Cuba is a wonderful democracy, with full human rights, free and fair elections, no commercial advertising, superb healthcare and equality for all...hmmm, sounds like that other workers paradise North Korea doesn't it? Except isn't it funny how nobody is rushing to get into these places? Maybe Anderson can tell us why...

Cuba is a wonderful democracy, with full human rights, free and fair elections, no mind-addling commercial advertising, superb healthcare and equality for all...hmmm, sounds like that other workers paradise North Korea doesn't it? Except isn't it funny how nobody is rushing to get into these places? Maybe Anderson can tell us why...

"..As the Canadian scientist William Osler said, “the greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism”..."

Yes, Mr Anderson, it works both ways, and you, being a another lefto bleeding heart, is so diseased by both you'll fully believe the Cuban propaganda of how Cuba is heaven on earth, never mind the numbers of writers and critics of Castro who languish in Cuban jails for the heinous crime of pointing out how the ordinary people live in poverty while party cadres live in what would be termed gated communities in those horrid capitalist hotbeds of evil.
An example of how diseased you are with this "let's rob Pete to pay Paul so we'll always have Paul's support" rhetoric lies in your pointing out that-

"In the US, millions of people are excluded from voting, either because they have some criminal conviction or they belong to one or other group of second class citizens (for example, Puerto Ricans, who pay tax but have no representative in Congress)"

Yes , Einstein, illegal immigrants can't vote in elections for the same reason I, as a non citizen, can't vote in the Polish, French or Wherever elections. I wonder if you can see the absurdity of it?.This alone shows your inherent lack of logic.
For the rest of your nonsensical socialist propaganda, it's more of the same- a lack of understanding or any real knowledge about the things you claim as 'truth'- they lack any substance whatsoever and relies solely on what the Cuban government has to say about itself, and, Mr Anderson, this can be taken as a truth with your agreement with the Cuban communist party line that pro-democracy supporters are 'terrorists' and nothing more. Another poster has already pointed out the fallacy of the 'world class health system' that exists (not) in Cuba and I have always wondered why socialist idiots, like yourself with your failed political aspirations, have not moved to Cuba already to take advantage of the 'true democracy' that exists there.

I find it sad that Opinion Online accepts such trivial drivel as 'articles'

To enter into a discussion with Tim about Cuba would be like debating with my 2 year-old son about nuclear energy, but I'll waste some time answering some of what he says:
Employment-Foreign companies cannot place want ads and hire whomever they want. They have to go trough the fascist regime who will provide the workers. The fascist regime gets paid in hard currency and they'll pay the Cuban slaves in Cuban pesoso who are only worth as substitute for toilet paper and pocket the difference. The only employer in Cuba is the Cuban regime. If they fire you because you disagree with Castro's policies you'll never get a job again.
Free Health Care- There is excellent health care for foreigners who pay Castro with hard currency but regular Cubans have to bring their own bed sheets, pillow, towels, etc when admitted. The Cuban hospitals are filthy and the medical care is terrible because Castro has shipped the slave doctors all over the world in exchange for oil or hard currencies.

Bennie laments that Communist "Cuba sure gets the rough end of the pineapple in the MSM." I guess that's just another of those quaint Australian expressions based on Australia's quaint history. Before boatloads of prostitutes were sent to relieve their distress and to become the mothers of the Australian nation, its convict-pioneers must have found some kind of release in pineapples. Exactly which is the "rough end" of a pineapple is a matter open to debate. It appears to have only "rough ends." Of course, I am not as sensitive or finessed in these things as you Australians are. No doubt you have found a soft spot in the pineapple. My advice to foreigners, though, is never to eat a pineapple if you visit Australia. And be wary of those little "shrimps on the barbie," too.

Please don't take offense, my dear Australian friends. This is all meant in good fun, just as Tim Anderson's article was. Right?

The old adage, If it sounds too good to be true it usually is; springs to my mind when I read this glowing report about Cuba.

I was just going to say what Robert said in the previous post,that the free health service probably is terribly rundown and inadequate. Whereas in the West with the state of the art technology and extremely expensive and in some cases rare drugs it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep just one person alive. You can see why medicine in the West could bankrupt the coffers and has to have some control put on it.
Although I do favour the medicare system for children and pensioners.
This article reminds me of the glowing reports we received from left wing Westerners who made special visits to Russia during the cold war. They were only taken on tours of the areas the communists wanted them to see. The reality was very different from the propaganda.

Western writers of articles like this are always very quick to point out Western propaganda but they never seem to notice that same corruption and propaganda in countries that are enemies of the West. Why is that?