Cuba will conduct war games next week

[Agent provocateur]

Cuba wants to show the stupid Bush administration that if they think they are having a grand old time in Iraq Cuba will show them even greater holtility if they invade their island.


http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200412/0...205_166155.html (http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200412/05/eng20041205_166155.html)


http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200412/0...208_166568.html (http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200412/08/eng20041208_166568.html)

[Colombia]

How good is Cuba's airforce?

[Agent provocateur]

This is form the CIA website which was last updated on 30 November, 2004

http://www.cubapolidata.com/cafr/cafr_airforce.html


http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/cu.html

[redstar2000]

Originally posted by [email protected] 12 2004, 12:18 PM
How good is Cuba's airforce?
Old planes, small supply of jet fuel, won't be a factor in any U.S. invasion.

Small countries facing a threat from U.S. imperialism have only one option: ground-to-air missiles...and lots of them!

In fact, there's little reason for a small country to invest in an air-force at all...at best you'll get second-hand, obsolete aircraft that will be knocked out of the skies in hours.

But one guy can hold a modern ground-to-air missile launcher on his shoulder...and knock down a $200 million jet or, even more useful, an attack helicopter.

And you can purchase a whole freighter full of missiles for the price of one obsolete aircraft.

:redstar2000:

The Redstar2000 Papers (http://www.redstar2000papers.fightcapitalism.net)
A site about communist ideas

[Dr. Rosenpenis]

From the CIA "fact"book
Flag description:

five equal horizontal bands of blue (top and bottom) alternating with white; a red equilateral triangle based on the hoist side bears a white, five-pointed star in the center; design influenced by the US flag

:lol:
:lol:

[NovelGentry]

Dear CIA,

I have included in this post an image of the Cuban Flag.

http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/cuba_flag_.gif

[jwijn]

What's so funny? It's true.

The US was the nation that occupied Spain after the Spanish Civil War, installing its own puppet government and creating a flag for Cuba which, like everything American, had to praise the US or the founding fathers in SOME way.

[NovelGentry]

What's so funny? It's true.

The US was the nation that occupied Spain after the Spanish Civil War, installing its own puppet government and creating a flag for Cuba which, like everything American, had to praise the US or the founding fathers in SOME way.

So do we assume all other flags with red, white, and blue, and stars are inspired by the US Flag? My argument is quite simply that they didn't say the Cuban flag was inspired by it, they said the markings on the aircraft were. The Markings on the aircraft are the elements of the Cuban flag. The inspiration is extremely indirect.

[RedAnarchist]

Not every flag likes that - although Thailands was changed to a red blue white one after the Second World War beacuse that was the three colours of the fkags of the three main Allies. France has had its Tricolore since the 1790s - the colours most likely were influenced by America. The Netherlands flag was originally ORANGE, white and blue, but the orange turned to red. The UK flag is just an amalgamation of the English, Scottish and "Northern Irish" flags. And most Slavic countries have these colours in their flags as they are the pan-Slavic colours.

[h&s]

What do people here think of this? Do you think that this is a good thing to show the world that Cuba will kick ass if they are invaded by the US, or is it just a big waste of money?
One worrying thing is that the US may be able to use this to make out that Cuba is some kind of threat to the US - they managed to make Iraq look like a threat, so maybe they could use this as some sort of threat to their cocnentration camp at Guantanamo, and use it as an excuse for attack?
Anyway, the US are bound to dismiss Cuba's strength if they really want to attack.

[Agent provocateur]

Here from the official Granma daily


http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2004/diciembre.../51bastion.html (http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2004/diciembre/lun13/51bastion.html)

[Commie Girl]

:) Nice! The Cubans I have talked to said they would fight to protect their way of life, to the death if need be, against an invasion of their sovereign nation.

[PRC-UTE]

Small countries facing a threat from U.S. imperialism have only one option: ground-to-air missiles...and lots of them!


Sing it with me, to the tune of 'ghost riders in the sky'

S.A.M. missiles in the sky! :lol:

[Severian]

Originally posted by redstar2000+Dec 12 2004, 11:40 AM--> (redstar2000 @ Dec 12 2004, 11:40 AM)
[email protected] 12 2004, 12:18 PM
How good is Cuba's airforce?
Old planes, small supply of jet fuel, won't be a factor in any U.S. invasion.

