• A selection of op-eds and editorials from the U.S. and around the world. Sign up for the email alert or subscribe to the RSS feed.

  
  

  Castro Bids Farewell

  February 20, 2008
  
  

  The departure of Fidel Castro receives almost universal acknowledgement from Wednesday's editorial writers. The Daily Telegraph writes that whether Cuba's revolution can survive now will depend to a large extent on the ability of Raul Castro to fill the breach. The Guardian describes Castro as a leader who painted his revolution in vivid colors and who survived the varied animosity of ten U.S. presidents. The Independent in London calls him a dictator who had outlived his times. For the really dramatic changes, it says, the long-suffering Cubans will probably have to wait a little longer. The New York Times writes that in a closed, repressive society, the post-Fidel era is clearly at hand, and the Bush administration has done almost nothing to prepare for it. The Times of London believes that the world should be under no illusion that Castro has wrecked his country, while the Wall Street Journal says the end of Fidel isn't a sufficient condition for Cuban freedom, but it is a necessary one. The Washington Post looks at what the United States should do now and says that any strategy must be aimed at giving Cubans the leverage to demand transformation, in spite of what Mr. Castro and his heirs might intend. The Washington Times, in a comment over the gradual handover of power to Raul Castro over five years, says the ease of Raul's rule has dashed hopes for speedy liberalization.
  

  Also in today's papers:

  Daily Star (Lebanon)

  • Mehdi Khalaji of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, in a commentary on the stand-off between the West and Iran, says to resolve outstanding issues, the West should be dealing with the only person powerful enough to make deals and deliver concessions. That person, he says, is the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and not the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

  Daily Telegraph

  • Ian Ball writes from Little Havana, in Miami, that comparisons between Fidel Castro's departure and the fall of the Berlin Wall may not be appropriate.
  • Irwin Stelzer, of the Hudson Institute, considers which of the candidates left in the race for the American presidency would prove most congenial to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
  • Lilia Shevtsova of the Carnegie Moscow Center, compares the imminent political transitions about to occur in Russia and the United States.

  Dawn (Pakistan)

  • In an editorial on Pakistan's elections on Monday, the paper says the results have proved one point manifestly clear: that the people of Pakistan are quite capable of deciding who runs their country and how.

  Financial Times

  • In an editorial on Pakistan, the FT is pleased to report that President Pervez Musharraf and his supporters were unwilling - or possibly just unable - to rig the results.
  • In a further editorial, on China's monetary policy, the FT calls on Beijing to allow the rise of its currency to accelerate.
  • Columnist Martin Wolf comments on the fragility of the financial system, in a column entitled America's economy risks mother of all meltdowns.
  • In a column, Michael Lind of the New America Foundation defies conventional wisdom that the odds are in favor of the Democrats winning back the White House this year. He argues that the era of Republican presidential hegemony that began with Richard Nixon may not be over.

  Guardian

  • Ignacio Ramonet of Le Monde Diplomatique says Fidel Castro's enormous influence will live on, particularly through his regular columns for Granma, the state newspaper, which, he says, will still bear close reading.
  • Columnist Jonathan Freedland bemoans the stasis in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, whose victims, he writes, are the Israelis of Sderot cowering in shelters from the Qassam rockets launched from Gaza; and the Palestinians, whose suffering only seems to deepen.
  • In an editorial on Pakistan, the paper says the ruling party was routed in Monday's election, and with it went the pretence that Pervez Musharraf has the support of his people.

  Independent (London)

  • Columnist Mark Steel, writing on Fidel Castro, says whatever you think of his regime, it's hard not to chuckle at how he's survived 49 years of official American hatred.

  New York Times

  • In an editorial the Times says Pakistan's election results are much better than the United States could hope for, and more than President Bush deserved after overinvesting in President Musharraf and his anti-democratic excesses.
  • Reuel Marc Gerecht of the American Enterprise Institute, writing about Iran, suggests that the clerics who rule that country must never have an arsenal of nuclear weapons. He says the Bush administration should advocate direct, unconditional talks between Washington and Tehran.

  Scotsman

  • In a commentary, Alex Massie says the end of Fidel Castro's rule is the ideal time to lift the U.S. trade and travel embargo on Cuba.

  Times of India

  • In an editorial, the Times says that in Pakistan the clouds of despair are lifting, and that the elections may be bringing to an end close to a decade of military rule.

  Times of London

  • Mark Falcoff of the American Enterprise Institute writes that the news that Fidel Castro was stepping down comes as a surprise to many Cuba-watchers. After all, he says, there was no particular need for him to do so.
  • Columnist Bronwen Maddox links events in Cuba and Pakistan, saying the resignation of Fidel Castro yesterday did Musharraf a favor, not just by stealing attention away from his humiliation but by showing him what to do next.
  • In an editorial on Pakistan the Times calls on the triumphant opposition not to overplay its election victory.

