[Questionmark]

So i'm beginning a research paper on post soviet Cuba and while I haven't started yet I've already come across some interesting stuff.



Just a small dip in available oil from ~225k a day to ~180k a day was enough to ruin the economy and trigger famine.

I also have never heard of this documentary before and was wondering if anybody had watched it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_ ... d_Peak_Oil

[Questionmark]

And if anybody knows of any good primary sources from that time period I would greatly appreciate any leads I can get. I'm hoping to find a Cuban that lived through it and interview them myself but that may prove difficult so the more stuff I can find from that time period the better.

[dorlomin]

Just a small dip in available oil from ~225k a day to ~180k a day was enough to ruin the economy and trigger famine.

Couple of things, you will have to look at other economic aid and ensure that the famine was not as a result in drops in that as well. You will also need to bear in mind the speed of the change, sudden changes can have much greater impact than bigger more gradual ones.

[americandream]

Just a small dip in available oil from ~225k a day to ~180k a day was enough to ruin the economy and trigger famine.

Couple of things, you will have to look at other economic aid and ensure that the famine was not as a result in drops in that as well. You will also need to bear in mind the speed of the change, sudden changes can have much greater impact than bigger more gradual ones.

They are being embargoed by the leader of the investor world as well which sort of skews any data into limboland.

[pana_burda]

And if anybody knows of any good primary sources from that time period I would greatly appreciate any leads I can get. I'm hoping to find a Cuban that lived through it and interview them myself but that may prove difficult so the more stuff I can find from that time period the better.

Indeed ... that surely is quite a task for all the reasons we know. And for those we still don`t !.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsFdtqYFsC0

I formally renounce my posts in the leadership of the Party, my post as Minister, my rank as Major, my status as a Cuban citizen. Nothing legal binds me to Cuba, only ties of another kind that cannot be broken, as can official appointments. Looking back over my past life, I believe that I have worked with sufficient faithfulness and dedication in order to consolidate the revolutionary triumph. My only deficiency of any importance is not to have trusted you more from those first moments in the Sierra Maestra and in not having understood soon enough your qualities of leader and revolutionary.

One thing is certain though, the pharagraph extracted out of the translation of that letter read by fidel, and allegedly sent by che (quite accurate to that precise point, I might add) suggests some distance between the two personajes ... or dissidence . And, according to my records, the finger cut off the hand of Guevara, did not end up in the White House ....

Please, should you find somebody from/in that country, with enough "cojones" (and Internet connection, of course) for the interview, bear in mind what happens with dissidence in the island.

[americandream]

And if anybody knows of any good primary sources from that time period I would greatly appreciate any leads I can get. I'm hoping to find a Cuban that lived through it and interview them myself but that may prove difficult so the more stuff I can find from that time period the better.

Indeed ... that surely is quite a task for all the reasons we know. And for those we still don`t !.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsFdtqYFsC0

I formally renounce my posts in the leadership of the Party, my post as Minister, my rank as Major, my status as a Cuban citizen. Nothing legal binds me to Cuba, only ties of another kind that cannot be broken, as can official appointments. Looking back over my past life, I believe that I have worked with sufficient faithfulness and dedication in order to consolidate the revolutionary triumph. My only deficiency of any importance is not to have trusted you more from those first moments in the Sierra Maestra and in not having understood soon enough your qualities of leader and revolutionary.

One thing is certain though, the pharagraph extracted out of the translation of that letter read by fidel, and allegedly sent by che (quite accurate to that precise point, I might add) suggests some distance between the two personajes ... or dissidence . And, according to my records, the finger cut off the hand of Guevara, did not end up in the White House ....

Please, should you find somebody from/in that country, with enough "cojones" (and Internet connection, of course) for the interview, bear in mind what happens with dissidence in the island.

At least the Cubans get decent health and such like in contrast to the other Latin American hellholes.

[Ache]

And if anybody knows of any good primary sources from that time period I would greatly appreciate any leads I can get. I'm hoping to find a Cuban that lived through it and interview them myself but that may prove difficult so the more stuff I can find from that time period the better.

