Cold War Warrior puts Career on Ice

"...I want a drink, Harry was thinking. What the hell do I care about his revolution. F___ his revolution. To help the working man he robs a bank and kills a fellow worked with him and then kills that poor damned Albert that never did any harm. That's a working man he kills. He never thinks of that. With a family. It's the Cubans run Cuba. They all double cross each other. They sell each other out. They get what they deserve. The hell with their revolutions. All I got to do is make a living for my family and I can't do that. Then he tells me about his revolution. The hell with his revolution...." Harry Morgan's thoughts after having his vessel commandered and first mate shot by Cuban rebels who have just robbed a bank to raise funds for the revolution in To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway.

81 year old victim of colon cancer, Fidel Castro has just announced his retirement from active political life, replacing himself with his brother Raul and stirring fresh debate about the future of Cuba.

After ousting the decadent US backed government of Fulgencio Batista in the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the Jesuit-educated lawyer and socialist idealist has been in charge for almost 50 years , surviving a crippling economic embargo instigated by the US in 1962 and innumerable CIA assassination attempts. Holding power by force of charisma, cunning and luck and having been given little alternative by the US, he looked for and found political friends wherever he could.

His affiliation with the Soviets bankrolled his regime, brought the world to the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis and provided Cuba with a market for a new export product - soldiers - who fought with the Soviets in Angola and Ethiopia. Castro wryly rid himself of noxious criminals and malcontents by allowing them passage to Florida to expand the USA's underclass. More dangerous political threats were incarcerated. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, the resourceful Castro found a new backer, President Chavez, from oil rich Venezuela.

His ideology inhibited investment and industrial development and drove countless Cubans across the water to Maimi , the base of the Anti-Castro movement. Histrionics between the two camps, never in short supply were highlighted by a tortuous public tug-of-war over 6 year old Elian Gonzalez, whose mother drowned while attempting to reach Miami in 2000. Castro's illegitimate daughter is a vociferous critic of his regime and runs an anti Castro radio show in Miami.

Now that Castro is stepping down, what of the future? Cuba has not had a democratic election for almost 50 years. How realistically can one expect an abrupt transition from dicatorship to democracy to be smooth? A rudderless economically weak and ideologically confused post-dictator state without a strong leader is more than likely to crumble into chaos.

King Charles III, George VII or Edward IX?

The eldest son of the ageing Queen of England, HRH Elizabeth II - Charles, Prince of Wales - is next in line for the throne. English monarchs usually choose a regnal (ruling) name to give a sense of continuity.


What are the pros and cons of Prince Charles' options?

Rule as George VII - Pros:
The last couple of Georges - VI & V - have been popular kings.

George VI was a stuttering chain smoker who reluctantly took on the burden of the throne (the stress of which eventually killed him) when his playboy brother abdicated because he wasn't allowed to marry a scrawny American dominatrix.

The modern Georges established the famous George Cross & the Order of the British Empire Medals which everybody loves.

Rule as George VII - Cons:
The earlier Georges in all manner & form constitute the cons.

Starting from George I, a plump disaffected non-English speaking German who imprisoned his wife for the sin of adultery, his son George II who was delighted when his own son was killed by a blow to the head with a cricket ball, and the most infamous of all - George III, the insane porphyria victim who lost the American colonies.

Not to overlook his son George IV whose profligate lifestyle and obscene spending led to this obituary in TheTimes - "There was never an individual less regretted by his fellow creatures than this deceased king."

Rule as Charles III - Pros: Nil

Rule as Charles III - Cons:
Charles I was voted out of office and beheaded.

His son, Charles II roamed aimlessly about Europe for 9 years sponging off sympathisers before being restored to the throne after Oliver Cromwell's grim puritan regime ended. Upon restoration, Charles II lived it up and is remembered as the "merrie monarch" for the number of mistresses he was able to accommodate.

His son, James II was kicked off the throne for being Catholic and despite many attempts, never regained it.

His grandson, Bonnie Prince Charlie, also failed dismally to regain the throne and when his dreams of ruling as Charles III were dashed, he died an alcoholic in Rome.

Not looking good so far....

Edward IX?

I think Prince Charles' best bet to reflect his unique persona would be Edward IX. He fits in well in continuity with Edward VII who came to the throne as an old man after spending a virtual lifetime waiting for his mother Queen Victoria to die and the effete playboy Edward VIII with his divorcee-mistress-wife. But that might be a little too close to the bone...

Abandon all hope ye who enter here.

I am the way into the city of woe
I am the way to a forsaken people
I am the way into eternal sorrow.....
Abandon all hope ye who enter here.

So is marked the gateway through which begins Dante's journey through the nine circles of hell with his guide Virgil, as described in his 12th century masterpiece, the Divine Comedy.

All manner of sins and peccadillos find their appropriate punishment levels in Dante's multilayered Hades.

Virgil? Well he was an "unbaptised virtuous pagan", so he spends eternity in the 1st circle together with Homer, Socrates, Plato and Saladin.

Opportunists? They are a very special lot for whom Dante has found a tailor-made punishment to suit their peculiar crime - that of not taking sides. For this they spend eternity chasing a perpetually waving and unobtainable banner while being stung by hornets. Streams of blood and putrid matter issue from their bodies and fall to the ground providing food for myriads of maggots the sinners walk upon. As they didn't commit, neither does Dante - they are neither in hell or not in hell - he places them in the vestibule to hell!

The Lustful are tossed about by storms of perpetual desire in the 2nd circle of hell.

Gluttons are rewarded with an eternity in freezing putrid slush in level 3 in the company of a snarling three-headed dog called Cerberus.

Penny-pinching misers push heavy weights around in level 4 while the souls of the spiteful and sullen spend eternity drowning in the river Styx in level 5.

Commit suicide and you are stuck with blasphemers, sodomites and money lenders in level 7 for the rest of eternity and flattery, seduction, sorcery and theft will land you in the 8th circle with a bunch of liars and panderers.

But the WORST, the very, very worst, the absolute ROCK BOTTOM of hell......is reserved for ......the TURNCOATS. Yes the TURNCOATS. For the sin of betrayal - of a special relationship or your country - your soul spends eternity in a frozen lake of ice together with the likes of Satan himself, Judas, Brutus, Cassius and.....Bocca... yes, Bocca...the turncoat Ghibelline who during the Battle of Montaperti ("Hill of Death") in the conflicts between two medieval Italian factions, severed the arm of the standard bearer for the rival Guelphs. Because uniforms were not worn in those days, standard bearers were vital and the loss of the standard bearer plunged the army into chaos.

The 9th circle is the most interesting level where one can imagine the likes of Quizling, Petain, Benedict Arnold, Kim Philby, Donald Maclean and Aldrich Ames as frozen popsicles... and maybe also an ex-boyfriend or two....

Take a virtual tour of hell at:

http://web.eku.edu/flash/inferno/