'Numerous dangers threaten us,' former Cuban leader writes
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comFidel Castro slams 'fracking', frets about nuclear war
Seeded on Fri Jan 6, 2012 8:04 AM EST (msnbc.com)
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A good boy gone bad. Who'd a thunk it looking at his high school year book pic.
Morning beev
At 85, Fidel frets about nuclear war? In Cuba, the people worry more about finding toilet paper.
Did you catch the toilet paper story on fox news?
No. It's a national "joke" in Cuba. Everyone knows that.
There's some irony for you: Castro worried about nuclear war?
He was actively trying to start one; unbelievable.
No seriously, I don't believe he gives a damn about it.
How much oil and gas shale reservoirs are there in Cuba? None?
Jealous much Fidel?
Castro at the moment sounds a lot smarter than most of you, considering he understands that pumping water full of benzene and toluene into your ground to maybe find a little natural gas is foolish and dangerous. Both are EXTREMELY toxic.
If people actually grasped that one fact from this story... but it's easier to just dog on a society you know nothing about.
any man who can stay alive his entire lifespan while continuously dodging assassination attempts by the cia must have something going on upstairs...
let the slurs fly!
The environment was always his concern, and it is no coincidence that Cuba's waters are among the world's cleanest. You might not like his ideology, but our politicians are equally dubious, to say the least. Why do you always have to bash everything that is foreign to you. It draws a sad picture of the American people in general.
The nit wit posts above shows a huge lack of intellect when it comes to the environment but, keep destroying it because you will cry for a long time when this environment strikes back!!!!!
Castro, please die already...sheesh
The Cuban coastal waters have a tremendous oil and natural gas reserves; China has signed contracts with Cuba to explore and produce in the Florida Straits; if the United States open ended up trade with Cuba, Cuba would dump communism within a year, Cuba was once a territory of the United States, we gave them independence in 1920's; prohibition caused Cuba to become a haven for the Mafia and their gambling cartels, they moved to las Vegas after Castro threw them out of Cuba. Batista was bought and paid for by the Mafia.
saxon
Finally, someone knows the truth about Cuba. Most of the other comments are from bafoons and the uninformed.
saxon independence was given in 1902, it was never a territory, just occupied during and 4 years after the end of the Hispanic-American War.
If there are oil and gas reserves in Cuba, wouldn't it be in Castro's (and Chavez's) interest to advocate against fracking in the US? Would Castro want to risk excess oil supplies from the US depressing oil and natural gas prices?
Oh, so Castro says fracking is bad, and because it is Castro saying this, some of you will now go on the offensive and state that fracking is good for the enviroment. There are several sites out there over the controversy of fracking. Note that the sites stating the safety of fracking are all put out by the oil and gas industry, think they might have an agenda?
I do have a suggestion, watch the documentary, Gasland. you can even find the whole movie on youtube. VERY informative and yes it is VERY DANGEROUS!! I live in North Dakota. The oil companies are actually doubling the sizes of towns by bringing people in. That in itself is great for our economy, BUT Not our environment. The oil companies are even running ads to vote against the EPA. I do feel that Mr. Castro is right in this area. He lives on a beautiful tropical island. I can not even conceive in my imagination them trying to "frac" there. He is not an uneducated man. I must agree with Doyourhomework,America.
Trust when I say, if you watch this documentary, you will understand why it is so terrible for us all. Let's rethink this oil situation, and move away from running our world with the power of oil.
gambilltaker; Except for one or two very important problems; first come up with a power plant to replace the diesel engine, that can power a truck to pull 120 thousand pounds up a mountain road, a trains locomotive that can pull many million pounds along rail lines up and down mountains and a substitute for plastic ,etc.(that consumes 40% of all oil produced), we have built the world on oil products, what is there to replace it with.
Nothing will ever replace oil, if Republicans have their way. China is leading the way with solar energy and will leave America in the dust, while we choke on our air and foul the water we drink.
Much of the cheap plastic toy products that are made, should be outlawed or made in such a way, that they can be readily recycled.