I was born and raised in Cuba, I was still living there when the Soviet Union collapsed and the whole game was really over, suddenly Cubans were getting pounded with a super inflation and no one knew why. Literally Cubans were living a parallel life different from the real free world economy, so was pretty much the whole East Communist countries. The boobing point was : August 5, 1994: The Day the 'Hottest Summer' Exploded in Cuba

Forget about the document The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, those people who made it are not really done their homework, they cant even speak Spanish, let alone understanding the Cuban culture.

Cuban as a country, society, economy is really hard to understand from a Western point of view, still I consider the actual Cuba a very Western society overall.

Note: Keep in mind when talking about Cuba an Peak Oil, ordinary Cubans living in Cuba - no the ones in power or the ones living in Miami - are used to struggle from the first day they are born, summers in Cuba are extremely hot, humid, during those hot days they sleep without AC, they are very family oriented and do not care about helping each other. In other words, if USA drops their living standard close to how Cubans make it everyday, people here will choose to kill them self instead of keep living.

[americandream]

ache

Modernity is modernity. Whether under capitalism or communism as both models of society are post feudal, technological by varying degrees and either secular or atheistic. Which is why you find for example, that nominally socialist societies make the transition oto capitalism with greater ease (China and The USSR) than do feudal ones (medieval Europe and more recently, the medieval world of Islam).

Having said that, the individualist society of capital is functionally alienating and hence, in crisis, prone to painful and violent displocation.

[Ache]

ache

Modernity is modernity. Whether under capitalism or communism as both models of society are post feudal, technological by varying degrees and either secular or atheistic. Which is why you find for example, that nominally socialist societies make the transition oto capitalism with greater ease (China and The USSR) than do feudal ones (medieval Europe and more recently, the medieval world of Islam).

Having said that, the individualist society of capital is functionally alienating and hence, in crisis, prone to painful and violent displocation.

I really do not get your point .

I think you need to stop trying to fit things into molds right now.

I do not think you can say China or USSR make an easy transition to capitalism, have you read their history?

Russia still trying to make a transition into capitalist of whatever you want to call it, they do even know what they have over there. Have you been to the rest of the old Eastern communist countries? They still looking for their identities.

Cuba before 1959 was almost cookie cutter of USA even more than Peurto Rico.

[americandream]

ache

Modernity is modernity. Whether under capitalism or communism as both models of society are post feudal, technological by varying degrees and either secular or atheistic. Which is why you find for example, that nominally socialist societies make the transition oto capitalism with greater ease (China and The USSR) than do feudal ones (medieval Europe and more recently, the medieval world of Islam).

Having said that, the individualist society of capital is functionally alienating and hence, in crisis, prone to painful and violent displocation.

I really do not get your point .

I think you need to stop trying to fit things into molds right now.

I do not think you can say China or USSR make an easy transition to capitalism, have you read their history?

Russia still trying to make a transition into capitalist of whatever you want to call it, they do even know what they have over there. Have you been to the rest of the old Eastern communist countries? They still looking for their identities.

Cuba before 1959 was almost cookie cutter of USA even more than Peurto Rico.

Evidently you have not read your history. The age of modernity rose with the rise of reason and science. Many of these developemtns in philosophy, economics and science as well as medicine can be traced to this era which was largely socialised in character; capitalism, securalism, Reformism, humanism, republicanism, socialism and much of what we take for granted these days, arising concurrently. Hence, societies based around the principles of this revolution tend to mesh more naturally than say do ideas such as Islam and Catholic Chrisitiany which saw their genesis in an irrational age and therefore are slower in embracing the dynamism of modernity. Ireland for example, has essentially undergone a spiritual revolution in aligning itself with the demands of modernity as has Italy and Cuba. Contrast this with more traditinal Catholic societies, nearer to home in Latin America, bogged down as they are with antiquated rules and economic backwardness (which show all the signs of being insurmountable) or the Muslim world. Were Cuba to reform as a capitalist state, I venture it would rapidly outstrip all Latin American countries in terms of the measures of free market dynamism.

[pana_burda]

And if anybody knows of any good primary sources from that time period I would greatly appreciate any leads I can get. I'm hoping to find a Cuban that lived through it and interview them myself but that may prove difficult so the more stuff I can find from that time period the better.

