Egypt Protests: Even Castro Says Mubarak's Got to Go

It can't be a good sign if you're an embattled, long-tenured autocrat and one of the senior members of the dictators' club says that your time is up. Even as Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak scrambles to stay in office for a few months more, long-time Cuban leader Fidel Castro issued his view, that Mubarak is finished. You know it's bad when Fidel Castro tells you it's time to relinquish power.Where's the tyrannical team spirit? Dictators of the world, unite? No?

Castro writes:

Mubarak's fate is sealed, not even the support of the United States will be able to save his government. The people of Egypt are an intelligent people with a glorious history who left their mark on civilization. "From the top of these pyramids, 40 centuries of history are looking down upon us," Bonaparte once said in a moment of exaltation when the revolution brought him to this extraordinary crossroads of civilization.

Apparently in Fidel's mind all revolutions are created equal. The French and Cuban revolutions, one supposes, are part of a grand revolutionary tide of history. One can almost imagine a "Dictators Playing Poker" painting with Castro, Napoleon, Caesar, Genghis Khan, and Alexander the Great. Of course one of these does not belong with the others. Perhaps Fidel would be at a junior baccarat game with, oh I don't know, Fulgencia Batista, and Hosni Mubarak? [See a slide show of 15 post-Cold War uprisings.]

Castro's pronouncement also was presumably written before recent developments, like President Obama kicking Mubarak to the international curb. It's to be expected, I suppose. "United States [sic] never stopped conspiring against the Arab world," Castro goes on, before cut-and-pasting 1,500 words of filler in the form of news reports on the Egyptian situation. [See photos of the Egypt protests.]

Castro may be an old dog but he can apparently learn new tricks, even if the new tricks are bloggers' bad post-padding habits. Viva la Twitter revolucion.

• See a roundup of editorial cartoons about the Egypt uprisings.
  
• See photos of the Egypt protests.
  
• Read Robert Schlesinger on why the embargo against Cuba should be lifted.

Reader Comments Read all comments (5)

Add Your Thoughts

Comment Name State Select One AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY International Email

Please enter the two words below into the text field underneath the image.

Incorrect please try again

Enter the words above: Enter the numbers you hear:

Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.