Not sure if this has been discussed. It probably has. But I was watching Part II over the holidays and during Roth’s birthday party Michael second guesses the Cuban military by reasoning that the rebels can win because they aren’t paid to fight. That’s a truth in just about every war since the dawn of time. Anyway, it very conveniently gave Michael an out to buy time. Is it possible that he really WAS thinking about partnering with Roth up to that point? Or was it just a number of any excuses that he would have used to bide his time and stall a bit?

Happy New Year, PB! Good to see you.

I think it's mainly stalling or some sort of gamesmanship. I think he's pretending that it's just some little thought that occurred to him, and he's bringing it up in front of the whole group to see just how sensitive Roth is about the subject. He probably also wants to talk about anything but the two million, to make Roth bring up the subject and maybe reveal something.

Thanks, MP. Nice to be remembered by the old guard here lol. And I agree one hundred percent. Happy New Year to you and yours!

For the life of me I can't understand why Michael would place himself in such danger by going to Cuba. As he told Fredo, it was Roth who tried to have him murdered in his home. Nevertheless, he enters the lion's den ostensibly to try and find out who is the traitor. Madonne! That makes no sense. "I'll find out who the traitor is and then I'll be murdered. At least I'll die knowing that."

By the way, in his next tome, Tolkien has Frodo find adventures while traveling through Throggs Neck.

Welcome back, PB! And thanks for the thoughtful question.

I sort of asked the same question in a different way recently:

http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=922682#Post922682

In my view, Michael knew, shortly after the Tahoe shooting, that all he'd get from Roth was a death certificate. So, his trip to Havana was to buy time to find out who the traitor was. "The rebels can win" may have contributed to his conclusion that he wouldn't be able to buy off Castro. But, by that time, it was really a delaying tactic to keep stringing Roth along. As I posted: the decisive factor may have been Roth's promising big chunks of his empire to others. In any event: Anyone who read the newspapers could figure out that Batista was governing on borrowed time.

Yes TB. However, if Michael knows that Roth is relentlessly trying to murder him, why ensconce himself in Roth's haven where Michael had no way to protect himself? Again, I ask why Michael thought there was any time to buy by stringing Roth along and how he thought the process of discovering the traitor would happen. For all he knew, he could be murdered (or disappear) in Cuba at any time after his arrival and never find out who was the traitor.

One problem we posters have, and which has been referenced many times, is FFC's dramatic license. Without the Cuba scenes, what does FFC substitute?

Oli, logic is on your side. Of course it was insanely dangerous for Michael to go to Havana, with only Buscetta at his side, when Roth could have squashed him like a bug at any time. But, Michael had two advantages: 1) knowing when, where and how Roth would have him killed; and 2) knowing that Roth wouldn't strike until he had the $2 million.

Even The Crystals sang about the Rebels:

They're the Rebels
And they'll never, never be any good
They're the Rebels
And they'll never, never be understood
Just because they don't do what everybody else does
That's no reason why I can't bribe them just as much

My takeaway from the entire Cuba sequence was the rebellion starting, and all of those powerful dignitaries and mafia dons scrambling for their life boats like roaches. Puzo and Coppola illustrate here just how power gets turned on its head historically.