Impossible joy, Reflections of Fidel column, Fidel Castro Ruz, July 4, 2010

I promised that I would be the “happiest man in the world if I was wrong” but, unfortunately, my happiness was short-lived.

The World Cup has still not ended. There are six days left to go before the final.

What an exceptional opportunity the yanki empire and the fascist state of Israel might miss for keeping the minds of the vast majority of the inhabitants of the planet off their basic problems!

Who would have noticed the disastrous plans of the empire in relation to Iran and its crude pretexts for attacking it?

At the same time I ask myself: what are Israeli warships doing for the first time in the waters of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s maritime areas?

Is it possible to imagine that the yanki nuclear aircraft carriers and the Israeli warships will leave their with their tails between their legs if the requisites contained in Resolution 1929 passed by the United Nations Security Council on June 9, 2010 – which authorizes the inspection of Iranian ships and aircraft, with the possibility of making those inspections within the territory of any state and which, this time around, authorizes doing so on the high sea – are met?

The resolution also establishes that the inspection of Iranian ships should not be undertaken without Iran’s consent. In that case, its refusal would be the subject of analysis.

Another added element is the possibility of seizing what has been inspected, if it can be confirmed that it does not comply with the terms of the resolution.

A disarmed Iran was the victim of that cruel war with Iraq in which the masses of the Revolutionary Guards cleared the minefields by advancing across them.

This is not the case today. I explained in earlier Reflections that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was chief of the Revolutionary Guards in West Iran who bore the central brunt of that war.

Years later, an emboldened Iraqi government dispatched the bulk of its Republican Guard and annexed the oil rich Arab Emirate of Kuwait, an easy prey.

The government of Iraq maintained a close relationship with Cuba, which has provided it with significant health services since the times when it was not at war. Our country tried to persuade it to abandon Kuwait and put an end to the war that it had provoked based on erroneous points of view.

It is now known that a mediocre yanki ambassador, who maintained excellent relations with the government of Iraq, induced it to the error committed.

Bush Senior attacked his former friend, leading a powerful coalition with a strong Arab Sunni Muslim composition from countries that supply oil to a large part of the industrialized and rich nations, which advanced from the south of Iraq to cut off the retreat of the Republican Guard, which was withdrawing toward Baghdad and which, given the prudence of the United States Marines and Armed Forces – under the leadership of Colin Powell, a prestigious general and subsequently Secretary of State of George W. Bush – escaped toward the capital of Iraq.

Out of pure revenge, they utilized missiles contaminated with depleted uranium against the Republican Guard, with which, for the first time, they experienced the damage that these could inflict on enemy soldiers.

The Iran which, at this moment, is threatening with its air, land and sea armies of the Muslim-Shiite religion, is nothing like the Republican Guard that they attacked with impunity in Iraq.

The empire is at the point of committing an inestimable error without anybody being able to prevent it. It is advancing inexorably toward a disastrous fate.

The only thing that can be stated is that the quarter finals of the World Cup took place. In that way, we football fans were able to enjoy the emotional games in which we saw incredible things. It has been affirmed that, for 36 years, the Holland team has never lost World Cup matches on a Friday. Only thanks to computers could that calculation be made.

It is a fact that Brazil was eliminated in the quarter finals of the Cup. A referee left Brazil out of them. At least that was the impression that an excellent commentator on Cuban television insistently repeated. Afterward, the FIFA declared that the referee’s decision was correct.

Later on, the same referee left Brazil with 10 players at a decisive moment, when more than half of the second time of the game remained. That was definitely never the referee’s intention.

Yesterday, Argentina was eliminated. In the first minutes, the German team, via midfielder Müller, caught by surprise the confident Argentine defense and goalkeeper and succeeded in scoring a goal.

Later, the Argentine forwards just could not score a goal on no less than 10 occasions, for one to the German team.

On the contrary, the German team notched up another three and even Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, applauded wildly.

So, once again, one of the favorite teams lost, leaving 90% of football fans in Cuba stunned.

The vast majority of lovers of that sport do not even know on which continent Uruguay is to be found. A final between European countries would be the most lackluster and anti-historic since that sport came into the world.

On the other hand, events took place in the international sphere that have nothing to do with games of chance but everything to do with the elemental logic that rules the destinies of the empire.

A series of events saw the light of day on July 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

All of them revolve around one fact: the big powers represented on the United Nations Security Council with a right to the veto, plus Germany, urged the government of Iran on July 2 make “a prompt response” to the invitation extended to it to return to negotiations on its nuclear program.

The day before, President Barack Obama signed a bill extending existing measures against Iran’s energy and banking sectors, and which could penalize companies doing business with the Tehran government. In other words, the rigorous blockade and the strangulation of Iran.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad affirmed that his country would return to talks at the end of August and emphasized the necessary participation of countries such as Brazil and Turkey, the only two members of the Security Council who opposed the sanctions on June 9.

A high-ranking official of the European Union contemptuously stated that neither Brazil nor Turkey would be invited to participate in the talks.

Nothing more is needed to come to the pertinent conclusions.

Neither of the two parties will give in: one, due to the pride of the powerful, and the other, out of resistance to the yoke and the capacity to fight, as has occurred so many times in the history of humanity.

Without any doubt whatsoever, the people of Iran, a national of millenary traditions, will defend themselves against the aggressors. It is incomprehensible that Obama can seriously believe that they would bow down to his demands.

The president of that country and its religious leaders, inspired by the Islamic Revolution of Ruhollah Khomeini, creator of the Revolutionary Guards, the modern Armed Forces and the new state of Iran, will resist.

For us, the poor nations of the world, who are not in the least to blame for the colossal mess created by imperialism, located in this hemisphere to the south of the United States, others located in the West, Center and South of Africa, and others that are able to remain unharmed by nuclear war in the rest of the planet, there is no alternative other than to confront the consequences of the catastrophic nuclear war which will erupt in a very short time.

Unfortunately, I have nothing to rectify and I take full responsibility for what is written in my latest Reflections.

Fidel Castro Ruz
July 4, 2010
5:36 p.m.

Translated by Granma International