several POD grab bag

to avoid bitchign from some people and not post 10000000000000 threads heres some ideas...

1 What would have happened if Castro, early in his regime, decided that he would work with the U.S. and the U.S. in turn did the same? I realize this is a preposterous notion with a decidedly pro-Communist regime right off the shores of the U.S. but... what if, after taking the country from Fulgencio Batista's repressive regime, he had instigated free elections, not placed the press under s strict censorship, imprisoned political leaders and encouraged democracy? What would have happened to Cuba? What would have happened to Kennedy? If you are a conspiracy theorist, would the lack of bay of Pigs lead to his ambivalence about the CIA and a consequent lack of an assassination attempt on him in Dallas in 1963? What would cuba be like now? Would Castro been able to hold power if he had embraced the U.S. and their proposed methods of government?

2 With a POD after the US enters the war, how long can we drag out World War II and by what means would we do this? The most obvious way I can see is to have the Nazis be a bit better on the defence, and/or to not drop the atom bomb (though you can debate that one).

The US initially liked Castro due to his toppling of Batista, who was something of an embarrassment, but the honeymoon didn't last that long. Maybe Castro doesn't hobnob with the USSR as much, instead deciding to "reach out" to the Scandinavian socialist states for ideological inspiration and aid. Less domestic repression that way, too...who ever heard of Swedish gulags?

If you want to drag out WWII with the US in it, have some of the German or Japanese plots against the Panama Canal succeed. Closing the Canal for a few months could put a crink in sending supplies, troops, ships, etc. about. A worse battle of Kasserine Pass (where the Germans annihilated a very large American army) could drive the Allies back to the coast of Africa and that'll delay the invasion of Italy. If the Germans won at Kursk or Stalingrad, that could stretch things out a bit.