Saturday, July 17, 2010

U.S. Fails to Respond to Cuba's Freeing of Dissidents

Promoting Blog Effectively, Fidel Castro, decidedly languid but reasonably lucid, showed up on Cuban television Monday evening, July 12, to warn the world that the U.S. is poised to attack North Korea and Iran. (We'll take that under advisement.) But the rare appearance by the 83-year-old former Cuban leader was more noticeable for what he didn't mention: last week's surprising decision by his younger brother, current President Raúl Castro, to release 52 political prisoners who had been arrested in 2003 during one of Fidel's harshest crackdowns on dissidents while he was President.

Promoting Blog Effectively It's unclear whether Fidel's silence means he disapproved of the move. But the U.S. seems just as happy that the ailing autocrat, who ceded the presidency to Raúl four years ago for health reasons but still wields considerable influence, didn't make a big deal of freeing the prisoners (seven of whom arrived in Spain on Tuesday; the remaining 45 will be released in the coming months). That's because the Obama Administration isn't making a big deal of the dissidents' release either. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the move "a positive sign" and "very welcome" but also downplayed it as "overdue." There was nothing in her statement to suggest that the Administration planned to respond in any way that might further engage communist Cuba with a view to promoting democratization.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Del Bosque: Spanyol tak Terobsesi Ronaldo

prediksi Spanyol vs Paraguay Pelatih Spanyol Vincente Del Bosque mengatakan timnya tak terlalu terobsesi dengan Cristiano Ronaldo saat melawan Portugal pada perdelapan final Piala Dunia 2010, Selasa (29/6/2010). Baginya, "A Seleccao" lebih berbahaya daripada Ronaldo.

Spanyol vs Paraguay Tak bisa dimungkiri keberhasilan "A Seleccao" ke perdelapan final karena peran pemain kuncinya, Ronaldo. Selama babak penyisihan grup, penampilan sang kapten semakin matang. Gelandang Real Madrid itu tak terlihat egois.

Dia lebih banyak mengumpan daripada ngotot mencetak gol. Statistik mencatat, Ronaldo melepaskan 114 umpan dan hanya melakukan tendangan 17 kali. Hasilnya, dia selalu menjadi man of the match pada setiap pertandingannya. Saat ini, ia baru mencetak sebiji gol dan sebuah assist.

Del Bosque tak mau ambil pusing dengan hal itu. Ia menilai tak perlu ada penjagaan khusus bagi pemain termahal di dunia itu pada laga nanti. Lagipula, Del Bosque menilai, Portugal memang tim yang berbahaya meski sekalipun tanpa dibela Ronaldo.

"Tidak ada obsesi dengan Ronaldo. Yang paling penting memperhatikan Portugal sebagai tim. Mereka menunjukkan bahwa mereka tim yang bagus di lapangan dan terimakasih kepada pelatih karena Portugal tampil luar biasa pada Piala Dunia kali ini," papar Del Bosque.