On Fri, 12 Jul 2002, Doug Henwood wrote:
> We don't. There are plenty of states that are authoritarian without
> inspiration from the U.S. That Cuba is "mildly authoritarian,"
Seems to be the consensus view of all but the right-wing hysterics. I'm curious as to how it compares to regimes like Pinochet's Chile and Franco's Spain?
> is a point greatly in its favor. But my argument is that any
> country taking a path that doesn't please the U.S. is shoved in an
> authoritarian direction because of the U.S.'s propensity to subvert
> and overthrow regimes it doesn't like. And I've yet to hear a
> credible nonauthoritarian way of defending a revolution against
> Langley.
In practice it does seem easier to overthrow an elected left-wing head of state than his dictatorial counterparts. I wonder why that is.
-- Luke
> Doug
>