Counting down...

[JoeKitchen]

This is one of my favorite shots I took in Havana.  If you looked at the high res image, you follow one of those cracks at the roof all the way down to the foundation.  Under no circumstances, what so ever, should people be living in this building, but here they are.  And Havana is covered with buildings like this with people living in them. 

A building, or wall, collapses every 3 or 4 month in Havana currently.  As a matter of fact, there is an area of Havana that you are recommended on not visiting since there is a high chance of you being killed from a fall brick or stone.  If you walk through there, it is suggested you walk in the middle of street.  People live actually live there. 

Admittedly makes for great pictures. 

[degrub]

Feel free to contribute.

Even from my last visit in 2001, downtown Singapore has changed dramatically (for the better).

here is an elevated view
http://www.photo-heritage.com/planned-books/cloudscape/

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

...lHope you have enough cash stashed somewhere safe. For your retirement. You don't expect any social favors from your government, or do you?

Actually, I don’t, except what I earned and paid into (known as Social Security in the US).

[32BT]

Actually, I don’t, except what I earned and paid into (known as Social Security in the US).

And do your payments actually cover the total cost of your retirement? Or do the next working generation payments have to be included one way or another? Do you actually know how long you'll need retirement? Did you know that something like 80% of a person's healthcare costs is required in the final stages of his/her life?

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... Under no circumstances, what so ever, should people be living in this building, but here they are.  And Havana is covered with buildings like this with people living in them. 

A building, or wall, collapses every 3 or 4 month in Havana currently.  As a matter of fact, there is an area of Havana that you are recommended on not visiting since there is a high chance of you being killed from a fall brick or stone.  If you walk through there, it is suggested you walk in the middle of street.  People live actually live there...

Damn, Joe, you provoked me, it is your fault

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

So, that indicates that people in city 1 are happy people, content with spending quality time amongst family and friends...

[LesPalenik]

In late sixties, I visited Dresden in East Germany and was shocked by all the ruins and collapsed buildings. Destroyed during the war, and being restored at a very slow pace under communism. 
5 years ago, I visited Cuba for the first time and was shocked again witnessing ruins and collapsed buildings. This time not from the war, but again due to communism.

Interestingly, when you talk to Cubans, there are some people there for whom Castro remains a hero.

[JoeKitchen]

In late sixties, I visited Dresden in East Germany and was shocked by all the ruins and collapsed buildings. Destroyed during the war, and being restored at a very slow pace under communism. 
5 years ago, I visited Cuba for the first time and was shocked again witnessing ruins and collapsed buildings. This time not from the war, but again due to communism.

Interestingly, when you talk to Cubans, there are some people there for whom Castro remains a hero.

I am sure for some of them, he must remain a hero or off to prison they go. 

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

I am sure for some of them, he must remain a hero or off to prison they go. 

Yes, that is one reason. You never know who is listening and can report you if you say something remotely unfavorable to the Revolution and the Great Leader. In my country, in the late '40s, people would end up in a labor camp for smirking at a cartoon.

However, there are those who genuinely think he (Castro) is a hero. I remember how much my late father, and the majority of the country, at least the older generation, adored Slobodan Milošević.

[LesPalenik]

Yes, that is one reason. You never know who is listening and can report you if you say something remotely unfavorable to the Revolution and the Great Leader. In my country, in the late '40s, people would end up in a labor camp for smirking at a cartoon.

However, there are those who genuinely think he (Castro) is a hero. I remember how much my late father, and the majority of the country, at least the older generation, adored Slobodan Milošević.

Yes, that's what I meant. Mainly the older generation who grew up before Castro came to power and they are also more susceptible to the ongoing communist propaganda.

[jeremyrh]

No. But they had a better life than they have now.

You saying it's so don't make it so.

[RSL]

You saying it's so don't make it so.

You wouldn't know, Jeremy. You're just a kid, only N/A old. I was around when life in Cuba was very different from what it is now.

[jeremyrh]

Well we cant say for sure the Cubans would be better off if Castro was overthrown that day,

Hallelujah

  Also, since JFK ran on his military service and implied he would be a good wartime commander and chief, this blunder caused him to look for an opportunity to save face.  That opportunity came in Vietnam; JFK actually used his failure in Cuba to politically justify sending troops to Vietnam for fear that if he did not have some military success he would not be reelected.  This has been documented.