Another in a long line of silly stories from MSNBC.
You probably wouldn't be saying that if you could light the water coming from your faucet on fire. Or if you got cancer from the chemicals leaking into your water.
Yes... its so silly.
Yes it is silly. What these anti-fracking imbeciles fail to mention is that people have been able to light their water on fire for years. The methane is so abundant in some areas of PA, that it takes very little 'fracking' to release the gas.
Fracking is in its infancy. We should hold back until we have better technology as to how to do it. We can avoid poisened water, chemicals kicking back into the air and earthquakes such as are being suffered in Ohio this date. My house in Western Pennsylvania and, like very many, is undermined -- we don't need earthquakes -- Youngstown Ohio is just around the corner
Govt Issue,
So by your math, since some of the groundwater is naturally polluted we might as well go ahead and risk polluting all groundwater.
Hope you're as cavalier when it's your kids & grandkids that wind up dying because of the toxins left behind by fracking.
How nice my comments get collasped without reason, I followed the rules. What the matter, is MSNBC a CASTRO FAN?
So Fidel sides with the left wing nuts on eco-issues. Funny that these same people are also funded (especially the Sierra Club by Saudi Princes) by those that do not want us to develop our own resources. OPEC is afraid of loosing market share only. These Liberal Facist ECO-Nutjobs will be the end of us if we do not get them under control.
Nice try.
And sides with the right on scare tactics...
"These conservative fascist Nuke-Nutjobs will be the end of us if we do not get them under control"
Pardon me if I dont support reorganizing civilization based on advice from the leader of a failed system. Who's next?
@MGO,
"Liberal Facist"?... even if you meant "fascist", this is an oxymororn.
(New World Dictionary) Fascism (-n): [A]ny right-wing nationalist ideology or movement with an authoritarian and hierarchical structure that is fundamentally opposed to democracy and liberalism.
Yes of course, we should be like China and punch our EPA in it's collective faces.
Isn't that what so many republicans want? To get rid of the EPA?
What's a little liver-destroying industrial chemical in the milk we give our kids (it only killed and eroded the organs of how many of their kids?) or smog so bad you're covered in a fine gray film after 20 minutes of walking around in beijing. Then, lead based industrial materials wouldn't just be for kids toys anymore, it would be good for everything anyone wants it to be used for! Like dinner plates, plumbing and even dog bowls! Yum! I can taste the neurological damage already!
Yay!
Don't smoke in Beijing? Doesn't matter. You get more carcinogens from the air than you would from a pack a day; it's no wonder their soccer team is awful (I'm amazed they can run more than a block without coughing up a piece of their respiratory system).
Yes, that would be great./sarcasm
way to think for yourself, Chris.
people just don't understand that the ends do not always justify the means. Finding a little fuel by pumping poison into your soil is not smart.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
What's a facist? Someone whose religion worships faces? And how do you "loose" market share? Lastly, how exactly do you propose to get those "Liberal Facist ECO-Nutjobs" under control? Put them in jail? Concentration camps? Execute them? I would bet that any of those would suit you just fine.
Who knew that wanting to give your children a world that isn't toxic made you a fascist...?
Yup, nothing like destroying the planet to make money. Reminds me of the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. Soot, smoke and rivers so polluted they ceased to run. Then you have the poor souls having to live in said fetid envirnments, ekking out a living as virtual slave.
Think those days are over? Look at Canada, there are sand oil extraction areas that are so toxic the native peoples are having record numbers of serious birth defects in their children, coupled with the cancer and other diseases, they have created the new industrial revolution. Someone mentioned China, and they are spot on about the pollution...
Interesting that an old communist can see the dangers but our enlightened leaders and populace have nary a clue.
In that definition, they're using what americans would call classic liberalism; not the periodic rebranding name used by US socialists.
