Law of intended consequences
This is so funny
Chavez boosts Chomsky book sales
A book by left-wing US author Noam Chomsky has reached a bestsellers' list after Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez praised it at the UN last week.
A speech by Mr Chavez cited Chomsky's 2003 critique of US policy, Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance, as an "excellent book". Mr Chavez also said US President George W Bush was the "devil" who had left the UN podium smelling of "sulphur". Chomsky's book spent the weekend at the top of Amazon.com's bestseller list. The 77-year-old linguistics professor told the New York Times newspaper last week that he would be "happy to meet" Mr Chavez. He said he is "quite interested" in Mr Chavez's policies and regards many of his views as "quite constructive". Mr Chavez urged his audience at the UN General Assembly to read Chomsky's book, saying it would help explain "what has been happening in the world throughout the 20th Century... and the greatest threat looming over our planet". Holding up a Spanish-language edition of the book, Mr Chavez said "the hegemonic pretensions of the American empire are placing at risk the very survival of the human species".
posted by Bomber @ 1:32 pm
35 comments
35 Comments:
someone had to do it didnt they. at least not everyone in power is an idiot. maybe they might listen to him or would chomskys book be taken off of shelves like the clinton interview on youtube lol
btw check http://www.myspace.com/channelzwestcoast/
im station manager. will have online broadcast soon when we get more funds etc
Maybe you would like to enlighten us on how Hugo Chavez stifles a free press in Venezuela also Luke:
http://www.freemedia.at/cms/ipi/watchlist_detail.html?country=KW0032
His human rights record is also excellent
http://hrw.org/doc/?t=americas&c=venezu
hey im all for his support o the book, thats all dude. my bad, should o done my research:p
Mind you not sure if he is locking up homosexuals like that other darling of the left Fidel Casto, just yet anyway...
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Hold the phone on the Chavez bagging folks - South America has been FUCKED by the United States and it takes a lot to overcome that - is Chavez perfect - no, are there problems, yes - but the wider issues of spreading wealth to many people who would never see it at the cost of american backed companies doesn't keep me up at night. Oh and let's not forget the fucking Americans also tried to over throw chavez in a coup (when will America stop sticking its nose in other peoples business)
Right, so end justifies the means?
Yeah its always the fault of the US...like the US trade embargo on Cuba is responsible for Cuba being such an economic basket case...lets just ignore the fact that Cuba can trade with everyone else...and hey, if socialism/communism was such a great system, why do these countries need to trade with the US anyway?
Hey Fidel, give me an example of a communist country with a successful economy?
Lets not forget that the US was essentially isolationist until it became one of the worlds two superpowers following the end of world war 2...whereupon Europe, Asia and many other countries were faced with agreessive communism sponsored by the Soviet Union...Most of the US actions post WW2 have to be taken as part of its reaction to the perceived threat represented by the actions of the USSR, the Warsaw Pact, and so on and so on...the US has never acted within a vacuum.
That's right, gwb. And the US, while it has done some bad things, like propping up dictators because they were marginally better than the communist alternative, it all was part of a plan to stop communism trying to take over the world and make us all wear shitty clothes and drive Ladas. Thank God the US-led West won the Cold War, or we'd all be eating one potato for dinner, while praising Chairman Mao or Lenin, because if we didn't, we would be executed.
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Hahahahaha reds under the bed- are we really getting that worked up about communisim? Communisim was never the big global threat it was made out to be and you all bloody know it - it was an excuse to build up the American Military Industrial Complex - Communisim failed becauseover the long term, it can't work - EVER, and it only became the resistance movement of choice because it could fight back against American Imperialisim - just like fanatical Islam has become now - could any of you tell me how much of a threat Vietnam was to America once America fucked off out of their country? Come on, how much of a threat to America was 'Communist Vietnam' once America left.
Now that's not to say that there is a lot of damage Communisim did and the mass murder of millions under Stalin and Mao, but incompetance and madness were the main culprits for the death rates. And up until the Vietnam War the fight against Communisim aggression was pretty justified - but the levels of depravity America mete out to the people of vietnam called a halt to that justification
Oh and as for 'where is communisim successful' ummmmmmmmm ever heard of a place China? Last I heard they were giving Americas saggy Captialisim a run for it's money
Believe it or not, the Warsaw Pact, and communism in Asia (though not so much) was a massive threat to the free world Bobmer. They could muster more than double the number of troops and tanks as the West, an equal number of nukes, submarines, planes etc. Luckily their technology was generally behind, due to their retarded ideology.
Communism is only 'successful' (and I've been to China, and most people live like shit, btw) in China because they have adopted Western economic models in recent years.
And 'reds under the bed'- don't confuse the idiocy of McCarthy's witchhunts with the real war against communism which was fought throughout the world by the West's armed forces and security agencies to keep us free.
