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The Soviet influence on Cuba and the Caribbean is not to be forgotten as the Cuban Research Institute hosted a panel discussion on the history and its impacts on May 16 at Graham Center.

The discussion centered on the history of Soviet communist activities in the Caribbean region, with a notable focus on its increased expansion following infamous dictator Fidel Castros rise to power in Cuba.

Sebastian Arcos, associate director of the Cuban Research Institute, spoke about the vitality of this conversation prior to the event in an interview with PantherNOW.

Its important to understand the past so you can analyze and understand whats going on right now. Because many things that have happened before will happen again, said Arcos.

The panel included three guest speakers who are experts in both Cuban and Soviet history: Sandra Pujals, a history professor at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, Lilian Guerra, history professor at the University of Florida, and Radoslav Yordanov, an associate for the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University.

Arcos would also warn that what happened in Cuba could happen in the United States.

Today, there are people who dismiss the idea something like what happened in Cuba could happen in the United States. And its a mistake. Democracy and freedom [are] something that you do every day, he said.

This is not a new statement; Venezuela resonates with Cuba as the Latin American nation is still under the power of dictator Nicols Maduro, who shares similar beliefs as Castro.

Even in the U.S., Republicans and Democrats have attacked each other with terms, such as fascists and communists respectively particularly as the 2024 elections loom.

Throughout the panel, the speakers examined the different aspects of how the Soviets came to Cuba and the Caribbean region to expand communist thoughts across the region. Professor Pujals began the talk with the history that expanded across Latin American cinema and other forms of media.

They [Caribbean figures] are all trained by the Soviets at the end of the 20s or beginning of the 30s. Even though they might break away from communism because of Stalinism, their visions had been created by this training that [had] to do with the Soviet presence in the region, said Pujals during the discussion.

This is a reference to how Soviet thinking was impacted across cinema, mentioning two figures that were notable for maintaining the vision of communism, but breaking away from them: Seki Sano, who is deemed The Father of Mexican Theater, and Claude McKay, an advocate for civil liberties in Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s.

Moreover, Professor Guerra discussed how she began her research on Cuban history, touching upon her book Visions of Power in Cuba: Revolution, Redemption, and Resistance, 1959-1971. She brought up how Cuban education was incorporated by Marxist ideals, being backed up as Castro promoted these ideals to schoolchildren.

The idea was to achieve a communist personality in every child and so this also extended to the selection of teachers having Marxist principles, said Guerra in the discussion.

Professor Lilian Guerra presenting her research on communism in Cuba | Andres Davila, PantherNOW

Expanding more on the Soviet impacts, Professor Yordanov emphasized that even though the Caribbean region had major influences from those beliefs, it was expanding heavily in Eastern Europe. [the Caribbean region had more Soviet influence based on their relation with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.]

Belgrade wasnt all of that by any stretch of imagination. Bucharest is equally wary of [the coup] and relationships that existed only Castro might have and he was not so straightforward, said Professor Yordanov at the event.

He refers to the 1944 Romanian coup detat which was a tactic for the Soviet Union to gain more territory, as well as the influence on communism in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, happening simultaneously.

This generates more evidence of Castros relationship with the Soviet Union, thus leading to the buildup of the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Revolution.

After multiple aspects of what communism came to be in Cuba, Sebastian Arcos hopes that this brings more attention to how the United States should approach their relationship with Cuba.

The United States should promote free trade [among] more Latin American nations. [They] shall be open up to free trade [because] the idea that we should protect our own markets because we are a rich country [is] actually a bad idea for capitalism and democracy overall.

Read more:
Communism: FIU event discusses Soviet influence in Cuba and the ... - PantherNOW

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said that if any other country wanted to join the Russia-Belarus union, there could be nuclear weapons for everyone.

The defense ministers of Russia and Belarus on Thursday signed a document on the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Russian...

Last week, Russia moved ahead with a plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, in the Kremlins first deployment of such warheads outside Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, spurring concerns in the West.

In an interview published on Russias state television late on Sunday, Lukashenka said that it must be strategically understood that Minsk and Moscow have a unique chance to unite.