As for "who" supports AND funds ENVIRONMENTAL REALITY I could care less. The only thing we need to know is that greed and the prospect of "riches" is what drives the "DENIERS" in todays republicrap "leadership". We need more people to become intelligent enough to understand the lies and treat them as such. Fracking has been used for many many years, fracking SHALE deposits by HORIZONTAL drilling techniques is a recent "discovery" that has not been properly investigated and PROPER regulatory procedures established to assure there is no cross contamination of zones underground. If you deniers would look at the "energy policy"enact by Dick Cheney during the first term of Bush Jr. At that time "fracking" was SPECIFICALLY removed form government regulations, WHY? This despicable man (Halliburton's CEO) made it possible to destroy so many water sources by contaminating them with drilling and fracking fluids. If fracking is so good then I would require any leasing contract to include a pre fracking water sample to be taken from the whole drill string. Then if any cross contamination is found AT ANY TIME IN THE FUTURE, the drilling company has to supply EVERYONE IMPACTED BY THE CONTAMINATED WATER A CLEAN SUPPLY OF WATER FOR ANY PURPOSE FOREVER. They have to purchase an insurance policy that will state this fact IN ADVANCE that will be in effect even if the original company disbands, is sold, or go's bankrupt. This policy has to be in effect for 50 years after all pollution is gone. IF THEY WANT TO FRACK, GOOD GO AHEAD, IF IT POLLUTES THEN THEY WILL HAVE TO PAY FOR IT, UNTIL THERE IS NO MORE POLLUTION. As a oil field production supervisor (25 years) I know the way these people think, if they can subvert a regulation THEY DO, if they can do the job right THEY REQUIRE YOU TO CUT THE COST, if you are caught THEY FIRE YOU AND CITE COMPANY POLICY DISAVOWING YOUR ACTIONS, if you document their orders YOU ARE FIRED FOR NOT BEING "A COMPANY MAN". I know, it happened to me, I was forced out because I would not pollute my work station anymore. I documented and tape recorded conversations demanding I do things that would pollute my area's waterways. I had them, I thought, they laughed at me and I was "relieved of duty" and within a week was forced out. None of my recordings was "admissible" because THEY WERE UNAWARE OF THE RECORDING, the documentation was brushed aside because I was a "disgruntled fired worker". It always amazed me that for 23 years I was an exemplary employee with exceeds expectations on all my evaluations, yet when I was "fired" they put unfavorable as my work history. Castro I right on this one thing, he is a revolutionary, he is a "person that believes" in his convictions, I cannot fault him for that, I know he is right about fracking, and now YOU have to become aware of what is being done to our country AND IT'S WATER SUPPLY. You cannot live very long without clean water, and there is no one that can sugar coat or "spin" that.
I love how the real crazies out there think being aware, cautious and concerned about the health of everything on this one earth we have is the making of terrorist organizations. Typical consevative. I can't decide if this poster (mgo) is so incredibly stupid that he just cannot think a linear intelligent thought or if he's been hit over the head by a hammer a few times or what... I just read a story about how America is being dumbed down so severely and this guy makes that point loud and clear!
The reason I call it "Liberal Fascist" is because you have a small, fanatical group that is only concerned with acquiring power over ever one else lives. Communism and Fascism both lead to dictatorships. Was there really a difference between Stalin and Mussolini? The far left copy almost all of their purpose gun laws directly from Nazi Germany or did you not now that? Obama is a dictator wannabee and idolises Castro.
And the far right copies its abortion laws from Hitler. Was there a point you were trying to make?
Toasty, I never said what my view on abortion was. I am closer to Libertarian than Republican except I think Ron Paul (though a lot of what he says makes sense) could be the biggest wing-nut out there. If they could actually find some legitimate and reasonable leadership I would join them.
I'd ask that you read your post and then mine one more time. It was a pretty direct reply.
Simiply put Toasty, I believe in the Consitution, not far left or far right extremist interpetations.
Well, if you want to change the subject, be my guest. But just realize that people saw what you did.
