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Title: Pirates & Emperors: International Terrorism in the Real World by Noam Chomsky ISBN: 1-895431-20-4 Publisher: Black Rose Books Pub. Date: April, 2000 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $24.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Orwellian logic beyond parody
Comment: I read this polemic after I had read the same author's irresponsible and distasteful pamphlet blaming America for September 11. Though written some 13 years earlier, its techniques and invective foreshadow precisely what Chomsky said only a few months ago. It is a confused, intellectually chaotic tirade against the reasonable efforts of a liberal democratic polity to defend itself from forces of nihilism and untrammelled violence. Terrorism, according to Chomsky, is an ideologically-charged term that is frequently invoked by those wishing to denigrate their opponents; and in any case (in stark contradiction to the thesis just stated), the principal practitioner and sponsor of terrorism in the modern world is the United States.
The thesis can be summed up in Chomsky's judgement that the United States is "unusual in that it is *officially* committed to international terrorism, and on a scale that puts its rivals to shame." Rather than merely rub one's eyes in disbelief at this risible dogma, a useful corrective is to list the states that Chomsky is here favourably comparing to the world's leading democracy: Iraq (which in the year this book was written gassed thousands of its own subjects); Syria; Sudan; Iran; Libya. If you believe that these bloody totalitarian nightmare states are superior to the US, then your sense of moral discrimination needs honing rather urgently. ...
Rating: 5
Summary: An EXCELLENT Read
Comment: Chomsky's work has often been ignored by the political mainstream because it has been found to be unreasonably radical and paranoid. If this is true, it is certainly not true of "Pirates & Emperors." Chomsky's work is thoroughly convincing, and it is written in a provocative style that makes it an extremely entertaining read.
Here, Chomsky brilliantly analyzes the hypocrisy of the United States' policy towards the Muslim world, focusing in particular on its sponsorship of the Israeli government. Chomsky lucidly analyzes the way in which we define "terrorism" in ways that both vindicate and actually justify supposedly "retaliatory" actions which are in fact just as terroristic as the actions that they purport to respond to. The enormous casualties inflicted on the Palestinians by the Israeli government have been subject to little public dismay in an American public that sees Israel as a tiny outpost of Western civilization that must be defended at all costs against the "terrorism" practiced by the Palestinians, who are often labelled "Muslim fundamentalists" or "Islamic guerillas."
At the outset of the Gulf War crisis, President Bush likened Saddam Hussein to a fascist dictator, but he ultimately found it most politically expedient to label him a "terrorist." After all, "we never negotiate with terrorists." In constituting Saddam, in this way, as a faceless terrorist, Bush painted a subhuman image of Saddam that served to justify the massive violence practiced upon Iraq by the United States during the War. This image continues to justify an atrocious policy of economic sanctions with which the United States has been able to deprive the Iraqui people of food and medicine.
In a world where such violence is possible, a critique like Chomsky's serves a particularly crucial political function. Alerting the American people of the utter hypocrisy that drives the United States' policy towards the Muslim World is the first step in preventing a repitition of similar practices.
Rating: 5
Summary: A schloarly masterpiece in the Chomsky tradition of dissent!
Comment: Noam Chomsky deserves a Profiles in Courage award for this scholarly treatise that exposes the hypocrisies and selective standards the superpowers use with respect to the word "terrorism." Chomsky brilliantly illustrates that by the internationally accepted definition of the word terrorism, the Western powers are guilty of state sponsored terrorism by their support of attrocities against Third World peoples such as the Palestinains, Cambodians, East Timorese, and others.
The convenient countries that are targeted for sanctions against terrorism are Iraq, Iran, Libya, Cuba, and North Korea. Chomsky argues that should a leader who supported Western expansionism and domination such as the Shah of Iran or King Idris of Libya arise, the countries will be termed "friendly" and "moderate" like the Gulf potentates and Apartheid South Africa.
I thorougly enjoyed reading this book and others by the same author. Chomsky consistently points out the mistakes and fallacies of policy makers through his superb mastery of polemics and prose. His style is entertaining and never loses my interest. I suggest any prospective student in international relations be required to read this text by one of America's leading dissident voices.
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Title: Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta by Gore Vidal ISBN: 1560255021 Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance (The American Empire Project) by Noam Chomsky ISBN: 0805074007 Publisher: Metropolitan Books Pub. Date: 04 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush by Kevin Phillips ISBN: 0670032646 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century by Paul Krugman ISBN: 0393058506 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Bushwhacked : Life in George W. Bush's America by Molly Ivins, Lou Dubose ISBN: 0375507523 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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