Archive for July 2013
ABOUT FIDEL CASTRO
Fidel Castro, in full Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926, near Birán, Cuba), political leader of Cuba (1959–2008) who transformed his country into the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere. Castro became a symbol of communist revolution in Latin America. He held the title of premier until 1976 and then began a long tenure as president of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers. He handed over provisional power in July 2006 because of health problems and formally relinquished the presidency in February 2008.
Castro was born in southeastern Cuba. His father, Ángel Castro y Argiz, an immigrant from Spain, was a fairly prosperous sugarcane farmer in a locality that had long been dominated by estates of the U.S.-owned United Fruit Company. Ángel Castro had five children (three of whom died in early childhood) by his first wife, María Argota Reyes, and seven more children by his cook, Lina Ruz González, whom he later married. Fidel was one of these seven children, and Raúl, who later became his brother’s chief associate in Cuban affairs, was another.
Fidel Castro attended Roman Catholic boarding schools in Santiago de Cuba and then the Catholic high school Belén in Havana, where he proved an outstanding athlete. In 1945 he entered the School of Law of the University of Havana, where organized violent gangs sought to advance a mixture of romantic goals, political aims, and personal careers. Castro’s main activity at the university was politics, and in 1947 he joined an abortive attempt by Dominican exiles and Cubans to invade the Dominican Republicand overthrow Gen. Rafael Trujillo. He then took part in urban riots that broke out in Bogotá, Colombia, in April 1948.
After his graduation in 1950, Castro began to practice law and became a member of the reformistCuban People’s Party (called Ortodoxos). He became their candidate for a seat in the House of Representatives from a Havana district in the elections scheduled for June 1952. In March of that year, however, the former Cuban president, Gen. Fulgencio Batista, overthrew the government of Pres. Carlos Prío Socarrás and canceled the elections.
After legal means failed to dislodge Batista’s new dictatorship, Castro began to organize a rebel force for the task in 1953. On July 26, 1953, he led about 160 men in a suicidal attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba in hopes of sparking a popular uprising. Most of the men were killed, and Castro himself was arrested. After a trial in which he conducted an impassioned defense, he was sentenced by the government to 15 years’ imprisonment. He and his brother Raúl were released in a political amnesty in 1955, and they went to Mexico to continue their campaign against the Batista regime. There Fidel Castro organized Cuban exiles into a revolutionary group called the 26th of July Movement.
On December 2, 1956, Castro and an armed expedition of 81 men landed on the eastern coast of Cuba from the yacht Granma. All of them were killed or captured except Fidel and Raúl Castro, Ernesto (“Che”) Guevara, and nine others, who retreated into the Sierra Maestra to wage guerrilla warfare against the Batista forces. With the help of growing numbers of revolutionary volunteers throughout the island, Fidel Castro’s forces won a string of victories over the Batista government’s demoralized and poorly led armed forces. Castro’s propaganda efforts proved particularly effective, and as internal political support waned and military defeats multiplied, Batista fled the country on January 1, 1959. Castro’s force of 800 guerrillas had defeated the Cuban government’s 30,000-man professional army.
As the undisputed revolutionary leader, Castro became commander in chief of the armed forces in Cuba’s new provisional government, which had Manuel Urrutia, a moderate liberal, as its president. In February 1959 Castro became premier and thus head of the government. By the time Urrutia was forced to resign in July 1959, Castro had taken effective political power into his own hands.
Castro had come to power with the support of most Cuban city dwellers on the basis of his promises to restore the 1940 constitution, create an honest administration, reinstate full civil and political liberties, and undertake moderate reforms. But once established as Cuba’s leader he began to pursue more radical policies: Cuba’s private commerce and industry were nationalized; sweeping land reforms were instituted; and American businesses and agricultural estates were expropriated. The United States was alienated by these policies and offended by Castro’s fiery new anti-American rhetoric. His trade agreement with the Soviet Union in February 1960 further deepened American distrust. In 1960 most economic ties between Cuba and the United States were severed, and the United States broke diplomatic relations with the island country in January 1961. In April of that year the U.S. government secretly equipped thousands of Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro’s government; their landing at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961, however, was crushed by Castro’s armed forces.
