Tag: Noam Chomsky
Dead Wild Roses: The Striking Difference Between Physicists and Economists – Noam Chomsky
The power to make decisions in society must remain primarily in the hands of a democratically elected government. In private hands, there is only one concern, and that is the bottom line. We have too much ‘bottom line’ directed policy as it is. “There’s a striking difference between physicists and
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Noam Chomsky – On The US and Global Stability
Noam Chomsky is 92 years old, yet his grasp of world and US politics remains a force to be reckoned with. “The U.S. always portrays itself as the greatest force on the planet for peace, justice, human rights, racial equality, etc. Polls tell us that most other nations
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: In Defence of Professor Noam Chomsky
Chomsky is about as corruptible as Gandhi, from my perspective. Further, he is the precise opposite of a globalist – he’s a self-defined anarchist, a libertarian socialist. He’s not omniscient or infallible, however. Some people think that any error in judgment means you must be corrupt, and part of some secret
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Quote of the Day – Noam Chomsky on Post Modernism
“Unless someone can answer the simple questions that immediately arise in the mind of any reasonable person when claims about “theory” and “philosophy” are raised, I’ll keep to work that seems to me sensible and enlightening, and to people who are interested in understanding and changing the world. Johnb made
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Noam Chomsky – Partial Analysis of the World Situation
This excerpt from an interview with Marc Steiner from Real News – Noam Chomsky: Well, I’m old enough to remember, as a child, listening to Hitler’s speeches over the radio at the Nuremberg rallies. I couldn’t understand the words when I was six years old, but I could easily
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Noam Chomsky on Bernie and Biden
I’m disappointed that Bernie Sanders did not get the Democratic nomination. I suspect the only way he will ever get into the race proper is if he runs as an independent. The structural opposition within the Democratic party is just too strong to overcome currently. I hope that Chomsky’s observations
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Most Schooling Is Training for Stupidity And Conformity
Going against the dominant expectations as a teacher, as Chomsky says, is a dangerously fine line. Those who do, please keep up the great work.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: “Cool Even Handed Statesmanship”
We’re playing with nuclear fire. Hell, we’re doing a fire dance with twirling batons ablaze in a fireworks factory. This all started after the US nuked Japan in 1945. Since then, we’ve just been piling more fireworks around the fire dancers and giving the dancers bigger batons to twirl. There
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Noam Chomsky on the Erosion of Democracy
If I were to have just one wish to come true, it would be that people would take the time to think about the world they live in. I realize that reflection and critical something is not always possible, but if we’re in the wish zone I think it could
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Noam Chomsky on the High Cheeto-King
Trump level insanity dissected. Filed under: History, Politics Tagged: Al Jazeera, Analysis, Cheeto King, Noam Chomsky
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Noam Chomsky On Trump and American Politics
There is always hope. Filed under: Culture, Politics Tagged: American Politics, Hope, Noam Chomsky, Struggle
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Noam Chomsky – Media Priorities…
Where do elite priorities lie? Follow the coverage. “Q: Moving on, has the media changed landscape since you wrote ‘Manufacturing Consent’ in 1989? Is the media manufacturing consent now? A: Well, we didn’t actually say that media is manufacturing consent; we said that -that is what they are trying to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Free Trade Is Never Free
While it is beginning to look like International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland’s departure from CETA negotiations was more of a ploy than the end of talks, the hiatus at least gives Canadians the opportunity to once more reflect on its dangers, the same dangers that afflict other so-called free trade
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The State of the Republican Party – Noam Chomsky
As far as concise descriptions of the state of the GOP in the US go, this is fairly accurate and sadly amusing all at the same time. “It is important to bear in mind that the Republicans have long abandoned the pretence of functioning as a normal parliamentary party. Rather,
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Noam Chomsky – On Pornography
“(Asked about his stance on pornography, in response to perceived endorsement of Hustler, who had tricked Chomsky into giving an interview for the magazine.) Pornography is humiliation and degradation of women. It’s a disgraceful activity. I don’t want to be associated with it. Just take a look at the pictures.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Well Isn’t That Just Typical – Two Old Jews…
Who just happen to be totally awesome – Noam Chomsky and Bernie Sanders. Chomsky is plainly on board with Sanders quest for the Democratic presidential nomination only he doesn’t think the Vermont senator has a chance. I’m glad that Sanders is running. A good way to bring important ideas and
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Risk of ‘accidental’ nuclear war: Chomsky on the ‘worst case scenario’
It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which any world power would deliberately start a nuclear war given the dire consequence for the planet. Rational thinking and the will to survive prevents us from believing that any nation… any leader… could be crazy enough to intentionally unleash what could wind up being a terminal war of reciprocal destruction. But what is often overlooked is the increasing likelihood that a nuclear war might well be started by accident.