Indeed ... that surely is quite a task for all the reasons we know. And for those we still don`t !.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsFdtqYFsC0

I formally renounce my posts in the leadership of the Party, my post as Minister, my rank as Major, my status as a Cuban citizen. Nothing legal binds me to Cuba, only ties of another kind that cannot be broken, as can official appointments. Looking back over my past life, I believe that I have worked with sufficient faithfulness and dedication in order to consolidate the revolutionary triumph. My only deficiency of any importance is not to have trusted you more from those first moments in the Sierra Maestra and in not having understood soon enough your qualities of leader and revolutionary.

One thing is certain though, the pharagraph extracted out of the translation of that letter read by fidel, and allegedly sent by che (quite accurate to that precise point, I might add) suggests some distance between the two personajes ... or dissidence . And, according to my records, the finger cut off the hand of Guevara, did not end up in the White House ....

Please, should you find somebody from/in that country, with enough "cojones" (and Internet connection, of course) for the interview, bear in mind what happens with dissidence in the island.

At least the Cubans get decent health and such like in contrast to the other Latin American hellholes.

¿links?

I mean, other than communistoid propaganda.

Listen up, I`m in south america ... in Cubazuela, and its being said all over the media, including westernized outlets, WE are suppoused to enjoy a free and efficient health system even with voluntary cuban "doctors". And free education with also cuban "teachers/instructors" yet both the systems but the PRIVATE ones are collapsed due to its high demmand. In spite of its almost unreachable prices. I would hate to get into details, at least, down in this thread, of the reasons why ....

[PrestonSturges]

From what I've seen on tv, people are quite poor by first world standards, middle class + by Chinese standards, but surprisingly open and friendly. Although Cuba is tough on dissidents, they don't seem paralyzed by fear of informants.

[americandream]

@pana burda

I am a day trader and keep pace with regions and their potential. Those run by US clients, invariably bogged down with conservative kleptocrats (like Islamic nations) are basically shitholes, corrupt and backwards, with attitudes as regards modernity and civil society that will always exclude them from dynamic capitalist development, unlike Cuba (and increasingly Venezuela) who have all the trappings of modernist thinking for when they ultimately throw off regulation (which they will in due course as proper capitalism (not some banana republic) is a necessary precursor to socialism).

I will go one better and post a link on what investors think about Cuba (which looks rather appealing to me incidentally). Note the interesting points on Catholicism incidentally:

http://www.escapeartist.com/Live_In_Cuba/

[Puchica]

ache;
glad you posted, very interesting to hear from someone who lived through the collapse. El pie sabe donde aprieta el zapato, and I trust your description more than a foreigner's. However, not sure what you meant when you said people in Cuba are family oriented and do not care about helping their family; ?no se interesan en el ayudar a la familia? Perhaps that's not what you meant? I make lots of typos too. On the other hand, if you are saying that family ties are breaking down in Cuba, then that's a huge development, one that follows modernity.

[Shaved Monkey]

Hope this link gives you some places to help you with your research on Cuba.
Australians "invented" Permaculture and Australians have been involved in Cuba's Permaculture Revolutions post their special period.
Maybe contact "CAPE" Cuba-Australia Permaculture Exchange they might be able to put you onto some of the earlier pioneers and a few of the locals.
http://www.aaev.net/news/files/page1_bl ... 1009_1.pdf

[bratticus]

Just a small dip in available oil from ~225k a day to ~180k a day was enough to ruin the economy and trigger famine.

You have turned this story on it's head. Cuba got cut off from everything economically. They lost their Eastern Bloc trading partners that were buying their sugar at inflated prices. The "they had to live without oil" angle is side-show and a lie too because they were only stepped on economically during a time period when the world was still producing more oil every year.

[Shaved Monkey]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrkeIexh7W0
This is quite a good post Special Period youtube of Cuba
Its from a BBC doco Around the World in 80 Gardens

this one is a bit of a dry doco but quite interesting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnLvP57U ... re=related

[EnergyUnlimited]

Cuban authorities are reestablishing property markets:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13125104
Funny, but as global economy is collapsing we are also abandoning relics of communism even on last remaining commie controlled lands...
Perhaps we are surrendering to terminal barbarism, as Marks would say...

[Lore]

Well... alright, back to the casinos and fat cigars!

(brief musical interlude)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L6L1NbJuIo