Reflections by comrade Fidel

THE INESCAPABLE CONFLICT

             I recently said that the world would soon forget the tragedy that was about to happen as a result of the policy pursued for over two hundred years by the neighboring superpower, the United States.

We are familiar with its devious and treacherous actions; the impetuous economic growth attained through its scientific and technical development; the enormous wealth accumulated at the expense of the overwhelming majority of its industrious people and of the rest of the peoples of the world by an exiguous minority which, in that country and the others, possesses and enjoys unlimited riches.

Who are increasingly complaining if not the workers, the professionals, those rendering services to the population, the retirees, the unemployed, the street children and the people lacking the most basic education who make up the majority of the nearly seven billion inhabitants of the planet whose crucial resources are clearly depleting?

How are these being treated by the law enforcement forces that should protect them?

Who are those beaten by the police agents armed with every possible instrument of repression?

I don’t need to describe what everybody can see everywhere, even in the United States, on their TV sets, computers and other media.

It’s more difficult to unravel the sinister projects of those holding in their hands the fate of mankind as they absurdly believe that such a world order can be imposed.

What did I write in the past five Reflections ran by Granma and the CubaDebate website between May 30 and June 10, 2010?

The basic elements of a very near future have already been let loose and there is no way to pull them back.

The impressive developments of the Football World Cup in South Africa have captivated our minds for a few days. We hardly get any time to breathe during the six hours of life TV broadcast in almost every country in the world.

Having watched the games of the most prestigious teams in the first six days, and applying my little reliable knowledge, I dare say that the champion of this World Cup will be one of the following: Argentina, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom or Spain.

Every big team has showed its power in this sport, where I previously could only see people running through an extensive field from one goal line to another. Today, thanks to such famous names as Maradona and Messi, knowing the exploits of the former as the best player in the history of that sport and his opinion that the latter is like him or even better, I can already see the role of each of the eleven players.

I’ve also learned only recently that the new football is of geometric variable in the air, thus it’s faster and it bounces back better. The players themselves, starting with the goalkeeper, are complaining of these new characteristics, but also the forward and the defense players are complaining quite a lot since the ball moves faster and they learned to play with a different ball. The FIFA leaders make the decisions on the matter for every World Cup.

This time they have changed this sport. It’s different even if the name is still the same. The fans who are not familiar with the changes introduced in the ball, --which is the soul of a great number of sport activities-- and who fill the stands of any stadium are the ones who fully enjoy the game and accept it under the magic name of the glorious football. Even Maradona, who was the best player in history, will easily accept that other sportsmen score more goals, from a greater distance, more spectacularly and with more accuracy than him, in the same goals of the same size as those where he scored and that made him so famous.

It was different in amateur baseball where they used either wooden bats or aluminum bats; they just had to meet certain requirements.

The powerful professional clubs in the United States decided to apply strict rules regarding the bats and a series of other traditional requirements that preserve the characteristics of the old game. They really added special interest to the show and increased the huge profits obtained from the public and the advertising.

In the current sports whirlpool, an extraordinary and noble sport like volleyball, which Cubans enjoy so much, is involved in its World League. This is the most important contest of this specialty every year, except for the tittles received by the teams that end up first in the Olympic Games or the world championships.

On Friday and Saturday last week, the second to the last matches in Cuba were played at the Ciudad Deportiva. Our team has not lost one match so far. Its latest adversary was no other than Germany, a team counting among its players a giant 2.14 meters tall who’s also a great spiker. It was truly a deed that they won all the sets, except the third of the second match. The members of our team who are all very young --one of them is only 16—showed an amazing capacity to react. Currently, the European champion is Poland and the German team beat it in their two matches. Before those two victories nobody thought that the Cuban team would again be among the best of the world.

Unfortunately, in the political arena the path is fraught with great risks.

