Fidel Castro Fears Nuclear War in the Middle East

Fidel Castro’s reappearance in the public life is no less interesting than all his appearances before the media, especially since “el leader maximo” has been secluded for a while due to his advanced age and health condition.

It has also become known the fact that Fidel Castro made some dooms-day-like forecasts on the political and military in the Middle East for a while, fearing a catastrophe of planeraty proportion.

Today, he led his first open-air rally since his near-death illness four years ago. He spoke of his illness and said he was “at the death’s door”, and then urged thousands of students crowded on the steps of the Havana University to do their best to prevent a nuclear war.

Speaking in the same rhetoric as the ex-Communist countries back in the 1980s, Fidel thanked people for their presence and “moral support for peace.” In his short 40-minute speech (by comparison to long-hour speeches in the past), Castro urged the people “not to abandon the fight,” and assured them that “they can win” as they did in the past.

On this occasion, the 84-year leader warned that a nuclear war would break between Israel, United States of America and Iran, unless Barack Obama didn’t do his best to prevent it.

The duty of the “more than seven billion human beings” is to make sure that this tragedy is prevented from happening.

“Cuba,” Castro urged in a Messianic manner, “has been given the hard task of warning humanity about this real danger.”

Castro chose to deliver this task on the steps of the University, where he started his political experience in 1945 as a law student.

It is not the first time Castro warns about nuclear war in the Middle East. In fact, “fighting for peace,” “denuclearization,” “reduction of the nuclear arsenal” are slogans pertaining to the Cold War propaganda, when nations in the Communist block that were not having any sort of mass destruction weapons were holding referenda on issues like “reducing the nuclear arsenal” (during the Communist regime in Romania for instance, there were rallies for peace, and even a referendum was held with people being asked if they supported the cutback on nuclear weapons by 5% although Romania had no such weapons).

Another country that speaks of denuclearization these days in the same phraseology of the Cold War is North Korea, which promised to cutback on nuclear arsenal. But, at least North Korea has something to cut.

However, Castro’s warning is not mere 20-year backward propaganda. What if Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad carries out the threat he made today to attack Dimona, the nuclear settlement in Israel (where it is considered, though never officially confirmed, that Israel may have nuclear warheads)? What if U.S. or Israel have to recur to this kind of weapons in Iran, though even the thought of it is unthinkable.

What if Castro means by “unless Barack Obama prevents this from happening” that the U.S. should get involved and stop one way or another (by any means necessary) Iran from acquiring such a destructive weapon?

U.S. seem rather reluctant to the idea of opening a new front in the Middle East. Obama made it clear that peaceful solutions take precedence over the war option, which proved almost unfruitful in Iraq, and stands a good chance to prove likewise in Afghanistan.

Israel on the other hand does consider the nuclear option seriously, given that its own existence is at stake.

Who knows, in the end, what the “great Cuban leader” actually meant to say?