itself on capitalist consumerism, would divide
Iranians and defeat the regime.
That hope has become innocuous. It is laughable to think that with U.S.
warships plus those of Israel, that they can arouse the sympathies of one
sole Iranian citizen.
Analyzing the current situation, I initially believed that the battle would
begin in the Korean peninsula, and that that area would be the detonator of
the second Korean war which, in its turn, would immediately lead to the
second war that the United States would impose on Iran.
Now, reality is changing things in an inverse sense: that of Iran will
immediately unleash that of Korea.
The leadership of North Korea, which was accused of the sinking of the
Cheonan, and is all too well aware that it was sunk by a mine that the
yanki intelligence services succeeded in placing in the hull of that
corvette, will not hesitate for one second to act as soon as the attack is
initiated on Iran.
It is quite right that the football fans should enjoy their craving for the
World Cup competitions. I am only fulfilling the duty of exhorting our
people, thinking above all of our youth, full of life and hope, and
especially our marvelous children, in order that events do not catch us
completely unawares.
It pains me to think of so many dreams conceived of by human beings and the
astounding creations of which they have been capable in just a few thousand
years.
At a time when the most revolutionary dreams are being fulfilled and the
homeland is firmly recovering, how I wish I was wrong!
Fidel's Z Space
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----