Cuba also began acquiring weapons from the Soviet Union, which soon became the country’s chief supporter and trade partner. In 1962 the Soviet Union secretly stationed ballistic missiles in Cuba that could deliver nuclear warheads to American cities, and in the ensuing confrontation with the United States, the world came close to a nuclear war. The Cuban Missile Crisis ended when the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw its nuclear weapons from Cuba in exchange for a pledge that the United States would withdraw the nuclear-armed missiles it had stationed in Turkey and no longer seek to overthrow Castro’s regime.
In the meantime Castro created a one-party government to exercise dictatorial control over all aspects of Cuba’s political, economic, and cultural life. All political dissent and opposition were ruthlessly suppressed. Many members of the Cuban upper and middle classes felt betrayed by these measures and chose to immigrate to the United States. At the same time, Castro vastly expanded the country’s social services, extending them to all classes of society on an equal basis. Educational and health services were made available to Cubans free of charge, and every citizen was guaranteed employment. The Cuban economy, however, failed to achieve significant growth or to reduce its dependence on the country’s chief export, cane sugar. Economic decision-making power was concentrated in a centralized bureaucracy headed by Castro, who proved to be an inept economic manager. With inefficient industries and a stagnant agriculture, Cuba became increasingly dependent on favourable Soviet trade policies to maintain its modest standard of living in the face of the United States’ continuing trade embargo.
Castro remained premier until 1976, when a new constitution created a National Assembly and Castro became president of that body’s State Council. He retained the posts of commander in chief of the armed forces and secretary-general of the Communist Party of Cuba—the only legal political party—and he continued to exercise unquestioned and total control over the government. Castro’s brother Raúl, minister of the armed forces, ranked second to him in all government and party posts.
Fidel Castro’s early attempts to foment Marxist revolutions elsewhere in Latin America foundered, but Cuban troops did eventually serve as proxies for the Soviet Union in various conflicts in less-developed countries. From 1975 to 1989 Cuban expeditionary forces fought in the Angolan civil war on the side of the communistic Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola. In 1978 Cuban troops assistedEthiopia in repelling an invasion by Somalia. In the 1980s Castro emerged as one of the leaders of the less-developed world and the nonaligned countries, despite his obvious ties to the Soviet Union. He continued to signify his willingness to renew diplomatic relations with the United States, provided that it end its trade embargo against Cuba. In 1980 Castro released a flood of immigrants to the United States when he opened the port of Mariel for five months. The 125,000 immigrants, including some criminals, strained the capacity of U.S. immigration and resettlement facilities.
In the late 1980s, when the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev began to undertake democratic reforms and eastern European countries were allowed to slip out of the Soviet orbit, Castro retained a hard-line stance, espousing the discipline of communism. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 took him by surprise and meant the end of generous Soviet subsidies to Cuba. Castro countered the resulting economic decline and shortages of consumer goods by allowing some economic liberalization and free-market activities while retaining tight controls over the country’s political life.
In late 1993 Castro’s daughter sought asylum in the United States, where she openly criticized her father’s rule. The following year, economic and social unrest led to antigovernment demonstrations, the size of which had not been seen in Cuba in some 35 years. Shortly thereafter Castro lifted restrictions on those wanting to leave the country, and thousands headed for the United States in the largest exodus since the 1980 Mariel “freedom flotilla.” In 1998 Castro allowed Pope John Paul II to visit Cuba for the first time.
In 2003 the National Assembly confirmed Castro as president for another five-year term. During that year the Cuban government arrested dozens of independent journalists and activists in a renewed government crackdown on dissidents, and some 75 activists were convicted for conspiring with the United States to subvert the revolution. The following year Castro strengthened his alliance with Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chávez by helping him bring to fruition the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (Alternativa Bolivariana para las Américas [ALBA]; Alternativa later changed to Alianza (“Alliance”)]), a socialist initiative to promote regional commerce, through which Cuba provided health care professionals to Venezuela in exchange for discounted oil.
