Sunday, August 5, 2018

Noam Chomsky on Russian and Israeli Meddling in US Politics


Noam Chomsky is as dumb as coprolite when it comes to economics but he is generally very good when it comes to Russia and foreign policy. He told Amy Goodman of Democracy Now:
Did the Russians interfere in our elections? An issue of overwhelming concern in the media. I mean, in most of the world, that’s almost a joke. First of all, if you’re interested in foreign interference in our elections, whatever the Russians may have done barely counts or weighs in the balance as compared with what another state does, openly, brazenly and with enormous support. Israeli intervention in U.S. elections vastly overwhelms anything the Russians may have done, I mean, even to the point where the prime minister of Israel, Netanyahu, goes directly to Congress, without even informing the president, and speaks to Congress, with overwhelming applause, to try to undermine the president’s policies—what happened with Obama and Netanyahu in 2015. Did Putin come to give an address to the joint sessions of Congress trying to—calling on them to reverse U.S. policy, without even informing the president? And that’s just a tiny bit of this overwhelming influence. So if you happen to be interested in influence of—foreign influence on elections, there are places to look. But even that is a joke... 
[Trump]’s perfectly right when he says we should have better relations with Russia. Being dragged through the mud for that is outlandish, makes—Russia shouldn’t refuse to deal with the United States because the U.S. carried out the worst crime of the century in the invasion of Iraq, much worse than anything Russia has done. But they shouldn’t refuse to deal with us for that reason, and we shouldn’t refuse to deal with them for whatever infractions they may have carried out, which certainly exist. This is just absurd. We have to move towards better—right at the Russian border, there are very extreme tensions, that could blow up anytime and lead to what would in fact be a terminal nuclear war, terminal for the species and life on Earth. We’re very close to that. Now, we could ask why. First of all, we should do things to ameliorate it. Secondly, we should ask why. Well, it’s because NATO expanded after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in violation of verbal promises to Mikhail Gorbachev, mostly under Clinton, partly under first Bush, then Clinton expanded right to the Russian border, expanded further under Obama. The U.S. has offered to bring Ukraine into NATO. That’s the kind of a heartland of Russian geostrategic concerns. So, yes, there’s tensions at the Russian border—and not, notice, at the Mexican border. Well, those are all issues that should be of primary concern. The fate of—the fate of organized human society, even of the survival of the species, depends on this. How much attention is given to these things as compared with, you know, whether Trump lied about something? I think those seem to me the fundamental criticisms of the media.

3 comments:

  1. Israhell is a bane to the middle east and the rest of the world. I mean how can you remove such a parasite so cunning and deeply embedded? I had hoped the middle east and Iran would eventually temper their meddling, but alas. Once Murica is broke and cant afford shit then maybe things will get interesting.

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  2. But Israel didn’t stop Obama from getting elected either time he ran for President. Both major parties are big supporters of Israel (unfortunately).

    “[Trump]’s perfectly right when he says we should have better relations with Russia.”

    Trump could have appointed to his “national security” team articulate and knowledgeable people supporting a pullback of NATO and better relations with Russia. He did the opposite. That’s not the fault of the Russia phobes, it’s his.
    Also, by his (and his family) profiting financially off his office as much as he can get away with and not releasing his tax returns, he gives good reason to believe his primary motivation in having good relations with Putin is personal gain. Especially to achieve his decades long dream of building a Trump tower in Moscow.

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    1. My last sentence should have been: Both to hide possibly illegal and/or embarrassing past business dealings with Russia and to achieve his decade’s long dream of building a Trump tower in Moscow.

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