BERMUDA had better wake up ? and wake up soon ? to the fact that Cuba and Iran are in the process of negotiating an alliance against the United States. Both are pariah states that are shunned by the international community; both are sponsors of terrorism. And both seem to have no inhibitions about using nuclear weapons to advance their goals.

As long ago as 1962 the dictator Fidel Castro reflected upon the possible use of nuclear weapons during the Cuban Missile Crisis: "It was my opinion that, in case of an American invasion of Cuba, a massive and total nuclear strike would have to be launched."

Given Castro's longstanding affection for nuclear weapons, it should come as no surprise that he has now befriended Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad, a recognised anti-Semite and human rights violator, is now threatening both Israel and the West unless they sign off on Iran's nuclear ambitions. Backing up Ahmadinejad is Alex Scott's new best friend in the Caribbean, Fidel Castro.

Given Castro and Ahmadinejad's mutual distaste for the US and Western-styled democracy, it is clear that increased co-operation between the two countries will soon pose serious national security concerns for the Americans.

Earlier this month an Iranian official said it was important to strengthen Tehran-Havana ties, saying both countries must come together to confront "the big power" ? an obvious reference to the US. And last week President Ahmadinejad accepted an invitation to visit Cuba in September to show gratitude for Castro's support of Iran's nuclear programme.

Castro himself has become a regular visitor to Tehran. He was there as recently as November promising increased co-operation in the area of biotechnology research and production ? in other words, providing Cuban biological and chemical know-how to help Iran develop new Weapons of Mass Destruction ? weapons that President Ahmadinejad has said he is prepared to use.

Intelligence reports have also uncovered covert co-operation between Iran and Cuba in the development and testing of electromagnetic weapons that have the capacity to disrupt telecommunication networks, cut power supplies and damage sophisticated computers.

Cuba has become increasingly dependent on Iranian oil for its daily survival. Castro, who long ago bankrupted his country, has accepted a generous Iranian trade credit line with liberal repayment terms. In return, Castro has agreed to provide Iran with a strategic outpost to gather intelligence on US movements in the Caribbean region.

The merest possibility of a rogue nation such as Iran offering nuclear technology to friendly nations like Cuba makes the budding Castro-Ahmadinejad relationship even more dangerous for the US. In the past Soviet defence, economic and intelligence assistance allowed Fidel Castro's Cuba to project its own brand of Stalinism throughout Latin America and the Caribbean resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians. Now Iran, a US antagonist, sponsor of terror and weapons proliferator is attempting to solidify its grip on Cuba.

Clearly US/Cuban relations are going to get thornier in the coming months. Much thornier.

So why the hell has Bermuda chosen this particular time to get into bed with Castro? We have nothing to gain from an alliance with Cuba. In fact, we have everything to lose from such an arrangement.

Racism alive and well in Cuba

FIDEL Castro and some of his more deluded supporters in the West continue to claim that after the 1959 Revolution institutional racism was eradicated in Cuba. But this argument is contradicted by all of the data available on that secretive totalitarian state ? including figures released by the Cuban dictatorship itself.

So I am surprised there are still some in Bermuda who attempt to justify the Government's "cultural" treaty with Cuba by saying Castro lifted blacks out of poverty and ignorance. That just isn't so.

For instance, it is known in the emerging tourism industry that 80 per cent of Cubans who work with foreign visitors are white while only five per cent are black. The black population in Cuba, besides suffering limitations in getting access to more profitable jobs and having access to American dollars, suffers from constant harassment by the police. It is well known that the immense majority of people who are stopped on the streets for identification are blacks.

To this should be added the fact that 70 per cent of the prison population is black or mixed-race, groups representing 30 and ten per cent of those populations respectively, according to official Cuban figures.

In a survey of poor neighbourhoods in Havana, it isn't hard to verify that the majority of residents are blacks or of mixed race, a situation that demonstrates the low standard of living of a considerable part of the Afro-Cuban population.

Another matter which demonstrates the economic disadvantage of blacks is the fact that between 30 to 40 per cent of whites receive remittances from abroad, while only between five to ten per cent of blacks count on this help.

While no one doubts the argument of those many black Cubans who do not feel discriminated against rests on the fact they have gone to college, no one should deny that Castro's discriminatory and segregationist policies are frequently ignored and justified by those who should know better. Don't kid yourselves. Racism is alive and well and living in Cuba.