On July 31, 2006, Fidel Castro passed power on a provisional basis to his brother Raúl in order to recover from surgery for a serious intestinal illness. It was the first time since the 1959 revolution that he ceded control. In February 2008, just days before the National Assembly was to vote for the country’s leader, Fidel Castro (who had not appeared in public for 19 months) officially declared that he would not accept another term as president. His announcement that he was stepping down was made through a letter that was addressed to the country and posted on the Web site of the official Communist Party newspaper, Granma. In part it read, “I do not bid you farewell. My only wish is to fight as a soldier of ideas.”
In the succeeding months, official photos were released of Fidel Castro in private meetings, and in July 2010 he made a public visit to the National Centre for Scientific Research in Havana. In September, on the eve of the release of the first volume of his memoirs, The Strategic Victory, he remarked to a reporter from the United States that “the Cuban model doesn’t even work for us anymore.” Many took his comment as an admission of the failure of communism. However, Fidel Castro was quick to qualify his remarks in a speech that followed a few days later. Most analysts saw his remarks as offering support for Raúl’s introduction of economic reforms that included a massive layoff of government employees as well as increased toleration of private enterprise. In 2011 Fidel stepped down as secretary-general of the Communist Party of Cuba and was succeeded by Raúl.
Timeline: The Titanic's Final Hours
April 14, 1912
- morningCapt. Edward J. Smith cancels a scheduled lifeboat drill.
- 5:50 PMAfter receiving iceberg warnings throughout the day, Captain Smith changes the Titanic's course, heading slightly south. However, the ship's speed is not lowered.
- 9:40 PMThe Mesaba sends a warning to theTitanic about an ice field that includes “heavy pack ice and [a] great number [of] large icebergs.” Wireless operator Jack Phillips—who works for the Marconi Company—is handling passengers' messages and never passes the warning on to the Titanic's bridge.
- 10:00 PM
The shift changes on the bridge, with First Officer William Murdoch relieving Second Officer Charles Lightoller as the officer of the watch. - 10:00 PM
Lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee begin their watch in the Titanic's crow's nest. The night is unusually calm, making icebergs more difficult to see—because there are no waves breaking at the icebergs. Adding to the difficulties is the fact that the crows nest's binoculars have been misplaced. - 10:55 PMThe nearby Californian radios theTitanic: “Say, old man, we are stopped and surrounded by ice.” An annoyed Phillips responds: “Shut up! Shut up! I am busy. I am working Cape Race.” (A wireless station is located at Cape Race, Newfoundland, Canada.)
- 11:00 PMMost of the Titanic's passengers have retired to their rooms for the evening.
- 11:35 PM
The wireless operator on the Californian turns off his radio.
Fleet sees an iceberg in the Titanic's path and rings the bell three times to indicate that something is ahead. He then calls the bridge. Murdoch orders the Titanic“hard-a-starboard” (to the left) and the engines reversed. He also closes the doors to the supposedly watertight compartments.- 11:40 PM
The starboard side of the Titanic scrapes along the iceberg.
Captain Smith arrives on deck and is told that the ship has struck an iceberg. Shortly thereafter he is informed that the mail room is filling with water. Other reports soon come in of water in at least five of the ship's compartments.- Designer Thomas Andrews surveys the damage. The Titanic was built to remain afloat with only four compartments flooded. Andrews predicts that the ship has only about one to two hours before sinking.
April 15, 1912
- 12:00 AMThe lifeboats begin to be readied for launch. The 20 boats have space for only 1,178 of the more than 2,200 people on board. An order is later given for women and children to board first, with crewmen to row and guide the boats.
- 12:15 AMCaptain Smith orders Phillips and Harold Bride to send out a distress signal. Although SOS became the official distress signal several years earlier, many still use CQD. (CQ signifies a general call, and the D means distress.) Over the next several hours, Phillips will send out both.
The Frankfurt is among the first to respond, but the liner is some 170 nautical miles (315 km) to the south. Other ships also offer assistance—including the Titanic's sister ship the Olympic—but are too far away.- 12:20 AMThe Carpathia receives a distress signal from the Titanic: “Come at once. We have struck a berg. It's a CQD, old man.” The Cunard liner immediately changes course to aid the stricken ship some 58 nautical miles (107 km) away. It will take theCarpathia more than three hours to arrive.
