The Berlin Wall, 28 Years After The Fall.kaput Soviet Union

[Rich One]

That specific KGB agent considered those years the "greatest tragedy of the 20th century". The Koreans on either side of the border do not want that situation for their country.
Interesting perspective, myself I would have been cheering the demolition of the wall of course.
And while I love Maria Conchita Alsonso's cry for Libertad, I still think that Communism might be the only thing keeping Cuba relatively pristine (compared to places like the Dominican Republic), but I've also been told that their authoritarian regime while successful in being unwelcoming to tourists, still is very disrespectful to native.

Cuba Communist Dictatorship "Pristine" ? maybe for The Castro and Guevara Children that move like a privileged Elite. Los Hijos del Poder.!! give me a break!

 

[Matt84]

Cuba Communist Dictatorship "Pristine" ? maybe for The Castro and Guevara Children that move like a privileged Elite. Los Hijos del Poder.!! give me a break!

what I mean is that poverty and misery have their upside: less development means less pollution so that the beaches keep pristine for the military junta in power as well as the Canadian and European tourists. But as I disclaimed, I was told the beaches in cuba are very dirty. And that applies to beaches in both its far-fetched but possible spellings.

 

[Rich One]

what I mean is that poverty and misery have their upside: less development means less pollution so that the beaches keep pristine for the military junta in power as well as the Canadian and European tourists. But as I disclaimed, I was told the beaches in cuba are very dirty. And that applies to beaches in both its far-fetched but possible spellings.

yeahhh dirty bitches everywhere man....

 

[camino no tomado]

... I was told the beaches in cuba are very dirty. And that applies to beaches in both its far-fetched but possible spellings.

Yes. And yes.

Having traveled around in both countries (as opposed to being a guest prisoner in a guarded resort) I would in no way consider Cuba more pristine than the DR. Athough nominal GDP per capita is similar in both countries, the DR of course has a much worse Gini score ... however, I'd still rather be poor there than in Cuba.

 

[Caliexpat]

He's a creepy little man with a private agenda. Dangerous even.

Nonsense. The real "dangers" in the world today are the United States & Israel. They are at the root cause of the majority of the world's conflicts to some degree and have been for the past several decades. You've been brainwashed by buying into the propaganda of the West good, Putin/Russia bad paradigm. This is exactly the worldview they want people to adopt in order to distort the public's perception of the truth. This will go on to justify 20 more years of cold/hot war conflicts and the continued build up and use of the global & domestic military apparatus.

Nobody is saying the man is a saint however let's also dispense with the sheer and utter hypocrisy that the US and the West are guilty of. They demonize, criticize and villainize anybody or any country that begins to threaten the petro dollar or that begins to assert itself economically by taking market share away from established, imperialist Western corporations, which as we know have more power than nation states.

Last I checked, Putin was not reading my emails, text messages, transcribing my phone calls, tracking my whereabouts etc. He didn't invent "weapons of mass destruction", which led to a war in which over 1 million Iraqi people were killed and are still being killed. He didn't take out Gaddafi, which led to a power vacuum and turned the country into a lawless Mad Max type hell hole that once had the highest standard of living in Africa. He's not supplying money, weapons & supplies to terrorist groups such as the Syrian "rebels", ISIS or Al Qaeda - yes they are all creations of the CIA/West.

In short, the whole thing is a farce.