Raul's Back, Chavez Gets Hugged; Great Movie Plot Ankled: Who was Stealing the Great Commies of Earth?

Fidel Castro is out of action, unseen, and rumored dead; his brother Raul replaces him and he too disappears from the public eye–until yesterday, as his brother released a statement and some alleged new photos, warning his subjects to be prepared for "adverse news." (What, that they live in a tyrannical communist hellhole?)

Raul's appearance, hugging fellow commie icon Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, alas, foils what seemed to be a delicious pattern developing of missing Red autocrats: Burying the lead, a North Korean news service reveals in the last sentence of this report from Friday on his filmmaking prowess the news that Kim Jong-Il has also been out of sight since his recent missile-lobbing triumph over the decadent West. Clearly, the plot to a movie too idiotic to actually shoot has been foiled. But may they all disappear again, and soon.

[Links and conceptual hat tip to leading anti-communist Ivan Osorio.]