Fourth Officer Joseph G. Boxhall, tasked with determining the Titanic's position, revises the coordinates. The location is now given as 41°46¢ N 50°14¢ W in the distress signals.
Passengers waiting to enter lifeboats are entertained by the Titanic's musicians, who initially play in the first-class lounge before eventually moving to the ship's deck. Sources will differ on how long they perform—until shortly before the ship sinks, according to some. Speculation will also surround the last song they perform—likely either Autumn or Nearer My God to Thee. None of the musicians will survive the sinking.- 12:45 AM
Number 7 on the starboard side is the first lifeboat lowered. It carries some 27 people even though it has room for 65. Many of the first lifeboats will be launched well below capacity, partially because of the crewmen's worry that the davits would be unable to hold a fully loaded lifeboat. In addition, many passengers are initially afraid to leave the ship, believing that the Titanic is unsinkable. - 12:45 AM
The Titanic fires the first of eight distress rockets. A ship has been sighted less than 10 nautical miles (18.5 km) away, but the crew is unable to contact it through telegraph or Morse lamp. The rockets also prove unsuccessful.
Crewmen aboard the Californian see the rockets but fail to determine their source. Thought for some time to be the nearby ship seen by the Titanic, theCalifornian will later be believed to have been some 20 nautical miles (37 km) away. (The mystery ship will be thought to be a Norwegian fishing vessel that was illegally hunting seal.)- 12:55 AM
Number 5 is the second lifeboat to leave the Titanic. As it is being lowered, two male passengers jump into the boat, injuring one of the female occupants. - 12:55 AMNumber 6 is launched, containing passenger Molly Brown and lookout Frederick Fleet. The lifeboat is commanded by Quartermaster Robert Hichens, who was at the wheel when the Titanic struck the iceberg. His subsequent actions—notably his refusal to look for survivors because they will only find “stiffs”—draw the ire of other occupants, notably Brown, who threatens to throw him overboard.
- 1:00 AM
Number 3 is lowered. It carries approximately 39 people, 12 of whom are part of the ship's crew. - Water is seen at the base (E deck) of the Grand Staircase.
Number 1 is launched with only 12 people; it can hold 40. (An emergency cutter, it is smaller than a standard lifeboat and was designed for quick lowering, as in cases of a person overboard.) Among its occupants are first-class passengers Sir Cosmo Edmund Duff-Gordon and his wife, Lucy. Seven of the occupants are crewmen, and Duff-Gordon pays each of them £5, reportedly to replace lost clothing and gear but possibly—according to subsequent accusations—as a bribe to keep the crew from letting anyone else into the boat.- 1:10 AMNumber 8 is among the first lifeboats lowered on the port side. It is launched with only 28 people, including first-class passenger Lucy Noël Martha, countess of Rothes, who will later man the tiller. Isidor and Ida Straus are offered seats in the boat. However, Isidor refuses to disobey the order of “women and children first.” Ida, in turn, will not leave her husband's side, reportedly saying, “Where you go, I go.” Neither will survive.
- 1:20 AMNumber 10 is launched. Among the occupants is nine-week-old Millvina Dean, who will become the last living survivor of the disaster; she will die in 2009 at the age of 97.
- 1:20 AM
Number 9 on the stern starboard side is lowered. With some 56 people on board, it is nearly full. One of the occupants is American businessman Benjamin Guggenheim's alleged mistress. Guggenheim and his valet later change into formal attire, and he reportedly says, “We've dressed up in our best and are prepared to go down like gentlemen.” His body will never be recovered. - 1:25 AMPossibly not understanding the direness of the situation, the Olympic radios: “Are you steering southerly to meet us?” The Titanic responds: “We are putting the women off in the boats.” While still hours away, the Olympic will be informed by the Carpathiaof the Titanic's sinking.
