Fidel Castro, the cigar chomping former president of Cuba, penned an op-ed in the Communist Party newspaper Granma to discuss how he feels about Edward Snowden, the Russian newspaper report that Cuba blocked Snowden's entry into the island nation and the situation in Syria, according to the Associated Press.
When the 87-year-old Castro handed the job of running Cuba to his brother he started writing columns called "Reflections." A year ago Castro retired from the writing but apparently he couldn't stay away and he needed to return to share his opinions. The current happenings in the world called him out of retirement, according to the Associated Press.
Earlier in the week a report in Kommersant, a Russian newspaper, alleged that the reason former National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden was trapped at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport was because Cuba bent to pressure from the United States and would not allow his scheduled flight to stop in Havana. Castro responded by calling the report a "paid-for lie," according to the Associated Press.
"I admire how brave and just Snowden's declarations were, which in my opinion provided a service to the world by revealing the disgustingly dishonest politics of the powerful empire that lies and deceives the world," Castro wrote. "It is absolutely clear that the United States will always try to put pressure on Cuba as it does with the U.N. or any public or private institution in the world, that is one of the characteristics of that country's government and it would not be possible to expect anything else."
Castro also wrote about how he is afraid that the situation in Syria will escalate into a massive conflict, in part because of the actions he expects the United States to take.
"I am compelled to write because very soon grave things will happen," Castro wrote. "In our time no more than 10 or 15 years go by without the human race being in danger of extinction. The Empire's Navy and Air Force and their allies are preparing to begin a genocide against the Arab people."
Cuba's Foreign Ministry took a shot at Washington as it appears like the United States is preparing to take action in Syria, according to the Associated Press.
"An aggression against Syria would provoke the gravest consequences for the already troubled Middle East region," a statement from the Foreign Ministry said. "It would constitute a flagrant violation of the principles of the charter of the United Nations and international law, and it would increase the dangers to international peace and security."
In his essay Castro covered a wide array of topics including his take on what a future with robots will be like.
"It is said that by 2040, just 27 years from now, many tasks that today are carried out by the police such as handing out tickets and other tasks, will be done by robots," Castro wrote. "Can
readers imagine how difficult it will be to argue with a robot capable of making millions of calculations per minute?"
