Odds and ends
- Veteran Latin American correspondent David Adams is leaving the St. Petersburg Times, another bad sign of the state of the news business, and in David’s case a real loss for readers. Here’s his last piece, on the Cuban American youth group Raices de Esperanza and its support for the Juanes concert. “They gambled on Juanes and they won big,” said Carlos Saladrigas. “It is quite understandable that young people would see music as a bridge between people,” said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
- Luis Armando Pena Soltren, the accused hijacker who just returned to the United States after spending 40 years in Cuba, entered a not guilty plea in court yesterday. The New York Times reports that he had been talking to U.S. diplomats in Cuba for several years about his return.
- AP: A U.S. company says it has the green light from the U.S. government to lay a fiber optic cable to Cuba, but it has no deal with Cuba to do so. Meanwhile, Venezuela claims it is about to start work on its cable link to Cuba. An official expressed hope that the Venezuela-Cuba cable will be operational in two years; previous reports estimated that it would be functioning next year.
article on cuban five interesting -- again, not one shred of evidence that government secrets compromised, and what a joke it was to hold it in miami. american justice at its banana republic best
ReplyDeleteAnonymous October 14, 2009 9:26 AM,
ReplyDeleteAre we going to start hearing about the heroic "Four" now that Antonio Guerrero agreed to a sentencing bargaining?
Vecino de NF
"Sentencing bargaining?" What's that? This was the prosecution (US Government) doing a rare thing, arguing that their initially recommended prison terms were to harsh. It is an admission (by the same judge too!) that the initial case was a farce. Perhaps it was the only way for the Government to ensure the Supreme Court would not hear the case?
ReplyDeleteI loved the Judge admitting that Guerrero had not really collected or transmitted any secrets to the Cuban Government. But he had made a "mental map" of one of the new facilities - that is where the walls were. This was the best they had.
Can any technical experts tell us whether 2 fiber optic lines are way better for Cuba than one? Or is it overkill?
ReplyDeleteLeftside,
ReplyDeleteA quick comparison of the two projects:
Capacity
Venezuela-Cuba 640 Gigabytes
Florida-Cojimar 8-10 Terabits
Cost
Venezuela-Cuba US$70 million
Florida-Cojimar US$18 million
Length of connection
Venezuela-Cuba 966 miles
Florida-Cojimar 110 miles
The two cables would serve different Internet markets (South America vs North America) and they would also give Cuba redundancy. Yes, two are better than one, and considering how long it takes for Bolivarian industrial projects to take place, the Cuban government would be wise to accept this connection and any other connection to North America. Of course, they need special routers, and supercomputers to handle the added surveillance of the Internet , and telephone traffic. Maybe the Russians, and the Chinese can help in that area.
Vecino de NF
Leftside,
ReplyDeleteA quick comparison of the two projects:
Capacity
Venezuela-Cuba 640 Gigabytes
Florida-Cojimar 8-10 Terabits
Cost
Venezuela-Cuba US$70 million
Florida-Cojimar US$18 million
Length of connection
Venezuela-Cuba 966 miles
Florida-Cojimar 110 miles
The two cables would serve different Internet markets (South America vs North America) and they would also give Cuba redundancy. Yes, two are better than one, and considering how long it takes for Bolivarian industrial projects to take place, the Cuban government would be wise to accept this connection and any other connection to North America. Of course, they need special routers, and supercomputers to handle the added surveillance of the Internet , and telephone traffic. Maybe the Russians, and the Chinese can help in that area.
Vecino de NF