In The News...

Oh, I am not much of a historian Cory. I just like to read about stuff, and remember some of what I read.

When I was a kid one of my favorite things to do was to read encyclopedias, from A to Z.

My uncle was deputy director of the Hoover Institute at Stanford and is a historian as well as an archivist. I enjoy visiting with him, when I have a question I send him a message and he either tells me directly or asks one of his friends.

Last question I had for him was why the soviets and the Americans were at one time working together against Katanga in the Congo, during the Katanga crisis in the early 60's.

Interesting stuff!
 
FireFighterZero said:
Last question I had for him was why the soviets and the Americans were at one time working together against Katanga in the Congo, during the Katanga crisis in the early 60's.
Click to expand...

Geez, you're going to lose even Stig with that one!

Good stuff. You help keep Housers on their toes re history n chit.
 
gf beranek said:
I loathed history in school. Today I can not read enough about it.
Click to expand...

I bet if you had an excellent teacher you would have liked it, despite your youth. I always hated math till I got an awesome teacher in 13th grade.
 
stig said:
As will most of the rest of the world's leaders, ours included.
What is wrong with that.

Say what you want about Castro, he is as far as I know the only revolution leader who has kept his promises after the revolution was over.
Click to expand...
Don't know where you got your info on Castro Stig.
"Fidel Castro seized power promising to bring freedom and prosperity to Cuba, but his communist regime turned it into an impoverished island prison. Over six decades, millions of Cubans were forced to flee their own country, and those accused of opposing the regime were routinely jailed and even killed. Sadly, Fidel Castro's death does not mean freedom for the Cuban people or justice for the democratic activists, religious leaders, and political opponents he and his brother have jailed and persecuted. The dictator has died, but the dictatorship has not. And one thing is clear, history will not absolve Fidel Castro; it will remember him as an evil, murderous dictator who inflicted misery and suffering on his own people." - son of exiles Marco Rubio.

I have a great friend of over thirty years who is also the son of Cuban exiles. Their description of life during Castro's regime was just as brutal as Rubio's parents.
Obama said "Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation." no doubt about that.
 
Hey Jim - I think Katanga nationalized the mines. Outside countries with vested and strategic interests (USA, Russia, etc) tend to get peevish when that happens.

Really enjoyed watching "The Siege of Jadotville" on Netflix. If you haven't seen it, give it a go.
 
Yes, Katanga was where most of the mining and therefore where most of the economy was located. Katanga did not want to break from the Belgians, who had just given the Congo back to the Congolese.

The UN and others did not want the "copper belt" of Africa controlled completely by the Katangese and Belgians, plus Lamumba was a bit pink and they were worried that the Soviets might make good progress.

The Soviets were expelled when Lumumba was assassinated, but they retained the services of the UN to crush the Katangese. For a brief period, the UN and the Soviets were working towards the same goal, a united Congo. Thats the part that confused me.

I guess the USA figured that a United Congo would stand a better chance of succeeding economy wise and be better prepared to resist communism.

We were wrong on both counts!

I guess thats why I find the "siege of Jadotville" a bit confusing. To my way of thinking the UN were not the "hero's" that everyone makes them out to be.

I would like to see the movie though!
 
Geez if that whole ranching thing doesn't work out you could always find work at the Princeton Dept of History.
 
gf beranek said:
That patch thing to monitor your health has some far reaching connotations. Scary ones.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's odd to consider. I think the iwatch or Apple watch or whatever, I think it measures bio metrics as well. How far will we go syncing with technology?
 
Limbrat said:
Don't know where you got your info on Castro Stig.
"Fidel Castro seized power promising to bring freedom and prosperity to Cuba, but his communist regime turned it into an impoverished island prison. Over six decades, millions of Cubans were forced to flee their own country, and those accused of opposing the regime were routinely jailed and even killed. Sadly, Fidel Castro's death does not mean freedom for the Cuban people or justice for the democratic activists, religious leaders, and political opponents he and his brother have jailed and persecuted. The dictator has died, but the dictatorship has not. And one thing is clear, history will not absolve Fidel Castro; it will remember him as an evil, murderous dictator who inflicted misery and suffering on his own people." - son of exiles Marco Rubio.

I have a great friend of over thirty years who is also the son of Cuban exiles. Their description of life during Castro's regime was just as brutal as Rubio's parents.
Obama said "Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation." no doubt about that.
Click to expand...

Liberal paradise...
 
cory said:
Geez, you're going to lose even Stig with that one!

Good stuff. You help keep Housers on their toes re history n chit.
Click to expand...
They were at no time working " Together"
It was another of those cold war things fought by proxy.

You pretty much had the UN and USA on one side and the Soviets on the other except for a very short period.

Business as usual, in other words.

It has always amazed me that a whole country could become the personal property of a single person.
Blacksmith Bob and Ray must love that idea.
It is as far from "liberalism" as one can get.
 
Limbrat said:
Don't know where you got your info on Castro Stig.
"Fidel Castro seized power promising to bring freedom and prosperity to Cuba, but his communist regime turned it into an impoverished island prison. Over six decades, millions of Cubans were forced to flee their own country, and those accused of opposing the regime were routinely jailed and even killed. Sadly, Fidel Castro's death does not mean freedom for the Cuban people or justice for the democratic activists, religious leaders, and political opponents he and his brother have jailed and persecuted. The dictator has died, but the dictatorship has not. And one thing is clear, history will not absolve Fidel Castro; it will remember him as an evil, murderous dictator who inflicted misery and suffering on his own people." - son of exiles Marco Rubio.

I have a great friend of over thirty years who is also the son of Cuban exiles. Their description of life during Castro's regime was just as brutal as Rubio's parents.
Obama said "Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation." no doubt about that.
Click to expand...


Fidel promised to nationalize land and factories , this he did.
That you don't like socialism or communism, doesn't mean he didn't keep his promise, that simply means that you can't see past your the end of your own nose.

Communism.......BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!

And one thing is clear, while history may not absolve Fidel Castro, it will cast the majority of blame for how Cuba eventually turned out on silly, vengeful, once again fighting by proxy, US foreign policies.

Kinda hard bringing "prosperity" when you only have one costumer left to buy your trade goods, because the US has blockaded all the others.
 
Stig, it sure brought Castro prosperity. His net worth is reported to be between 550 to 900 million while the average annual income of the Cuban "citizen" is $628. Yeah, communism goooooooooooooooood.
 
Reported by whom?

I've never heard anything of that in the media here.
 
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