  Wall Street Journal

  • In an editorial the Journal says that while the results of Pakistan's election are being billed as a repudiation not only of Pervez Musharraf, but also of President Bush, it is more inclined to see the elections as a vindication of both.
  • Husain Haqqani of Boston University says the trouncing of the Islamists in the election is good news for everyone worried about an Islamist takeover of the world's only nuclear-armed, Muslim-majority nation.
  • The music director of the New York Philharmonic, Lorin Maazel, in a column explaining why the orchestra has accepted an invitation to play in North Korea, writes that if U.S.-Korean relations are gradually to be improved, such events have the potential to nudge open a door that has been closed too long.
  • The Journal, in an editorial, regrets the lack of unity within the European Union on Kosovo.
  • In a further editorial the Journal comments on the political gamesmanship between the United States, Russia and China over the militarization of space.

  Washington Post

  • Robert Kagan of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says the long-awaited "resignation" of Fidel Castro may give both Cubans and Americans a chance to escape the trap they've been in for more than four decades.
  • Anya Landau French of the Lexington Institute says Castro's leaving office is a sign that U.S. efforts to isolate that country and bring down its socialist government have failed.
  • In an editorial on Pakistan, the Post says the voters have rendered Mr. Musharraf's new presidential mandate illegitimate.
  • In an op-ed on Zimbabwe, CFR Senior Fellow Michael Gerson compares the destruction of the country's currency to the hyperinflation of Weimar Germany.

  Washington Times

  • Florida Republican Gus Bilirakis calls for United States backing for India's permanent membership of the UN Security Council.
  • Walid Phares of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies warns of the dangers of ignoring the armed opposition in Chad, which he says could become the future Taliban of that country.

   

• Latest Headlines

  • The Russia-Ukraine Gas Dispute Updated 2:15 PM EST
  • The Iranian Veto on Mideast Peace Updated 9:33 AM EST
  • Healing U.S. Healthcare Updated 8:01 AM EST
  • The Year of Stimulus Updated 7:53 AM EST
  • Beyond Gaza Updated 9:30 AM EST
  • A Smarter Intelligence Policy Updated 11:59 AM EST
  • Pacifying Pakistan Updated 11:16 AM EST
  • Change Converging on Cuba? Updated 7:25 AM EST
  • Assessing the Gaza Flare Up Updated 3:11 PM EST
  • Obama's North Korea Dilemma Updated 11:41 AM EST

  Global Economy in Crisis

  
  Bhagwati on Obama and Trade
  
  Analysis: The Year of Stimulus
  
  Timeline: How the Crisis Unfolded
  
  More at CFR's Center for Geoeconomic Studies.

  New Book from CFR and the Saban Center at Brookings

  Proposes Middle East Strategy for the Obama Administration

  In Restoring the Balance: A Middle East Strategy for the Next President, experts from the Council on Foreign Relations and the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution propose a new, nonpartisan Middle East strategy drawing on the lessons of past failures to address both the short-term and long-term challenges to U.S. interests.

  New Council Special Reports

  
  

  Congo: Securing Peace, Sustaining Progress

  This report lays out a thoughtful agenda for U.S. policy toward the Democratic Republic of Congo, arguing that what happens there should matter to the United States--for humanitarian reasons as well as economic and strategic ones.

  Deterring State Sponsorship of Nuclear Terrorism

  In this report, CFR Senior Fellow Michael A. Levi analyzes the potential use of deterrence in preventing terrorist groups from acquiring nuclear weapons and recommends a new approach to U.S. declaratory policy, as well as ways to improve U.S. capabilities to determine the sources of terrorist attacks.

  Complete list of Council Special Reports.

  New Independent Task Force Reports

  
  

  Confronting Climate Change

  This report argues that the United States must lead with domestic action on climate change and proposes a U.S. negotiating strategy for a global UN climate agreement that includes commitments from all major economies, while also promoting a less formal Partnership for Climate Cooperation that would focus the world's largest emitters on implementing aggressive emissions reductions.

  U.S.-Latin America Relations: A New Direction for a New Reality

  This Task Force report examines changes in Latin America and in U.S. influence there, while taking account of the region's enduring importance to the United States. The Task Force offers an agenda for U.S. policy toward Latin America and identifies four critical areas that should provide the basis of a new U.S. approach.

  About Independent Task Forces at CFR.

  In Memoriam: Samuel P. Huntington

  A selection of Foreign Affairs pieces by and about the preeminent political scientist of the last half century.

  Subscribe now and get 46% off the newsstand!

  Publications Information

  To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1.800.537.5487, fax +1.410.516.6998.

  For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1-212-434-9516 or email publications@cfr.org.

  Permissions Requests

  To request permission to reuse Council materials, please email publications@cfr.org or fax +1.212.434.9859.

  Please include the complete information of the requested work—author, title, sections/pages to be copied or reprinted, and number of copies to be made—along with a brief description of where and how you would like to reuse the work.

  You may also request permission for Council material through Copyright Clearance Center. For more information, please click on the link below.

  

•  

Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.