Toasty, are you upset that I basically group your hero Castro with other Lunitic Evil Dictators in history like Stalin and Hitler? Or is it because you know that the Liberal Left Wing is no different. Regardless of which path a dictator takes, right or left, the end result is the same. You probably think Chavez is alright. Since half of my wife's family lives there, I have experience and can tell you that Communism and Fascism are practically the same in operation (I have also work in areas of the world were fascism or shall I say religious fascism was in full enforcement). Your dreams of a Communist Utopia are only dreams, it can never exist. Deal with it. When you have lived where I have then maybe you would understand.
Dude, read your @!$%#ing post. You said that democrats copy gun laws from communists, so I pointed out that republicans copy abortion laws from nazis. That's it. That is the extent of this conversation. Everything beyond that was you trying to change the subject. Where you pulled your little "your hero castro and other dictators" idea out of can only be one of three orifices...
Toasty, prehaps you should re-read my post because I said that the liberals copy their gun laws from NAZI Germany, not the communist. Perhaps you need to get your eye's checked or maybe you only see what you want to see, a common problem for liberals.
What a crock! This story is ridiculous... and Castro is just jealous he can't exploit any type of oil and gas resources. Everyone needs to get off fracking's back because it doesn't contaminate aquifers; the reason any of the chemicals do get the high is because of poor cement jobs between the casing and the formation. Fracs do not extend vertically 1000's of feet.
who do you work for? I haven't heard anything good about fracking ever. Our own scientists say the damage it does far outweighs the good...
doyourhomework: That's the same argument the socialist envirowackos have been using for years for just about everything. Oil? The bad outweighs the good. Gas? The bad outweighs the good. Coal? The bad outweighs the good. Nuclear energy? The bad outweighs the good. Wood? The bad outweighs the good. Gas? The bad outweighs the good. Global warming? Everything contributes to global warming.
Solution? Do nothing. Quit your job and stay home and hope someday someone will perfect solar and wind energy, but without using any of the other sources to get us their.
Solution?
Hempseed oil.
you, Happygolucky, must get your bread and butter from some form of the oil industry. You really need to look into how dangerous this is. Even the oil rigs themselves emit chemicals that are full of cancerous vapors. Look at the statistics where it has been happening for a while. I would hope that your mind can be opened wide enough to realize that they are poisoning us with all of their money to hide and deceive the REAL facts from us. When over 500 different poisonous chemicals are used in fracking, just to obtain some shale oil, you can not tell me there is no impact on our air and water. Remember, water wells run deep and the path of the water is bound to intersect somewhere. Just where is a question that they have no answers to. Please study this process before you just decide for the rest of us what we need.
Come on! Really? Only you would bother to print anything that this decrepit, pathetic, psychopath, egomaniac has to say!!
'Numerous dangers threaten us,' former Cuban leader writes - Just one really. It is called socialism.
Socialism would be an upgrade for Cuba.
How do you define socialism marv? The USA has been socialist since the great depression. Thank goodness.
Marvin Katz-4925511
Judging by the reforms in Cuba, in about 10 years they'll have more freedoms than us if we continue the path we're heading.
What freedoms have you recently lost Marvin? Give us your list.
RalphH
Google a little thing called "The Patriot Act"
After a life where he attempted to obtain missles from the Soviet Union presumably with nuclear weapons attached, Castro has now gotten religion?
Not much credibility here.
attempted?
He let the ussr park their missiles in cuba after a few failed assassination attempts by the USA. Even he admits he never planned to use them, he just wanted to cheese the USA off...
Letusreason
Use google to inform yourself. I'll give you a hint, the US wanted a war more than Cuba did.
Kinda like what's happening with Iran?
Sad that an octgenerian has-been dictator knows and understands and cares more about our environment than our US Congress Grand Oil Party lawmakers who still slumber in the stone age denial of global warming (and yes, even evolution!!).
My understanding is that the issue on global warming is how much is due to human activities or is it just a cycle the earth is experiencing? There have been global warming periods and global cooling periods so is this one different. Human activities may be contributing, but are they the overriding cause? Some religions of both the left and right deny evolution, but in general my understand ist that the belief is that evolution is a divine path.
