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> Bear in mind that Jerry Pournelle is a very right wing guy and was right wing at the time of the Vietnam war, so he looks for confirmation of his own pro war views.

That means you have to read his work with a critical eye. It doesn't mean he's wrong. Communists have done similar things elsewhere.

https://books.google.ca/books?id=3y4uAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT130&lpg=P...

"Castro assured the world that his revolution belonged to neither the Communists nor the capitalists, that it was neither red nor black, but Cuban olive-green."

We know how that turned out.



It turned out that they needed a sponsor, and that turned out to be the Soviet Union?


> We know how that turned out.

As a massive improvement in the expected quality of life for 80% of the population, as opposed to when the government was jointly run by Batista and American organized crime?


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba

"In 1958, Cuba was a relatively well-advanced country by Latin American standards, and in some cases by world standards".

Compare with Chile which used to be poor.


Cuba was under embargo all this time. Where and how it would be without embargo is the question.


Maybe so, but what of those in the other 20% who found themselves disappeared or shot for political reasons, or those simply held prisoner in their own country?


I'm not sure the situation wrt human rights changed much one way or another under the communists. It's not like the Batista regime encouraged dissidents and rewarded independent journalism.




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