So, the Vietnam disaster was (in part) a consequence of US interference in Cuba.

[jeremyrh]

Castro ruined all this.  He was able to cut inequality though by making everyone equally as poor.

We'll never know though, will we, because he was not able to work on building Cuba in an environment free from external aggression. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy - the US claims that Cuba is poor, and they do their damndest to make it even poorer.

[JoeKitchen]

Hallelujah

So, the Vietnam disaster was (in part) a consequence of US interference in Cuba.

Not directly.  Vietnam was, as I thought I made pretty damn clear, a way JFK felt would be good to save face from his blunders in Cuba. JFK ran on his ability to be a good military leader and as someone that would stand up to communism.  The failed attempt at invading Cuba proved he was not who he said he was. 

So, party due to his fear of becoming un-electable for a 2nd term, he decided to engage the communists in Vietnam (amongst other reasons of course).  Like I wrote earlier, this has been well documented by historians and was even mentioned in Ken Burn's documentary of the Vietnam War.  Although I forget the exact quote, JFK said to his cabinet right before commiting troops to Vietnam that you can only fail so many times before you loose the support of the American people.  The failure he was referencing was Cuba and all of his cabinet members understood this. 

[JoeKitchen]

We'll never know though, will we, because he was not able to work on building Cuba in an environment free from external aggression. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy - the US claims that Cuba is poor, and they do their damndest to make it even poorer.

We know the horrible effects of communism by looking at the fact that every single communist state has failed miserably.  Considering this, it is pretty logical to conclude that in fact Castro ruined it. 

Also, notice that post of mine did not talk about any future potential of Cube, merely what Cuba had already achieved up until Castro took power.  All of that went away after Castro took power, so yes, we can say he actually ruined that progress. 

Whether or not he robbed Cuba of it's future potential is another debate and one that ultimately can not be settled.  But insofar as destroying what was already accomplished, we can say, for sure, Castro ruined it. 

[Rob C]

The problem with these debates is that they tend to overlook the reasons why revolutions happen in the first place.

It's a pretty good indicator that one is hatching when you get one part (large) of a populaion living in shanty shacks and primitive farms and the other, small rich bit running casinos in hand with American gangsters and driving around in land yachts.

Don't last forever, I'm afraid, and the only constant is that the poor remain poor regardless, and the politicians and their toadies rule and gather whatever is left gatherable when the guns go silent and the blood dries.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... It's a pretty good indicator that one is hatching when you get one part (large) of a populaion living in shanty shacks and primitive farms and the other, small rich bit running casinos in hand with American gangsters and driving around in land yachts...

So, the solution, of course, is to drive away land yachts so that the whole population can continue to live in shanty shacks.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Speaking of Castro and yachts:

"Grandson of Fidel Castro shares his life of luxury aboard yachts and more on Instagram"

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article223928565.html

Vacations on the Maya Riviera. A visit to the Basilica of the Sacred Family in Barcelona. A BMW. Expensive meals and a tour aboard a yacht. Those are some of the photos shared by Tony Castro, grandson of the late Fidel Castro, on his private Instagram account...

... “Just like the son of Che (Guevara), whose company rents luxury motorcycles to tourists...”

---In Cuba, where the official average salary is barely over $30 per month, bread is rationed and coffee has 50 percent lentils to make it last longer, taking vacations abroad is a luxury...

... Castro family members rarely show up in public, except for Antonio Castro and now his son Tony.

In 2015, Antonio was photographed in the Greek resort island of Mykonos and aboard a luxury yacht in Bodrun, Turkey, where he also reportedly rented five suites in one of the most expensive hotels, according to media reports...

[imagetone]

In late sixties, I visited Dresden in East Germany and was shocked by all the ruins and collapsed buildings. Destroyed during the war, and being restored at a very slow pace under communism. 
5 years ago, I visited Cuba for the first time and was shocked again witnessing ruins and collapsed buildings. This time not from the war, but again due to communism.

Citing a city bombed to rubble by British and American air forces as a problem caused by communism seems a bit desperate.