He further pointed out that Kazakhstan should also join the Union State of Russia and Belarus. No one is against Kazakhstan and other countries having the same close relations that we have with the Russian Federation, the Belarusian dictator said.

If someone is worried ... [then] it is very simple: join in the Union State of Belarus and Russia. Thats all, there will be nuclear weapons for everyone, he emphasized.

On Sunday, the Belarusian Defence Ministry said that another unit of the S-400 mobile, surface-to-air missile systems arrived from Moscow, with the systems to be ready for combat duty soon.

source: Reuters

Original post:
Nuclear communism: Lukashenka offers 'nukes for everyone' - TVP World

Translator Angela Rodel, left, and author Georgi Gospodinov have won the 2023 International Booker Prize for Time Shelter. They are pictured above in London on May 23, 2023. David Parry/The Booker Prizes hide caption

Translator Angela Rodel, left, and author Georgi Gospodinov have won the 2023 International Booker Prize for Time Shelter. They are pictured above in London on May 23, 2023.

This year's winner of the The International Booker Prize is a unique spin on time travel. The novel Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov, with a translation by Angela Rodel, imagines the 'first clinic of the past,' in which Alzheimer's patients can visit different time periods of their lives on different floors.

"One day, when this business really takes off," therapist Gaustine tells the narrator, a writer, "we'll create these clinics or sanatoriums in various countries. The past is also a local thing. There'll be houses from various years everywhere, little neighborhoods, one day we'll even have small cities, maybe even a whole country. For patients with failing memories, Alzheimer's, dementia, whatever you want to call it. For all of those who already are living solely in the present of their past."

In its review of Time Shelter, The Guardian wrote, "From communism to the Brexit referendum and conflict in Europe, this funny yet frightening Bulgarian novel explores the weaponisation of nostalgia."

Gospodinov's novel was chosen from a shortlist of six books from around the world.

"Intricately crafted, and eloquently translated by Angela Rodel," wrote the International Booker Prize jury, "Time Shelter cements Georgi Gospodinov's reputation as one of the indispensable writers of our times, and a major voice in international literature."

Unlike the original Booker Prize which rewards novels written in English, the International Booker Prize honors fiction translated into English from around the world. This is the first time a Bulgarian novel has won.

Gospodinov and translator Angela Rodel will share the prize money of roughly $62,ooo equally. In addition, the shortlisted authors and translators each receive approximately $3,000.

Time Shelter is Gospodinov's third novel to be published in English. A poet and playwright, he is the most translated writer from Bulgaria to emerge since the fall of communism.

Literary translator Angela Rodel is a Minnesota native who lives in Bulgaria. In addition to Time Shelter, she translated Gospodinov's novel The Physics of Sorrow, as well as a short story collection by Bulgarian writer Georgi Tenev.

In a statement, Gospodinov said, "It is commonly assumed that 'big themes' are reserved for 'big literatures,' or literatures written in big languages, while small languages, somehow by default, are left with the local and the exotic. Awards like the International Booker Prize are changing that status quo, and this is very important."

Original post:
Georgi Gospodinov and Angela Rodel win International Booker ... - NPR

The Western world, in the midst of being primed for a war with China, often has a limited understanding of who this supposed enemy is. Is it a communist force ready to challenge the U.S.s capitalist and hegemonic structure? Is it an economic ally providing an indispensable factory floor for our corporate interests? Or is it somehow a combination of both? Joining host Robert Scheer this week on Scheer Intelligence is Suisheng Zhao, professor and director of Center for China-U.S. Cooperation at the University of Denver Josef Korbel School of International Studies, who hopes to provide clarity to these ever growing questions.

His new book, The Dragon Roars Back: Transformational Leaders and Dynamics of Chinese Foreign Policy, attempts to frame China and its history for todays moment in time. It demonstrates that it was never just communism that drove China to be the world power it has become but rather nationalism. Zhao focuses on three leaders in Chinas contemporary history, who serve to represent this dragon that has roared back to the world: Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and their current president Xi Jinping. Zhao and Scheer go back and forth, diving into the nuances of each rulers time and their relation to the international order.

