Earlier quoted context omitted.
oh wow, its the same dead horse being beaten again and again and again. The whole thing is more semantical argument than ideological. Chomsky is not 100% right on everything and his world views are more black and white than the world they describe. But he is an excellent linchpin to validate your own views against. People who hate him always attack him based on few things from the past, while following/praising peopl…
Its like people always go after Nazi and right wingers about the same kind of stuff. Like let it go people.
Noam Chomsky 'no longer able to talk' after 'medical event'
391–400 of 500 posts
Re: Noam Chomsky 'no longer able to talk' after 'medical event'
#392Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are many many reasons for war, not just because Putin wrote a fancy paper long ago about his aspirin, or because the drought in Crimea was costing Russia tons of money since they took over and had their water cut off or the falling population and economy that purposely did not reinvest properly to keep Putin in power. Giving a simple answer is not wrong if the long one takes much longer to explain. Multiple fac…
>> Putin wrote a fancy paper long ago about his aspirin Explain?
Re: Noam Chomsky 'no longer able to talk' after 'medical event'
#393Earlier quoted context omitted.
The man writes faster than I can realistically read, but I still have a full shelf that I have dipped into over the last 32 years. Linguistics to Gaza, one of my proudest moments was once having some wingnut include me on a public list of enemies alongside Chomsky.
Valentino Rossi and Noam Chomsky together against the world really is a pairing I didn't expect!
Re: Noam Chomsky 'no longer able to talk' after 'medical event'
#394Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I love Noam Chomsky so much. I don't. There are some things out there that are up for debate. But not Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Chomsky, for some weird reason, chose to take Russia's side. Edit: To be sure, I wish him full recovery and many more happy years. https://www.e-flux.com/notes/470005/open-letter-to-noam-chom...
> But not Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Chomsky, for some weird reason, chose to take Russia's side. Taking sides is a sign of emotional, not intellectual approach. And Russia/Ukraine conflict is way far from good fighting evil simplified construct. I don't like leftists in general and Chomsky in particlar, but I give him huge respect for intellectual and independent position, which will cause him losing appreciation…
I'd say rather than emotional he has the usual academic thing of being up in one specialist area - in this case US imperialism and not up on another speciality like Russia's history of invasion, expansion and the like.
Re: Noam Chomsky 'no longer able to talk' after 'medical event'
#395Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is that's a false narrative. There were never any promises, and Putin barely even cared that it resulted in Finland and Sweden joining NATO. Because Russia's stated motivation for invading Ukraine was never Putin's actual reason, which is basically an emotional desire for historical greatness by reclaiming Russia's lost empire, combined with war always being an excellent mechanism for staying in power and…
>> So it's sad to see anyone falling for Putin's lies so easily. (See also Mearshimer.) Mearsheimer can be a bit too convincing for his own good, surely. What he has argued that is certainly convincing is that Russia was ready to negotiate a peace at the start of the war, when Russians and Ukrainians met in Belarus and then in Istanbul. If Putin wanted to recreate Imperial Russia, or the Soviet Union, then why would…
To distract western military support.
To distract offensive\defensive ukrainian plans.
To construct a peaceful narrative at home or the war mongering west.
To strengthen or pet allies, who mediate.
To gain intelligence about the willingness of territorial sacrifice.
Would Putin ever publicly admit his grand soviet plan? If no, then how would he behave instead? Consider georgia, chechenia, belarus, etc.
Re: Noam Chomsky 'no longer able to talk' after 'medical event'
#396Earlier quoted context omitted.
> it's clear that the Ukraine invasion was motivated, in part, by NATO expansion. Unless you mean, the only way to have prevented the Russian invasion of Ukraine would have been to accept Ukraine into NATO, I strongly disagree with you here. Russia invaded Ukraine not because Russia is fearful of NATO but because Russia wished to recreate the Soviet empire. It's just plain old imperialism.
Years Ukraine not admitted to NATO: 1992-2022 But it was going to happen any minute now. I wonder if these sme people think Turkey is going to be admitted to the EU… There’s a sucker born every minute.
If Ukraine eventually gets NATO membership it will be because of Russian's invasion.
Re: Noam Chomsky 'no longer able to talk' after 'medical event'
#397Earlier quoted context omitted.
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> Russia did not target (initially, now they are) major essential civilian infrastructure like power plants The russians targeted major essential civilian infrastructure right from the outset of the full scale invasion. This included hospitals, airports, train stations, bridges, information infrastructure, fuel facilities, etc . They also launched wave after wave of cruise missile and drone attacks on energy infrastr…
Contrast with Iraq where power plants (probably the most critical of civilian infrastructure) were targeted immediately.
> The definition of genocide I am using is the one provided by the UN.
Unfortunately the "whole or in part" definition is so vague that it can be interpreted to encompasses pretty much every conflict. You cannot apply the same standard and say that Ukraine is a genocide and Iraq was not.
Re: Noam Chomsky 'no longer able to talk' after 'medical event'
#398Earlier quoted context omitted.
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You are either disastrously wrong, or are intentionally lying. Which is it, and why?
Re: Noam Chomsky 'no longer able to talk' after 'medical event'
#399Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> So it's sad to see anyone falling for Putin's lies so easily. (See also Mearshimer.) Mearsheimer can be a bit too convincing for his own good, surely. What he has argued that is certainly convincing is that Russia was ready to negotiate a peace at the start of the war, when Russians and Ukrainians met in Belarus and then in Istanbul. If Putin wanted to recreate Imperial Russia, or the Soviet Union, then why would…
> If Putin wanted to recreate Imperial Russia, or the Soviet Union, then why would he negotiate for peace? To distract western military support. To distract offensive\defensive ukrainian plans. To construct a peaceful narrative at home or the war mongering west. To strengthen or pet allies, who mediate. To gain intelligence about the willingness of territorial sacrifice. Would Putin ever publicly admit his grand sovi…
Re: Noam Chomsky 'no longer able to talk' after 'medical event'
#400Earlier quoted context omitted.
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Glad someone said it. Hamas is not a terrorist because they terrorize. Hamas is a terrorist because they are a threat to western govt and world order. Similarly south africa post apartheid was a threat to western world order.
And S-A's apartheid government was actually boikotted by western governments. How do you explain that?