Big change unlikely in Cuba

Here's a link to the Register's editorial on Fidel Castro's decision to formally cede the presidency of Cuba to his younger brother Raul, who has been acting president since July 2006, when Fidel came down with a mysterious abdominal ailment that required surgery. Bottom line: don't expect much change any time soon. But we still should end the embargo.

Interesting chat with Roger Fontaine, who was on the Latin Amerrican desk at the NSC during the Reagan administration. He thinks (doesn't have definitive proof) that the surgery on Fidel was terribly botched, and he got to musing about the fact that dictators and presidents seem to get terrible medical care, though you might think they would get the best available in their societies. Mentioned Hitler and Stalin, FDR and JFK as examples. Is it because doctors tend to be intimidated by people with power? Or that dictators aren't accustomed to following orders, even doctors' orders?