[The Chinese leaders] are all first nationalists, then Communist Party members. They all share the same dream to make China prosper and [be] powerful and also redeem the so-called century of humiliation, Zhao says. These are the dragons roaring back, and under their leadership, China will not be denied its place in the world. This place was once respected and a sort of peaceful balance was achieved during the era of Nixon and Mao. Fast forward to today however, and, despite successful economic interdependence being achieved between the two countries, the U.S. has rejected the possibility of a multipolar world with its advances in Taiwan, and this can of worms that Nixon and Kissenger worked to quell has suddenly burst again.

Scheer and Zhao agree on what The Dragon Roars Back strives to clarify: I think what your book challenges is the centrality of the enemy that we had after World War II, of an ideology of communism, and says the real problem is nationalism and that China, with its great history and its importance, is driven by nationalism, which is now threatening our view of the world, Scheer says. This nationalism and enormous success under Xi, Zhao responds, is now challenging U.S. predominance in the world, which perhaps the U.S. cannot accept.

See more here:
The China Dragon Roars Back Whether the US Likes It or Not - KCRW

Members of the digital ID communities in the United States and European Union talked up the federated approach to digital IDs last week at the ID4Africa 2023 AGM.

A fair question after each presentation would have been, are either the U.S. or the E.U. the best models for African nations looking to create a continentwide interoperable ID system?

The EUs effort (much like its still-forming AI Act) lies under volumes of files of memos of rules and regulations.

And it is optimistic in the extreme to think the U.S. is moving to any kind of coherent ID system. Whole swaths of the nation see Biblical evil, communism or White replacement in a digital ID that is no different in substance than a physical drivers license.

Unperturbed by these realities, Gail Hodges, executive director of the U.S.-based OpenID Foundation, and Didier Trutt, chairman of the European nonprofit Security Identity Alliance, addressed the topic at the conference in Kenya.

There are 69 jurisdictions mostly the 50 states, which of each run ID and driving license operations relevant to digital identification in the U.S., Hodges pointed out (startling but there are more than 1,000 jurisdictions of all kinds in the state of Illinois alone).

OpenID has done some groundwork in the country. Hodges pointed out that digital ID standards have been adopted in the business world, including by Apple. But digital ID standards have not touched a large majority of its adults.

Recognizing that a vocal segment of Americans do not want anything to do with government, OpenID is pushing a system that is centralized on private and/or public sector wallets.

Under this scenario, the states would continue to collect and safeguard ID data but would provide public keys to one commonly held, nationwide digital trust service, Hodges said. All relying parties would go to the trust service.

People would have the power and responsibility to choose who see what personal data.

The federal government can get into digitals through a side door most Americans accept through airlines, trains and ships. The Department of Homeland Safety, she said, is asking all states to perform self-assessments to make sure they conform with DHS identification standards created to reduce terrorism.

Trutt said the European digital wallet program will be based on each member state issuing IDs under a notified digital ID scheme built on common standards.

High levels of assurance will be maintained, he said, with compulsory certification.

And there is a proposal for an EU toolbox that defines the digital ID framework.

The session wrapped with an emphatic plea from Joseph Atick, executive chairman of ID4Africa.

Enrollment is yesterdays problem, Atick said. Momentum and public engagement will die if we dont enable the correct interoperable ID verification in support of ID use.

His message seemed aimed at governments that are perhaps near reaching ID enrollment of their populations. Some have not moved ahead with issues like identity verification, which typically is a more difficult phase of creating a digital ID program.

Wallets, he said. You need to build that into your future, along with the interoperability of trust, public key infrastructure, decentralization options.

Things are not getting simpler, Atick said. African leaders need to keep pushing on each phase.

Africa | digital ID | digital wallet | ID4Africa | ID4Africa 2023 | interoperability | OpenID | OSIA (Open Standards Identity API) | Secure Identity Alliance | standards

See the original post here:
EU, US might not be best digital ID models, but they can help African ... - Biometric Update