Your understanding seems very limited. Tune in to fox for the facts.
....that's calling the kettle black.....
I see more people now arguing about whether or not the proposed solutions will actually do any good.
well said.
You know because he is a dictator does not mean that he is stupid..Every elected leader wish they had more power than given to them by the state.
Injecting toxic chemicals into the earth to release natural gas is a bad idea. It creates millions of gallons of toxic waste water that is being stored in deep wells in several states. Besides contaminating the earth, it uses up the available water supply.
Ohio is now concerned that a series of earthquakes have been triggered as a result of pumping the waste water into deep storage wells.
Once again, money and greed trump common sense. We only have one planet to live on, and when this one is too contaminated to live on, we are done.
You clearly have not been watching enough fox news. Please submit to brainwashing or we will need to control you.
This story is soft propaganda. Associate a real danger with a crackpot, then the subject matter also becomes toxic. If you decide to support those who oppose Frack Drilling you are now bed fellows with Castro.
I hate the corporate media and everything this world is becoming.
that is a great point, Tom.
makes you wonder how many subsidiaries of the company that owns nbc promote fracking or politicians that promote fracking...
takenaka: Enough with the digs on Fox already. Personally, I read the WSJ daily, listen to NPR and browse MSNBC, the NY Post & BBC News. Frankly speaking, there are many stories that get reported on some outlets that get ignored on others.
To think that any news agency is more or less stilted that Fox, however, is fantasy.
Tom Huxley
When it comes to fracking, I'd rather hear it from informed people who have nothing to gain from it, rather than uninformed people who have a lot to gain from it (our electorate). I don't let political affiliation run my thought process, you should give it a try.
What the 81- You do let your political affiliation run your thoughts, I have read many of your post. Denial
Bill1488
Get a girlfriend
I merely pointed out that running a story on a deposed dictator who is not an authority on Fracking what-so-ever is an attempt to derail and or discredit those who actually oppose Fracking and know what they are talking about.
its obvious that mr castro is insane
This is the guy who scared the hell out of Kruschev during the missile crisis.
Um, no, not really. The Politburo had an intervention on Khrushchev because of the Missile Crisis, at his dacha in the Black Sea as they thought he was trying to actually provoke a war. If anything, Castro was just riding shotgun, as Khrushchev had given the order for the Soviet forces to respond with any and all weapons against any attack (short of nuclear) without further authorization.
Ol' Nikita was felt that JFK was a pushover compared to Nixon, (whom he felt never would have allowed the Bay of Pigs to have failed, nor the U2 incident to have played out the way it did) and wanted to regain prestige after the cooling with China.
I was referring to Niki's bio written by his grandson revealing that cigarboy was pushing Niki to pre-emptively launch against the US. The rest of your post is true.
Ah! I've not read that book. I always thought that was just hearsay. Neat...
Let's see. hundreds, if not thousands of people living near fracking operations have their well water turned into a chemical sludge and can ignite it coming out of the faucet and countries carrying belief systems which look forward to the demise of the earth continue to develop nuclear weapons.
And we can't even consider his argument? Come on, we're experiencing earthquakes in areas where fracking is being used and it appears, according to the "sales manual" the oil companies have given us, the fracking operations have nothing to do with it.
I don't know... but I'm not looking forward to the Great Caliphate knocking on my door - especially if it comes in the form of a nuclear suitcase bomb pop of 20+ tons blowing a hole in my sidewalk.
In what way does he sound insane? He sounds like he has not been watching fox news but otherwise he makes sense. I will ask him to change channels.
In regards fracking, ironically he is correct. It has been banned in some European countries precisely because of its effects - including induced earthquakes. There have been reports of induced earthquakes within the US as well, inclusive of town residents being advised to not drink their water ( wonder what happened to their property values ? ) - not widely reported as once again our 'news outlets' are not very effective in the actual news department. Do not expect any action from our elected leaders, federal or state, as they are largely owned by the fracking interests - so some of the US will likely become a near no go wasteland if this continues. One of the new areas is the North Fork of the Gunnison valley which is probably going to be approved for fracking. There are quite a lot of organic farmers in this area - seems they are to be thrown under the bus.
