IRIB: "Castro victorious, even at bed"

I'm always fascinated by the bits of inter-dictatorship solidarity that appear at totalitarian news sites. Is there a subtext of nervous worry here that Cuba will be back in the bosom of the World Arrogance the minute Fidel goes the way of all despots who trade their green fatigues for red jumpsuits?

"With or without Fidel, renewed US efforts to topple the revolutionary regime in Havanas can do no good," two-monthly Foreign Affairs wrote in its latest issue for January and February 2007.

Implying that the American policy has been defeated in Cuba, the magazine wrote, "The smooth transfer of power from Fidel Castro to his successors is exposing the willful ignorance and wishful thinking of US policy toward Cuba."

"The post-Fidel transition is already well under way and change in Cuba will come only gradually from here on out."

According to the magazine, ever since Fidel Castro gained power in 1959, Washington and the Cuban rebel defectors have been eagerly awaiting the moment when he would lose power. "But that moment has come and gone," it said in article by Julia E.Sweig, adding that none of what Washington and the rebels anticipated had come to pass.

Power has been successfully transferred to a new set of leaders, whose priority is to preserve the system, Sweig admitted.

"Cubans have not revolted, and their national identity remains tied to the defense of the homeland against U.S. attacks on its sovereignty."

Tags: Iran, Cuba, Castro,