9/22/06 Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1 in Books
"It's an excellent book to help us understand what's been happening in the world throughout the 20th century and what's happening now." Chavez
"It is an exaggeration to say that only the most powerful are granted the authority to establish norms of appropriate behavior - for themselves. The authority is sometimes delegated to reliable clients. Thus, Israel's crimes are permitted to establish norms: for example, its regular
resort to "targeted killings" of suspects - called "terrorist atrocities" when carried out by the wrong hands. In May 2003, two leading Israeli civil rights attorneys provided "a detailed list of all of the liquidations and all of the attempted assassinations that Israel's security forces carried out" during the al-Aqsa Intifada, from November 2000 through April 2003. Using official and semiofficial records, they found that "Israel carried out no less than 175 liquidation attempts" - one attempt every five days - killing 235 people, of whom 156 were suspected of crimes. "It greatly pains us to say the following," the lawyers wrote, but "the consistent, widespread policy of targeted liquidations bounds on a crime against humanity."Their judgment is not quite accurate. Liquidation is a crime in the wrong hands, but it is a justified, if regrettable, act of self-defense when carried out by a client, and even establishes norms for the "the boss-man called 'partner,' " who provides authorization" - Noam Chomsky, Hegemony or Survival, p24
"the 'solution to the problem of terrorism is to offer an honorable solution to the Palestinians respecting their right to self-determination.' So Yehoshaphat Harkabi - former head of Israel military intelligence and a leading Arabist - observed twenty years ago" Noam Chomsky, Hegemony or Survival, p213
Also see Chomsky's latest book: Failed States: The Abuse of Power and The Assault on Democracy
First Sentence:
"Half a century ago, in July 1955, Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein issued an extraordinary appeal to the people of the world, asking them "to set aside" the strong feelings they have about many issues and to consider themselves "only as members of a biological species which has had a remarkable history, and whose disappearance none of us can desire."
Una mentira grandísima del libro: "La defensa de Angola fue una de las contribuciones más significativas de Cuba a la liberación de África. No se sabía [hasta hace poco] la importancia de esas contribuciones"
ReplyDeleteRealmente lo que paso: La intervención militar de Cuba para asegurar el dominio exclusivo de la dictadura comunista del MPLA en Angola llevó a tres décadas de guerra civil en la que murieron un millón de personas. Otras "contribuciones" cubanas "a la liberación de África" incluyen la intervención militar en apoyo de la dictadura comunista de Etiopía, que asesinó 1, 25 millones de personas mediante masacres y hambrunas programadas
Ciertamente, Chomsky es rico precisamente porque ha sido un capitalista enormemente exitoso. A pesar de la retórica contraria a los beneficios, al igual que cualquier capitalista corporativo se ha convertido a sí mismo en una marca comercial. Tal y como John Lloyd aseguró, escribiendo críticamente en la publicación de izquierdas New Statesman, Chomsky está entre aquellos "abiertos a convertirse en un bien de consumo; esto es, convertirse simplemente en uno de los múltiples productos del mercado capitalista de los medios, en una manera que los periodistas y escritores mal pagados y con exceso de trabajo empleados en partidos revolucionarios raramente consiguen".
ReplyDeleteEl hecho de que gane dinero no invalida ninguna de sus palabras.
ReplyDelete