Number 12 is lowered with about half of its seats empty. However, it will eventually carry more than 70 people.- 1:30 AM
Amid the growing panic, several male passengers try to board number 14, causing Fifth Officer Harold Lowe to fire his gun three times. He is later placed in command of the boat. After the sinking of the Titanic, Lowe will transfer people into lifeboats 4, 10, 12, and collapsible D so he can return to look for survivors in the water. He will pull several men to safety and rescue those in the partially flooded collapsible lifeboat A. (The collapsible lifeboats have canvas sides that can be folded for easy storage. Their capacity is 47.) - 1:30 AM
Phillips continues to send out distress calls with growing desperation: “Women and children in boats. Cannot last much longer.”
Number 13 is launched and is soon followed by number 15, which holds many third-class passengers. As it is being lowered, number 15 nearly lands on number 13, which has drifted under it. However, the crewmen in number 13 are able to cut the launch ropes and row to safety.- 1:35 AM
Number 16 is launched. - 1:40 AMCollapsible C is lowered. Among its occupants is White Star chairman J. Bruce Ismay. Although he will later claim that no women or children were in the area when he boarded the lifeboat, others will refute that assertion. His decision not to go down with the ship will result in many branding him a coward.
- 1:45 AM
Number 2, an emergency cutter, is launched under the command of Fourth Officer Boxhall. Aboard are some 20 people.
Number 11 is lowered with some 50 people aboard.- Number 4 is readied for launch.Madeleine Astor, some five months pregnant, is helped onto the boat by her husband, John Jacob Astor. When Astor asks if he may join her, Second Officer Lightoller—who has strictly followed the order of women and children first—refuses. Astor does not press the issue and steps away. His body will later be recovered.
- 2:00 AM
The only lifeboats that remain on the Titanic are three of the collapsible boats. - The Titanic's bow has sunk low enough that the stern's propellers are now clearly visible above the water.
Crewmen lower collapsible lifeboat D from the roof of the officers' quarters. More than 20 people are in the boat.
As the Titanic's bow goes under, collapsible A is washed from the deck. Some 20 people manage to get into the boat, which is partly filled with water. By the time Lowe in number 14 comes to their aid, only 12 are alive. Three bodies are left in the boat, which will be discovered a month later by the Oceanic.
As crewmen try to release collapsible B, it falls, and, before it can be righted, it is swept off the Titanic. Some 30 men find safety on the still-overturned lifeboat, including wireless operator Bride and Second Officer Lightoller. The men will later be taken aboard numbers 4 and 12.- Captain Smith releases the crew, saying that “it's every man for himself.” Smith is reportedly last seen on the bridge. His body will never be recovered.
- 2:17 AMPhillips sends a final distress signal. He reportedly makes it to the overturned collapsible lifeboat B but succumbs to exposure. His body will not be found.
- 2:18 AM
The lights on the Titanic go out, plunging the ship into darkness. - As the Titanic's bow continues to sink, the stern rises higher out of the water, placing great strain on the midsection, and the ship breaks in two between the third and fourth funnels. Reports would later speculate that it took some six minutes for the bow section, likely traveling at approximately 30 miles (48 km) per hour, to reach the ocean bottom.
The stern momentarily settles back in the water before rising again, eventually becoming vertical. It briefly remains in that position before beginning its final plunge.- 2:20 AM
The stern disappears into the ocean, and the Titanic is gone. - Water pressure allegedly causes the stern, which still has air inside, to implode as it sinks. The stern lands some 2,000 feet (610 metres) from the bow.
Hundreds of people are in the freezing water. Although there is room in most of the lifeboats, crewmen are fearful that the boats will be swamped by people. Several boats eventually return, but too late. A few people are pulled to safety, but most die of exposure.
Over the next several hours, numerous ships try in vain to contact the Titanic. At one point, the Birma's wireless operator, believing that he has heard the liner, sends a message: “Steaming full speed to you; shall arrive you 6 in morning. Hope you are safe.”- 3:30 AM
The Carpathia arrives in the area, firing rockets. - 4:10 AMNumber 2 is the first lifeboat to reach the Carpathia. It will take several hours for the ship to pick up all the survivors.
- Ismay writes a message to be sent to the White Star Line's offices: “Deeply regret advise you Titanic sank this morning fifteenth after collision iceberg, resulting serious loss life; further particulars later.”
