That is so funny that you mention both Castro and Mao, Zoltan! In this week's New Yorker, there happens to be a rather long profile of Augusto Pinochet in which he expresses his admiration for Mao (he calls the Chinese, Patriotic Communists) and Castro (a good nationalist).
I don't see through black/white, left/right lenses. I think a despot is a despot. Castro's authoritarian rule over Cuba is no better than Pinochet's over Chile or the Commuist Party's over China. I think, however, that both Castro and Mao had slightly more legitimate claims to power in their countries. That said, they both became despots in the end, Castro far less violent than the Chinese, probably because he didn't have their resources but also because I believe he had more of a popular mandate.
Your insistence in referring to China as Clinton's backers is also hilarious and amazingly hypocritical, since the entire U.S. business establishment and the Republican Party has long been pushing for free trade with the butchers of Beijing. I have a friend whose father is a ball bearings tycoon in North Carolina. Shut down part of his operations, laid off the workers and moved it to China. Who do you think benefits from companies moving their operations to China, the Democrat-backing workers who got laid off or my friend's father, who happens to be a Republican? But who cares about facts like that? Clinton is the antichrist and why not pin everything you can on him, right? Now he's a dupe of the Chinese government. Before he was elected he was a liberal democrat beholden to unions who would oppose free trade. Whatever. Toss a barrage of darts at him, maybe one or two will stick. He's the antichrist, so who cares?
The problem is--and if you would think about this for a second, I think you will understand why those who aren't Clinton haters despise this whole thing so much--the barrage of darts is the very essence of a witch hunt.
It's a gloriously sunny day in Chicagoland. Crystal-blue skies ovehead. I hope your Magyar self also has a nice day! I'm busy working (deadline!!!), so I likely won't be able to respond to your response until this evening. |