During a recent RT interview Noam Chomsky addressed this possibility:
The worst-case scenario, of course, would be a nuclear war, which would be terrible. Both states that initiate it will be wiped out by the consequences. That’s the worst-case. And it’s come ominously close several times in the past, dramatically close. And it could happen again, but not planned, but just by the accidental interactions that take place – that has almost happened. It’s worth remembering that just one century ago, the First World War broke out through a series of such accidental interchanges. The First World War was horrifying enough, but the current reenactment of it means the end of the human race.
Chomsky’s reference to a nuclear war begun ‘by accident’ makes sense when you look at how this might come about. An escalation factor might be faulty intelligence, leading for example to a mistaken belief that the other side is planning an imminent nuclear strike. The decision may then be taken to use tactical nuclear weapons in order to seize first-strike advantage. Underlying intelligence failure of this sort could be a more general strategic misreading of the enemies’ intent and other communications failures that fuel a pattern of escalation.
A report entitled Towards a Grand Strategy for an Uncertain World: Renewing Transatlantic Partnership lays out a new vision for the NATO alliance. It contains a number of statements that confirm the importance of nuclear weapons “in the quiver of escalation”… ostensibly to prevent “existential dangers.” But in fact their use is also clearly about maintaining a winning edge however couched in the language of prevention, as this statement from the report suggests: “What is needed is a policy of deterrence by proactive denial, in which preemption is a form of reaction when a threat is imminent, and prevention is the attempt to regain the initiative in order to end the conflict.” Tactical nuclear weapons are very much a part of any so-called “proportional” response. This scenario opens the door for all kinds of potential disaster.
Tactical or non-strategic nuclear weapons are now part of the toolkit of the world’s major militaries. These weapons can be calibrated to suit the challenges on hand. Variable yield allows operators to set the weapons’ explosive power in consideration of target and conditions. Small-yield tactical nukes might encourage preemptive strikes especially if a conventional force is facing defeat. They may be used in other ways to seize the advantage. Under war conditions the step from tactical to strategic nuclear weapons might not be such a huge leap, especially on the part of a military staring down the barrel of defeat.
Bottom line, our continued use of these weapons raises the ante when it comes to the prospects of large scale nuclear war. Chomsky sums up the stark choice we face in this paragraph:
We can think back as far as 1955, when Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein produced an appeal, a joint appeal to the people of the world, in which they said to all of us, you have a choice that is stark, unavoidable, the question is, will you eliminate war or will you eliminate human race? These are your choices.
Right now we are making bad choices. The provocations of the West in Eastern Europe and the expansion of NATO’s reach to the borders of Russia is fraught with risks that can’t be taken lightly. Chomsky rightly characterizes NATO as a “US-run intervention force.”
The official mission of NATO became to control the international, the global energy system, pipelines. That means, to control the world. Of course, its [a] U.S.-run intervention force, as in Kosovo and Serbia in 1999 – it was a U.S.-run intervention force. That’s the new NATO and it did expand to Russian borders…
The demonization of Russia in Western media and the toxic cold war-like environment that is being whipped up is driven by geopolitical ambitions, energy and resource considerations and a very particular animus toward a major global power that is unwilling to alter its long held values and traditions. This offends some people, who over and above the larger geopolitical considerations, appear willing to risk heightening an already tense situation in the course of pressing a Western-centric rights agenda.
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