- 8:30 AM
The Californian—which at approximately 5:30 AMlearned of the Titanic's sinking—arrives. It searches the area for several hours but fails to find any survivors. - 8:50 AMThe Carpathia, carrying the 705 Titanicsurvivors, heads to New York City.
- 12:00 AM
ABOUT NUCLEAR WEAPONS
nuclear weapon, device designed to release energy in an explosive manner as a result of nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, or a combination of the two processes. Fission weapons are commonly referred to as atomic bombs. Fusion weapons are also referred to as thermonuclear bombs or, more commonly, hydrogen bombs; they are usually defined as nuclear weapons in which at least a portion of the energy is released by nuclear fusion.
Nuclear weapons produce enormous explosive energy. Their significance may best be appreciated by the coining of the words kiloton (1,000 tons) and megaton (1,000,000 tons) to describe their blast energy in equivalent weights of the conventional chemical explosive TNT. For example, the atomic bombdropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945, containing only about 64 kg (140 pounds) of highly enricheduranium, released energy equaling about 15 kilotons of chemical explosive. That blast immediately produced a strong shock wave, enormous amounts of heat, and lethal ionizing radiation. Convection currents created by the explosion drew dust and other debris into the air, creating the mushroom-shaped cloud that has since become the virtual signature of a nuclear explosion. In addition, radioactive debris was carried by winds high into the atmosphere, later to settle to Earth as radioactivefallout. The enormous toll in destruction, death, injury, and sickness produced by the explosions at Hiroshima and, three days later, at Nagasaki was on a scale never before produced by any singleweapon. In the decades since 1945, even as many countries have developed nuclear weapons of far greater strength than those used against the Japanese cities, concerns about the dreadful effects of such weapons have driven governments to negotiate arms control agreements such as the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty of 1963 and the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of 1968. Among military strategists and planners, the very presence of these weapons of unparalleled destructive power has created a distinct discipline, with its own internal logic and set of doctrines, known as nuclear strategy.
The first nuclear weapons were bombs delivered by aircraft. Later, warheads were developed for strategic ballistic missiles, which have become by far the most important nuclear weapons. Smaller tactical nuclear weapons have also been developed, including ones for artillery projectiles, land mines, antisubmarine depth charges, torpedoes, and shorter-range ballistic and cruise missiles.
By far the greatest force driving the development of nuclear weapons after World War II (though not by any means the only force) was the Cold War confrontation that pitted the United States and its allies against the Soviet Union and its satellite states. During this period, which lasted roughly from 1945 to 1991, the American stockpile of nuclear weapons reached its peak in 1966, with more than 32,000 warheads of 30 different types. During the 1990s, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, many types of tactical and strategic weapons were retired and dismantled to comply with arms control negotiations, such as the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks, or as unilateral initiatives. By 2010 the United States had approximately 9,400 warheads of nine types, including two types of bombs, three types for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), two types for submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and two types for cruise missiles. Some types existed in several modifications. Of these 9,400 warheads, an estimated 2,468 were operational (that is, mated to a delivery system such as a missile); the rest were either spares held in reserve or retired warheads scheduled to be dismantled. Of the 2,468 operational warheads, approximately 1,968 were deployed on strategic (long-range) delivery systems, and some 500 were deployed on nonstrategic (short-range) systems. Of the 500 nonstrategic warheads in the U.S. arsenal, about 200 were deployed in Europe.
The Soviet nuclear stockpile reached its peak of about 33,000 operational warheads in 1988, with an additional 10,000 previously deployed warheads that had been retired but had not been taken apart. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russia accelerated its warhead dismantlement program, but the status of many of the 12,000 warheads estimated to remain in its stockpile in 2010 was unclear. Given limited Russian resources and lack of legitimate military missions, only about 4,600 of these 12,000 warheads were serviceable and maintained enough to be deployed. Of the 4,600 operational warheads, some 2,600 were deployed on strategic systems and some 2,000 on nonstrategic systems. A global security concern is the safety of Russia’s intact warheads and the security of nuclear materials removed from dismantled warheads.