Fidel Castro lays into Ahmadinejad – the political balance begins to be restored
The world has turned upside down, at least that was what we thought. Tony 
Blair and George Bush were liberal heroes in the Middle East while the left back home were doing their best to excuse Islamic fanaticism as a response to imperialism.
More sense was being spoken by Sarkozy on the economy than many of our left-leaning economist MPs, and while US politicians were all bending over backwards to seem the most comfortable with a mosque within three minutes walking from the site of 9/11, while reminding us of the peaceful message of Ramadan, radicals such as Hugo Chavez and that Scottish hottie George Galloway were cuddling up to an Iranian president so seemingly nonchalant that a woman in his country could be stoned to death for a crime, proof of which would not fool a duck on acid, one wondered whether the world would soon just burn up and implode.
But, behold, some sense has been restored. Think what you will of Castro, I remember in my own days of ardent support, all I had in my intellectual toolbox to return the question of human rights was something along the lines of: well it’s better than the record of Saudi Arabia, and imperialist countries trade with them, don’t they!
A fair point, even to this day, but only serves to criticise the west’s stupidity for trading with Wahhabi catastrophists, does not in any way, shape or form exonerate Cuba’s own dissenter prison population.
In fact, Castro has recently come out against Ahmadinejad calling him an anti-Semite for “denying the holocaust” while urging “Tehran to acknowledge the “unique” history of antisemitism and understand why Israelis feared for their existence”.
Some have rightly commented that this could put Hugo Chavez – who will soon meet Venezuelan Jews to prove once and for all that he is not an anti-Semite – in a peculiar situation with the Iranian premier. Might put Galloway in the doghouse too, as in 2006 he published the Fidel Castro handbook while calling him the “the living person he most admires“.
While this isn’t gamechanging stuff, it certainly does restore faith that international leftism is not a catch-all attachment to the underdog – which in recent times has meant all manner of disparate politicians and politics uniting under the flimsy banner of anti-Americanism.
Such a union was destined to fail, and this is preferable too, for we can’t have good progressives mixing with election-fiddling theocrats with a bent for killing innocent women – that just wouldn’t do.
Nothing has changed my feelings towards Castro, but I’m glad he has done this, because many socialists look up to him – Chavez and Galloway noted – and this might provide a necessary blow to the head for those whose oiled-gloves are trying to juggle egalitarian principles with Islamist horse feathers.
Is this Harry’s Place now?
Ahmadinejad has publicly called the Holocaust “a myth”, claiming ZIONIST Jews exaggerated the Nazi genocide to win sympathy from European governments. The ageing Castro had better go back to bed, instead of helping the Zionist propaganda. Ahmadinejad is not perfect but he genuinely supports the Palestinians who have suffered for 63 years the occupation of their native land. You must not be fooled by the (mis)use of the word “anti-Semitism”.
Oh, the old holocaust is zionist propaganda line, where – other than Ipswich – would we find such a stupid perversion of history?
Carl P does not know that, for the Zionists, Zionism was more important than the children of Germany: “If I knew that it would be possible to have all the children in Germany by bringing them over to England, and only half of them to Eretz Israel [Palestine] then I would opt for the second alternative. For we must weigh not only the lives of those children but also the history of the people of Israel” (Ben-Gurion). While the Zionist state is constantly reminding us of the Holocaust, the indigenous Palestinians are forbidden to commemorate the 1947-1948 NAKBA: the destruction of Palestine and its ethnic cleansing.
(People are capable of thinking in Ipswich)
What does this have to do with Castro? Is he a Zionist stooge now?
I am not particularly concerned with Castro (who – maybe inadvertently – helps the Zionists). I only care very deeply about the fate of the long-suffering Palestinians, and the fact that the illegitimate terrorist Zionist state has transformed its Palestinian victims into the “terrorists who want to wipe ‘Israel’ off the map”. The NAKBA (which is still going on in 2010) is a crime equal to the Holocaust of millions of Jews and non-Jews, seen as sub-humans by the Nazis.
but what you should realise is that if you criticise someone (in this instance Castro) who is himself criticising an anti-Semite for being a holocaust denier, then you come across as in denial of the holocaust yourself. But even worse, you’re making an argument on a blog post which you probably haven’t read, or if you have, are choosing to ignore.
Please, will you hear what I am saying: Castro is wrong:
Ahmadinejad is neither an anti-Semite, nor a Holocaust denier. He has been misquoted by the US and its Zionist allies, having actually said: ”In the name of the Holocaust, they have created a myth of the Holocaust and regard it to be worthier than God, religion and the prophets”. This language targets the myth of the Holocaust (not the Holocaust itself), what has been done with the Holocaust. Many important Jewish theologians have criticized the “cult” or “ghost” of the Holocaust without denying that it happened.
Mr Ahmadinejad is demonized for condemning the Zionist state. The world is therefore made to believe that Iran is preparing to attack “Israel”. If so, the US and “Israel” can be justified if/when they attack Iran.
Disinformation about Iran is paramount. The second set of lies is Iran’s “nuclear weapon programme.