Rus: Nope, I don’t “celebrate” the failure of revolutionaries in general. I do, however, have a problem with revolutionaries that aren’t true to their ideals, and that would include Castro, Che and now Chavez.
Castro, in his own way, is more repressive than Fulgencio Batista. Che was a murdering Stalinist. Chavez, now that his rhetoric has been exposed and his plans foiled, has turned into just another tinpot dictator.
Yes, I am aware of the knock on Vargas Llosa, but it doesn’t diminish the correctness of his criticism of Marquez one iota.
Lenin came to power in Russia by promising free elections following the revolution. Lo and behold, it never happened. Instead, you have Lenin followed by the likes of Lavrenti Beria, Josef Stalin and, ultimately, Vladimir Putin.
Orwell’s experiences during the Spanish Civil War illustrate one point clearly: It is rarely about the “ideals” and more generally about the “power”.
I don’t like Franco, nor does my condemnation of his opponents impute support for him.
I spent three years in places where the choices weren’t between right and wrong, but bad and worse. All due respect to your time in the Navy, but my time in the Army was very different, and the “education” I received has stayed with me to this day. Call me all the names you want, just don’t call me Polyanna.