What about the people who est their 'organic' produce?
By all means, now that a crack-pot out of touch communist dictator has declared that fracking is dangerous to the world as we know it, we must stop it right away. And the idiot above who said it causes earthquakes? Come on! When are we going to stop ruining ourselves by listening to the liberal wackos who want us to live in cities, don't travel, be herded into groups that can be controlled? If the liberals want to crack down on pollution, attack the very communist countries like China who are the largest polluters in the world, instead of listening to those who come from communist countries. I really get annoyed that the US is one of the cleanest countries in the world (canada included) has one of the strongest pollution regulations anywhere and we pay dearly for it, and yet we're constantly condemned just because we have been very successful. And for all the idiots who want to go to electric cars, who createes the doggone electricity for those cars - the coal burning nuclear run power plants which the liberals insist we can have either. And all those batteries that are an environmental nightmare? Why do we even give this insane crackpots news space.
We won't be a clean country if we continue fracking..flammable water? How bout in your back yard.
scientists theorize that, yes, fracking can contribute to earthquake activity.
use more logic and less emotion in your debating...
dwayne, you're an idiot. Apparently, you do not read or watch informative things to educate yourself on things that are actually happening to our environment.
The fact that you call everyone who is against it a liberal, is insane in itself.
If caring for my future, the future of generations to come, my people (of all races and religion) and my world makes me a liberal, then I am a liberal.
Wise up. Give up whatever fantasy land you live in and get informed.
Ironically, there is a new technology out there for fracking fluid that does not need to be separated from the gas and recycled, but the drilling companies aren't using it, because they all want to use their own proprietary mixes of water and their own chemicals. But that does not address the issue of injecting anything into the ground, and inducing earthquakes, which is a real risk!
Never thought I'd ever say this about him. But on this subject, he's RIGHT ON.
I honestly never thought that I would ever see the day when Fidel Castro started to make more sense and sound more intelligent than the majority of our US elected politicians...
So true and rather scary.
Castro may be a nut.... but he definitely earned some brownie points with his comments on fracking! The obviously "out of touch" former dictator (based upon his knowledge) has more common sense regarding this subject than some of our folks in Washington.
The fracking industry needs to be closely monitored and the CEO's involved should be more open about what chemicals they are using and how it effects the environment, but most importantly our water supply.
As much as we like to despise him, Castro is right on. The threat of nuclear conflict is simply a "no brainer". Pumping carcinogenic and toxic chemicals into the earth adjacent to our water supply is a potential threat to our water supply. In spite of significant anecdotal evidence to the contrary, the industry claims it's safe or needs more study. Their arguments are reminiscent of those used by the tobacco industry for decades, while people continued to die from smoking related diseases. It seems prudent to suspend fracking until either we develop the proof it's safe or non-toxic extraction technology. There is only one planet to leave for future generations.
Maybe even communists dislike flammable water and earthquakes? Sounds like he's got more sense (ecologically) than many Americans.
Even A broken clock tells the right time twice a day!
Words I never thought I'd type..."I agree with Castro". Fracking is BAD news...
Must be true about only the 'good' die young. Should not fret over a nuclear war, as no one would spend the money on him. Cuba only slightly healthier that N Korea.
Even Fidel Castro knows that this is a problem. This money-hungry political system needs to change quickly or we risk running ourselves straight into the ground both figuratively and, now, literally with these carcinogenic chemicals.
What Castro thinks is newsworthy? I'd pay more attention to Captain Kangaroo
Why isn't it newsworthy? If China had something to say that would be newsworthy wouldn't it after all they own us thanks to Bush. If Vietnam said something that would be newsworthy wouldn't it after all Bush normalized relations with them. I don't understand your post, exactly what has Castro done to you or the United States to make him Irrelevant? What makes your post newsworthy that it would be here on Newsvine?