[Allan from Fallbrook]

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.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

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.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

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.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

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.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Dan,

Yup. The juxtaposition of Orwell’s experiences in the Spanish Civil War (initial idealism and fervent hope for change, followed by disillusion once the reality set in, and ending with a hard pragmatism) mirror that of Buendia: His beginnings, his ascent through the ranks and acquisition of power and his end.

What are your thoughts on Marquez as they relate to his various apologia for Castro? Do you feel that Cuba following the fall of Batista shares much with “100 Years of Solitude” (written in 1967)? Have you read Vargas Llosa at all?

I don’t know if you’ve read Orwell’s “Homage to Catalonia”, but it is some of his best writing and it sets him on the path to “Animal Farm” and “1984”.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Dan,

Yup. The juxtaposition of Orwell’s experiences in the Spanish Civil War (initial idealism and fervent hope for change, followed by disillusion once the reality set in, and ending with a hard pragmatism) mirror that of Buendia: His beginnings, his ascent through the ranks and acquisition of power and his end.

What are your thoughts on Marquez as they relate to his various apologia for Castro? Do you feel that Cuba following the fall of Batista shares much with “100 Years of Solitude” (written in 1967)? Have you read Vargas Llosa at all?

I don’t know if you’ve read Orwell’s “Homage to Catalonia”, but it is some of his best writing and it sets him on the path to “Animal Farm” and “1984”.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Dan,

Yup. The juxtaposition of Orwell’s experiences in the Spanish Civil War (initial idealism and fervent hope for change, followed by disillusion once the reality set in, and ending with a hard pragmatism) mirror that of Buendia: His beginnings, his ascent through the ranks and acquisition of power and his end.

What are your thoughts on Marquez as they relate to his various apologia for Castro? Do you feel that Cuba following the fall of Batista shares much with “100 Years of Solitude” (written in 1967)? Have you read Vargas Llosa at all?

I don’t know if you’ve read Orwell’s “Homage to Catalonia”, but it is some of his best writing and it sets him on the path to “Animal Farm” and “1984”.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Dan,

Yup. The juxtaposition of Orwell’s experiences in the Spanish Civil War (initial idealism and fervent hope for change, followed by disillusion once the reality set in, and ending with a hard pragmatism) mirror that of Buendia: His beginnings, his ascent through the ranks and acquisition of power and his end.

What are your thoughts on Marquez as they relate to his various apologia for Castro? Do you feel that Cuba following the fall of Batista shares much with “100 Years of Solitude” (written in 1967)? Have you read Vargas Llosa at all?

I don’t know if you’ve read Orwell’s “Homage to Catalonia”, but it is some of his best writing and it sets him on the path to “Animal Farm” and “1984”.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Dan,

Yup. The juxtaposition of Orwell’s experiences in the Spanish Civil War (initial idealism and fervent hope for change, followed by disillusion once the reality set in, and ending with a hard pragmatism) mirror that of Buendia: His beginnings, his ascent through the ranks and acquisition of power and his end.

What are your thoughts on Marquez as they relate to his various apologia for Castro? Do you feel that Cuba following the fall of Batista shares much with “100 Years of Solitude” (written in 1967)? Have you read Vargas Llosa at all?

I don’t know if you’ve read Orwell’s “Homage to Catalonia”, but it is some of his best writing and it sets him on the path to “Animal Farm” and “1984”.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

FLU: So sorry. I noticed I just responded to an OT political topic and you were trying to get rid of all of those. Whoops. Do I have to pay some sort of fine or something?

Thanks fot the “nuts in the door” visual. Yup, little bit of TMI.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

FLU: So sorry. I noticed I just responded to an OT political topic and you were trying to get rid of all of those. Whoops. Do I have to pay some sort of fine or something?

Thanks fot the “nuts in the door” visual. Yup, little bit of TMI.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

FLU: So sorry. I noticed I just responded to an OT political topic and you were trying to get rid of all of those. Whoops. Do I have to pay some sort of fine or something?

Thanks fot the “nuts in the door” visual. Yup, little bit of TMI.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

FLU: So sorry. I noticed I just responded to an OT political topic and you were trying to get rid of all of those. Whoops. Do I have to pay some sort of fine or something?

Thanks fot the “nuts in the door” visual. Yup, little bit of TMI.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

FLU: So sorry. I noticed I just responded to an OT political topic and you were trying to get rid of all of those. Whoops. Do I have to pay some sort of fine or something?

Thanks fot the “nuts in the door” visual. Yup, little bit of TMI.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Shadowfax: “Spasibo”? Uh-oh, now we’ve got the Russians involved?

I brought up Marquez and Vargas Llosa largely because I thought their respective writings had some bearing on the topic at hand. Marquez is something of a disappointment to me, in that he is an apologist for Castro (something that Vargas Llosa has taken him to task for in the past).

I also brought it up in the context of fascism, communism and republicanism. Rus linked a piece from Orwell’s “Homage to Catalonia”, which I personally think is some of his best writing. The Spanish Civil War also provides an excellent backdrop to the thread given the history of that conflict and the involvement of the Germans, Italians and Soviets.

We get could really discursive and go off on a fresh tangent regarding “wars of liberation” that pitted various ideologies against each other and how those wars still resonate to this day. And how they manifest themselves in the dialogue we are having now (between liberals and conservatives).

[Author]

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