Small countries facing a threat from U.S. imperialism have only one option: ground-to-air missiles...and lots of them! [/b]
Yeah. Cuba's been trying to get Russian permission to resell some of their planes (there are contracts requiring permission).

It made sense for Cuba to have an airforce back when they got free planes and cheap fuel from the USSR; they did well against the South African airforce over Angola for example.

Currently, though, Cuba's military strategy is based on lots of cheap weapons. And tunnels.

****

The Cuban flag (and the similar Puerto Rican flag) is in fact influenced by the U.S. flag; it was first flown by a group of "annexationists" who sought to take Cuba from Spanish control and make it a U.S. state. Annexationists were usually pro-slavery while independistas were anti-slavery.

Over time, however, the flag became a symbol of Cuban national identity and was flown by independence fighters as well as annexationists. Just one of those ironies of history.

I think the French tricolor has other origins: the colors of Paris and of the French monarchy, combined during a certain stage of the Revolution.

[bunk]

Yeah realistically Cuba should have an army, navy, and air defense./

Cuban Ambassador to Uganda Richard Antonio said Wednesday that his nation is going to defend herself against any United States invasion.

The Cuban ambassador made the remarks when he was speaking to the Presidential and Foreign Affairs Committee of Uganda Parliament to acquaint members of parliament with Cuban relations and the United States, Radio Uganda reported on Wednesday night.

Antonio clarified that Cuba has no weapons of mass destruction, saying that what they have is morale to fight.

He said competing militarily with the United States is counter productive.

He also said matters between Cuba and the United States are currently very tense and difficult revealing that at the moment Cuba does not have diplomatic relations with Washington.

On the US-led war against Iraq, the ambassador said as far as Cuba is concerned, Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.

He explained that however the Cuban government maintains a strong policy against terrorism and that's why Cuba strongly condemned the Sept. 11 attack on the United States./

Cuba starts 'huge' military drill
Cuba's armed forces have begun their biggest military exercise for nearly 20 years, involving hundreds of thousands of troops and civilians.
The exercise, called Bastion 2004, is a response to "the continued aggression and threats" of the US, Cuba says.

The manoeuvres are being led by Defence Minister Raul Castro - brother to Cuban President Fidel Castro and second in the Cuban hierarchy.

The drills highlight current Cuba-US tensions, correspondents say.

The exercise will involve exercises with Cuban air force MiG-29s, anti-aircraft units and elite troops.


The determination of the US administration to destroy the [Cuban] revolution... determines the necessity of conducting these exercises
General Leonardo Andollo
Armed forces deputy chief

Two days of civil defence exercises at the end of the week-long exercise will include a simulated aerial assault.
The exercise involve about 100,000 soldiers, some 400,000 reservists, and "millions" of civilians, according to the Cuban authorities.

Many Cuban civilians already belong to the thousands of neighbourhood Committees for the Defence of the Revolution, whose duties include maintaining readiness against attack.

"The determination of the US administration to destroy the [Cuban] revolution however they can, including militarily, determines the necessity of conducting these exercises," said General Leonardo Andollo, deputy chief of the armed forces, according to AFP news agency.

Last week, the defence minister said the exercises would ensure "the enemy does not underestimate" the Cuban people.

The US sponsored a failed attempt by Cuban exiles to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in 1961 but US officials are scornful at the idea another attempt would be mounted.

'Imaginary'

"The Cuban regime is the real threat to the Cuban people, not an imaginary US invasion," one official told the Miami Herald newspaper on condition of anonymity.

"Castro's playing the victim isn't convincing anyone. What the regime is really afraid of is the free flow of ideas, open political discourse and the Cuban people's wanting a better life and the right to select their own leaders," the official said.

The US and Washington have exchanged a series of blows over the past year, with the US tightening its tough sanctions on the island and Cuba retaliating by imposing a tax on the use of US dollars.


Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was expected to arrive in Havana on a two-day visit on Monday, reports said - his second visit in just over one month. There were few details on his itinerary.
Story from BBC NEWS: