GRANMA INTERNATIONAL
Havana. October 27, 2011

Reflections of Fidel
NATO's genocidal role Part III
(Taken from CubaDebate)

ON February 23, under the title "Cynicism's danse macabre," I stated:

"The politics of plunder imposed by the United States and its NATO allies in the
Middle East is in crisis."

"Thanks to Sadat's betrayal at Camp David, the Palestinian Arab State has not
come into existence, despite the United Nations agreements of November 1947, and
Israel has become a powerful nuclear force allied with the United States and
NATO.

"The U.S. military-industrial complex supplies tens of billions of dollars every
year to Israel and to the very Arab states that it subjugates and humiliates.

"The genie is out of the bottle and NATO doesn't know how to control it.

"They are going to try and take maximum advantage of the lamentable events in
Libya. No one is capable of knowing at this time what is happening there. All of
the figures and versions, even the most improbable, have been disseminated by
the empire through the mass media, sowing chaos and misinformation.

"It is evident that a civil war is developing in Libya. Why and how was this
unleashed? Who will suffer the consequences? The Reuters news agency, repeating
the opinion of the well-known Nomura Japanese bank, said that the price of oil
could surpass all limits."

"…What will be the consequences for the food crisis?

"The principal NATO leaders are exalted. British Prime Minister

David Cameron, informed ANSA, `…admitted in a speech in Kuwait that the Western
countries made a mistake in supporting non-democratic governments in the Arab
world.'"

"His French colleague Nicolas Sarkozy declared, `The prolonged brutal and bloody
repression of the Libyan civilian population is repugnant.'"

"Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini declared `believable' the figure of
one thousand dead in Tripoli […] `the tragic figure will be a bloodbath.'"

"Hillary Clinton declared, `…the bloodbath is completely unacceptable and has to
stop…'"

"Ban Ki-moon added, `The use of violence in the country is absolutely
unacceptable.'"

"…'the Security Council will act in accordance with what the international
community decides.'"

"'We are considering a number of options.'"

"What Ban Ki-moon is really waiting for is that Obama give the final word.

"The President of the United States spoke Wednesday afternoon and stated that
the Secretary of State would leave for Europe in order to reach an agreement
with the NATO European allies as to what measures to take. Noticeable on his
face was his readiness to take on the right-wing Republican John McCain; Joseph
Lieberman, the pro-Israel Senator from Connecticut; and Tea Party leaders, in
order to guarantee his nomination by the Democratic Party.

"The empire's mass media have prepared the ground for action. There would be
nothing strange about a military intervention in Libya, which would,
additionally, guarantee Europe almost two million barrels of light oil a day, if
events do not occur beforehand to put an end to the presidency or life of
Gaddafi.

"In any event, Obama's role is complicated enough. What would the Arab and
Islamic world's reaction be if much blood is spilt in this country in such an
adventure? Would the revolutionary wave unleashed in Egypt stop a NATO
intervention?

"In Iraq the innocent blood of more than a million Arab citizens was shed when
this country was invaded on false pretenses. Mission accomplished, George W.
Bush proclaimed.

"No one in the world will ever be in favor of the deaths of defenseless
civilians in Libya or anywhere else. I ask myself, would the United States and
NATO apply that principle to the defenseless civilians killed every day by
yankee drones and this organization's soldiers in Afghanistan and Pakistan?

"It is a danse macabre of cynicism."

While I was meditating on these events, the United Nations debate scheduled for
yesterday, Tuesday, October 25 on the "Necessity of ending the commercial and
financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba began. This is something
which has been demanded by the vast majority of this institution's member
countries for 20 years.

This time the numerous elemental and just arguments – which for United States
governments were no more than rhetorical exercises – revealed, like never
before, the political and moral weakness of the most powerful empire ever to
have existed, and to whose oligarchical interests and insatiable thirst for
power and riches all the planet's inhabitants have been subjected, including the
very people of that country.

The United States is tyrannizing and plundering the globalized world with its
political, economic, technological and military might.

That truth is becoming more and more obvious in the wake of the honest and
courageous debates which have taken place in the United Nations during the last
20 years, with the support of states which one would imagine are expressing the
will of the vast majority of the planet's inhabitants.

Before [Cuban Foreign Minister] Bruno's speech, many country organizations
expressed their points of view through one of their members. The first was
Argentina, in the name of the Group of 77 plus China; followed by Egypt, in the
name of the Non-Aligned Movement; Kenya, in the name of the African Union;
Belize, in the name of CARICOM; Kazakhstan, in the name of the Organization of
Islamic Cooperation; and Uruguay, in the name of MERCOSUR.

Independently of these expressions of a collective nature, China, a country of
growing political and economic weight in the world, India and Indonesia strongly
supported the resolution via their ambassadors; between the three of them they
represent 2.7 billion inhabitants. The ambassadors of the Russian Federation,
Belarus, South Africa, Algeria, Venezuela and Mexico did likewise. The
impassioned words of solidarity expressed by the ambassador of Belize, speaking
on behalf of the Caribbean community, and those of St. Vincent & the Grenadines
and Bolivia, resonated among the poorest countries of the Caribbean and Latin
America. Their arguments in the context of the solidarity of our people –
despite a blockade which has already lasted 50 years – will be a constant
stimulus for our doctors, educators and scientists.

Nicaragua spoke before the vote, to bravely explain why it would vote against
this perfidious measure.

The United States representative also spoke before the vote, in order to explain
the inexplicable. I felt sorry for him. It is the role that they assigned to
him.

At the hour of voting, two countries were absent: Libya and Sweden; three
abstained: Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau; two voted against: the United
States and Israel. Adding together those who voted against, abstained or were
absent: the United States, with 313 million inhabitants; Israel, with 7.4
million; Sweden, with 9.1 million; Libya, with 6.5 million; Marshall Islands,
with 67,100; Micronesia, 106,800; Palau, with 20,900, the total amounts to
336.948 million, equivalent to 4.8% of the world population, which has already
risen to seven billion this month.

After the vote, speaking in the name of the European Union, Poland explained the
votes of members of this bloc which, in spite of its close alliance with the
United States and its obligatory participation in the blockade, is against this
criminal measure.

Subsequently, 17 countries addressed the Assembly to explain, resolutely and
decisively, why they voted for the resolution against the blockade.

I will continue Friday the 28th.



Fidel Castro Ruz
October 26, 2011
9:45 p.m.

Translated by Granma International