27 replies to this topic

[drbill]

Bill, part of the settlement of the Cuban missle crisis was our removal of missles from Turkey.

Yep, I realize that... but to force the issue when we ourselves were doing the same thing was what bothered me. Removal of the missiles from both locations was a reasonably equitable settlement.

As for visiting communist countries, I plan to visit both China and Vietnam to dive and get a better feel for the cultures there. I have friends from both countries (and recently) who grew up with communism. It was interesting to hear my friend Sheena say that tere is far more propaganda in the USA than there was in China under Mao. I cannot personally verify that because I have yet to live in both cultures.

Our government certainly doesn't seem to mind corporate entities doing business with the two countries. And there is no question that nascent capitalism is on the rise in both as well.

Dr. Bill

[Walter]

I don't know about China, but my ex-wife grew up in the Soviet Union. We didn't have more propaganda, but ours was much better and more believable (or maybe Americans are more gullible than Russians). While the Soviets had as much propaganda, ours was more effective.

Most of us believed Russians were always evil, that Russian women were huge and very unattractive. That was a direct result of American propaganda. When I was in the USSR, I discovered Russians are wonderful people. They are extremely friendly and great hosts. Russian women are often incredibly beautiful. Russians had similar images projected about us, but they didn't buy it. They loved Americans.

[triggerfish]

i've been to cuba....illegally. this was in 1996, before they really clamped down on us going over there...

we made reservations through a canadian travel agency, flew to cancun, and caught an "air cuba" death trap old russian plane to fly into havana. from there we went to isla de juventud , an island south of cuba (which got hit pretty bad in the last round of hurricanes).

the diving where we were was ok....pretty empty. it took over an hour to get to the sites, and we could only do 2 dives while there because the dive boat had to be in the harbor by a certain time.
but while we were diving, the boat captain would buy fresh lobster from a nearby fishing boat and cook them...then we came up and had hot, juicy lobster that we ate with our hand, dipping in it garlicy melted butter. it was pretty damn cool.

the dm's were wonderful...very attentive. my friends had been there before, so they knew the staff ....we ended bring a ton of clothes and medical supplies for them.

i'd have to dig up that log book cuz i don't remember any particular site. it seemed pretty carribbean to me.

have i gone back? no. it was such a pain in the ass to go and come back, trying to explain to mexican immigration not to stamp our passports with an entry stamp....and only getting to do 2 dives a day...old jaded me didn't think it was worth the trouble.

but that was juventud. we didn't dive vera dera (?) or any of the northern or eastern areas. maybe they're better....

[dive_addict]

Sounds like you had quite the adventure!!!

[triggerfish]

the best part was coming home:

when we got to mexico, i tried to explain to the immigration officer in broken spanglish that americans can't be in cuba. i said something like "no stampe mi passporte....es no permisso (my apologies to my latino friends out there!)"

the guy gave me a sly look.
"ohhhhh... si...." , he said. "defecto?????"

he thought i was defecting to mexico.

it took a while to explain THAT one!!
obviously, it was resolved without incident, and i gave the guy a big kiss and went on home.

i still laugh at that!

[jextract]

I don't know about China, but my ex-wife grew up in the Soviet Union.  We didn't have more propaganda, but ours was much better and more believable (or maybe Americans are more gullible than Russians).  While the Soviets had as much propaganda, ours was more effective. 

Most of us believed Russians were always evil, that Russian women were huge and very unattractive.  That was a direct result of American propaganda.  When I was in the USSR, I discovered Russians are wonderful people.  They are extremely friendly and great hosts.  Russian women are often incredibly beautiful.  Russians had similar images projected about us, but they didn't buy it.  They loved Americans.

One of my poli-sci friends actually did a paper in college on "Boris and Natasha (of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame) as Cold War Propaganda" Her take was pretty fascinating.

Walter's right, some of the hottest women I've seen have been from Eastern Europe, by the way.

And TF, you've had a pretty cool life!

[Walter]

BTW, many Russians don't recognize some Russian names when pronounced by Americans. We screw them up royally. Boris is Bo-rees' not Bor'-is. Ivan is E-van' not I'-van.

[drbill]

I agree on the Eastern European women. In fact one of them co-stars in my video "In Search of the Elusive BlackSea Bass." She plays a Russian scientist who goes down in a submersible with me to look for the "Black Sea" Bass. She was awesome, but not a diver.

Dr. Bill

[triggerfish]

And TF, you've had a pretty cool life!

HAD?????

oh my god...did i CROAK while i was away???????

[WreckWench]

oh my god...did i CROAK while i was away???????

Depends on who heard you singing...

[jextract]

I agree on the Eastern European women. In fact one of them co-stars in my video "In Search of the Elusive BlackSea Bass." She plays a Russian scientist who goes down in a submersible with me to look for the "Black Sea" Bass. She was awesome, but not a diver.

Dr. Bill

I think I saw that .... wasn't it a Vivid Picture?

[jextract]

And TF, you've had a pretty cool life!

HAD?????

oh my god...did i CROAK while i was away???????

I meant "so far"!

[triggerfish]

whew.

i had to check the local obits....