One of the issues I have referred to, which counts among the basic elements that have been let loose and cannot be pulled back, is the sinking of the Cheonan, a flagship of the South Korean Navy which sank in a few minutes on March 26, causing 46 dead and scores of injured among the marines.

The South Korean government ordered an investigation to determine whether it was the result of an internal or external explosion. When it was confirmed that it was an external blast, it accused Pyongyang of sinking the ship. North Korea only had an old model of Soviet made torpedo. In the absence of any other element except the simplest logic no other cause could be thought of.

As a first step, last March the South Korean government ordered the activation of the propaganda loudspeakers on 11 points along the demilitarized common border separating the two Koreas.

Then, the high command of the Armed Forces of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea declared that it would destroy the loudspeakers as soon as they were turned on. This activity had been suspended in the year 2004. The People’s Democratic Republic of Korea literally declared that Seoul would be turn into “a sea of fire.”

Last Friday, the South Korean Army announced that it would start such activity as soon as the Security Council made public its measures for the sinking of the South Korean ship Cheonan. Both Korean republics are now ready to pull the trigger.

The South Korean government could not imagine that its close ally, the United States, had placed a mine in the bottom of the Cheonan, as reported in an article signed by investigative journalist Wayne Madsen and published in Global Research on June 1, 2010, offering a coherent explanation of the event. It is based on the fact that North Korea does not have any rocket or instrument capable of sinking the Cheonan that could go undetected by the sophisticated equipment of that war submarine.

North Korea had been accused of something it did not do, which determined Kim Jong Il’s urgent trip to China in the armored train.

As these events developed so suddenly, the South Korean government did not, and does not, have space for any other possible cause.

So, the sky is growing increasingly cloudy while a sportive and joyful spirit reins.

The US intentions have been obvious for some time, as its government acts obliged by its designs without any possible alternative.

As it is used to impose its designs by force, the intention is that Israel uses the most modern planes and sophisticated weaponry recklessly supplied by the superpower to attack the facilities where Iran produces the enriched uranium. The US has suggested to Israel, which has no borders with Iran, to request permission from Saudi Arabia to fly over a long and narrow air corridor that considerably shortens the distance between the point of departure of the attacking planes and their targets.

According to the plan, --some essential parts of which have been revealed by the Israeli Intelligence-- waves of planes would attack one after the other hammering the targets.

Last Saturday June 12, major Western press ran the news of an air corridor given by Saudi Arabia to Israel, following an agreement with the US State Department, with the aim of conducting exercises with the Israeli fighter bombers to strike Iran by surprise, exercises that had already taken place in the Saudi air space.

The Israeli spokesmen have denied nothing. They have simply said that the countries mentioned were more fearful than Israel of the Iranian nuclear development.

On June 13, when the London Times published an information from intelligence sources, assuring that Saudi Arabia had made public an agreement giving Israel permission to use an air corridor in its territory to attack Iran, President Ahmadinejad stated --as he received the credentials of the new Saudi ambassador to Teheran, Mohammad ibn Abbas al Kalabi-- that there are many enemies who do not wish the development of close relations between the two countries, “…but if Iran and Saudi Arabia stay alongside each other, those enemies will renounce the continuation of the aggression…”

In my view, from the Iranian standpoint this statement was justified; whatever the reasons behind it. Possibly, he did not wish to offend his Arab neighbors.

The Yankees have not said a word, which reflects their ardent desire to sweep away the nationalist government of Iran.

We should ask now when the Security Council will analyze the sinking of the Cheonan, which was the flagship of the South Korean Navy; what will it do when the triggers are pulled in the Korean peninsula; whether or not it is true that Saudi Arabia, in concert with the State Department, authorized an air corridor for waves of Israeli modern bombers to attack the Iranian facilities, thus creating the possibility for the use of the nuclear weapons supplied by the United States.

The diabolic reports slide down little by little in between matches of the Football World Cup, so that nobody takes notice.

Fidel Castro Ruz

June 16, 2010

8:17 pm