Sure Bomber, the fact that the USSR effectively annexed Eastern Europe, invaded Finland, sponsored the Communist takeover of Albania, China, French Indochina, and gave military assistance to communist revolutionaries and governments throughout Africa doesn't at all suggest aggression does it? Yeah that was all just a US plot, sigh...
As for "incompetence and madness", try forced starvation and bullets...it was all rather methodical.
as for China being 'communist'? Wasn't it Den Ziaoping who said "To grow rich is glorious" surely that is about as far from "From each according to his ability to each according to his means" as is possible from a philisophical point of view?
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Yeah but Deano, communisim has also been used as a bullshit excuse as well, South America being a prime example - I think the 'threat' was always overplayed
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my point exactly GWB not really much of a fearsome force any longer are they - these menacing communist states (protect me from communist finland please) Communisim was a virus that burnt itself out because it could never work in real life
I don't think the threat was overplayed. I think at times the US may have used the threat to gain advantages- strategic, political, economic- but the threat was real, or at least seemed a real and present danger, until 1990 when the Berlin Wall fell, and communism in Europe basically collapsed, because it could no longer compete with the West's superior economy. The remaining communist countries are generally enclaves of poverty and idiocy. We won, and our successful businesses should take a bow, as should CIA agents, nuclear sub commanders, and generals.
Also the USSR really played down its aggression during the Hungarian and Czech uprisings..."Occupation" anyone?
So your theory Bomber is that Communism would have fallen anyway, despite being forced to live beyond its means, particularly by the policies of Ronald Reagan?
Fallujah anyone? Afghanistan anyone? Lebanon anyone?
Thread being on the threat of aggressive communism anon, and US policy being shaped by it...anything to contribute on that?
Haha, Chavez is the man. Promoting Chomsky is his latest act of brilliance, but referring to Bush as the devil comes a close second.
Deano, you really did fall for the fear mongering rhetoric of the 80s didn't you. The way to understand how the communist threat was exaggerated, you just have to look at today. Militant Islam is the new communism, the new threat. Apparently. So America builds its military to ridiculous measurez to 'defend' itself and others. This is what America has been since 1945- A extremely capitalist state that needs to maintain its primacy over the global economic order, and ideologies like communism and militant Islam (when in reality we're talking about decolonisation/nationlist movements) pose a huge threat to American primacy and need to be crushed. So the threat is never against the world, just to America's power but it's presented as the latter.
-Anti-Flag.
Former*. My bad.
Lol. Why don't you move to Venezuela then anon? With more people like you Chavez won't need to rig elections and use the army to intimidate all those people who actually try to vote against him....
Fuck me anon? Well maybe later lol, but first maybe you should check these links out, posted earlier in the thread by tim s...
http://www.freemedia.at/cms/ipi/watchlist_detail.html?country=KW0032
His human rights record is also excellent
http://hrw.org/doc/?t=americas&c=venezu
Chavez is indeed 'da man' smirk.
International Human Rights Watch...yeah a real republican website...
Next you'll be telling us that everyone in Cuba loves Fidel Castro and that Robert Mugabe is a committed democrat lol...
Still to gutless to put your name to your posts eh anon?
I'd suspect you were actually Fidel, but as he's a doctor I'd imagine he'd use better English than you, even as a second language :) Have a nice day dreamer.
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Anon as mush as I respect your passion, and as much as I hate to agree with someone calling themselves 'sam eagle chest' he does have a couple of valid points. I respect Hugo and Fidel for having the strength to stand up to America and America's attempts to over throw them both - but the restrictions Chavez and Fidel bring in to combat those threats (Chavez gets attacked internally by the Middle Classes and big business who are supported by America) both men have brought in questionable practices. You could argue that such measures are necessary to keep America out of their country and I think you might want to use that (and Americas dodgy history in that part of the world) to counter the sam eagle chesty thing - because Chavez and Fidel have some questions to answer in terms of Human Rights
There's a new anon on the scene here at Tumeke, one who swears a lot, can't spell and says retarded things.
It can't be msth8d, you can tell its him when he threatens to blow your guts out with a shotgun...normal...
sounds like you deano, a complete ass
haha just kidding big man
Where4 is Mas Ter Bater?. I've been locked and loaded for a couple of weeks now.
:)
AB
As someone who has lived in Venezuela I can assure readers that corruption under the U.S. backed Carlos Andreas Perez was endemic. I maintain an open mind about Chavez but sense his heart seems to be in the right place. It would be impossible to maintain an administration in the environment left by Perez without responding in kind so don't expect total transparency and virtue from him until the house cleaning is done.
Mark.
Even the most casual glance at Chavez's features reveals his "indio" bloodlines. Not that it makes a great deal of difference.
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I love how all the right wingers jumped up and down about Chavez, but wouldn't say boo about Chomsky!
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