nfolkert

[snip]

This is relevant to Brian Turner's recent post in the thread
discussing Chomsky's statements concerning North Vietnam. Here we
have an example of Chomsky more or less declining to ********ly
criticize or praise the Cuban regime in the context of his criticism
of U.S. Cuban policy. Compare this to his speech on Radio Hanoi, or
his discussions elsewhere (e.g. "In North Vietnam" or "The Legitimacy
of Violence as a Political Act") of the various Asian totalitarian
movements.

Dwyer believes that Chomsky once admired the "Cuban system". Though
I've seen him defending certain aspects of it, and making unlikely
claims about its popularity and effectiveness in improving the lot of
the people, I have not seen him "admire" Cuba in the way that he
admires other totalitarian regimes or that other radicals admire Cuba.
I wonder what Dwyer is referring to here?

Elsewhere Chomsky has called the Cuban system a "Stalinist
nightmare"*, though he has also called North Vietnam a "brutal
Stalinist dictatorship", so I'm not sure if he's sincere or not. At
least here he is consistent with the principle that Brian raised (and,
incidentally, he is advocating the absolutist view of sovereign
equality, the absolute property rights of the state over its territory
and people).

- Nate

* Dan Clore believes that this particular quote is made up, because


Clore must also believe that Chomsky's 1994 interview with New
Statesman and Society is fabricated because he claimed that during the
war he wrote "not one word supporting the Vietcong, [...] I was saying
that North Vietnam is a brutal Stalinist dictatorship" (when clearly
he did the former but not the latter, in "In North Vietnam", for
example). I work under the assmuption that the quote is authentic,
and Chomsky simply momentarily overlooked his writings about what he
saw in North Vietnam (or else he knew he suppressed some things that
he saw there), just as he momentarily overlooked (or else lied about)
his writings supporting the Vietnamese Communist revolution.

constantinople

Well, the title of the piece is "Radio Havana Interviews Chomsky". That
could explain the delicate way he puts things, i.e., he's bending over
backwards not to offend his host (the left-anarchist regime in Cuba).

limbaugh fart detector

why did you snip out the part of Chomsky's callng Cuba "a Stalinist
nightmare?"

constantinople

Because I was only talking about his interview with Radio Havana. I snipped
out everything except for the single sentence I was responding to.

You know, this is why I don't snip. When I don't snip, I can go on for two
years before someone says, "hey, snip goddamn you". But if I snip, very
quickly somebody complains, "why did you snip". Jesus forking Christ, a
person tries to be a good neighbor and the only difference it makes to his
life is that he gets grief. And in addition, nobody ever praises me or
sends me money or flowers or chocolate for snipping. So there's
approximately zero incentive over here for me to snip.

limbaugh fart detector

lol....I stand corrected my friend.

nfolkert

I don't always say it, but you know that I appreciate all of your snips.

- Nate

gcf

nfolkert@cs.stanford.edu (Nathan Folkert):

As opposed, maybe, to the absolute property rights of the
government of another state (to wit, the U.S.) over the
territory and people, as in Iraq. However, the passage is
mired in cliché and imprecision. "The Cubans", by and
large, are not likely to have much to say about their
collective fate, whether they remain under the control of
their own indigenous bully-boys or suffer the importation
of new ones from abroad. One may still doubt that the
importation procedure would be a good thing, not only in
view of the many Cubans who would suffer the inconvenience
of being killed, maimed, terrorized, and imprisioned, but
in view of the encouragement which success would give the
importers, who would then be motivated to expand their
business elsewhere.

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constantinople

Are you going to say it with flowers?