Nostalgia II

Back in the good old days, whenever the old men in the Kremlin sent in Russian tanks into neighbouring nations to set things right, Fidel Castro could always be counted on to loudly cheer on the Soviets from the sidelines.

Tanks into Prague? No worries. Into Warsaw? Damn right. Kabul? Well done …

Of course, the Soviet Union is now long gone and Castro is slowly disappearing off the stage but it seems that old habits die hard.

True to form, the semi-retired dictator has penned one of his “editorials”, applauding the Russians for sending their tanks into neighbouring Georgia, and describing the democratically-elected Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, as an “adventurer”, “greedy” and “opportunistic”.

The reason for such vitriol? As far as Castro is concerned, the Georgians have committed a cardinal sin: aligning themselves with the United States and other Western democracies.