Who Rules the World? (37 page)
Read Who Rules the World? Online
Authors: Noam Chomsky
Words can hardly capture the U.S. response to the Syrian refugee crisis, at least any words I can think of.
Returning to the opening question, “Who rules the world?” we might also want to pose another question: “What principles and values rule the world?” That question should be foremost in the minds of the citizens of the rich and powerful states, who enjoy an unusual legacy of freedom, privilege, and opportunity thanks to the struggles of those who came before them, and who now face fateful choices as to how to respond to challenges of great human import.
Please note that some of the links referenced in this work are no longer active.
INTRODUCTION
1
. James Morgan, BBC economics correspondent,
Financial Times
(London), 25–26 April 1992.
2
. Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page, “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens,”
Perspectives on Politics
12, no. 3 (September 2014),
http://www.princeton.edu/~mgilens/Gilens%20homepage%20materials/Gilens%20and%20Page/Gilens%20and%20Page%202014-Testing%20Theories%203-7-14.pdf
; Martin Gilens,
Affluence and Influence:
Economic Inequality and Political Power in America
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010); Larry Bartels,
Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008); Thomas Ferguson,
Golden Rule: The Investment Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money-Driven Political Systems
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).
3
. Burnham, in Thomas Ferguson and Joel Rogers, eds.,
Hidden Election
(New York: Random House, 1981). Burnham and Ferguson, “Americans Are Sick to Death of Both Parties: Why Our Politics Is in Worse Shape Than We Thought,” 17 December 2014,
http://www.alternet.org/americans-are-sick-death-both-parties-why-our-politics-worse-shape-we-thought?paging=off¤t_page=1#bookmark
.
4
. Ken Caldeira, “Stop Emissions,”
MIT Technology Review
119, no. 1 (January/February 2016); “Current Pace of Environmental Change Is Unprecedented in Earth’s History,” press release, University of Bristol, 4 January 2016, published the same day online in
Nature Geoscience
,
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2016/january/pace-environment-change.html
.
5
. Julian Borger, “Nuclear Weapons Risk Greater Than in Cold War, Says Ex-Pentagon Chief,”
Guardian
(London), 7 January 2016,
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/07/nuclear-weapons-risk-greater-than-in-cold-war-says-ex-pentagon-chief
; William Broad and David Sanger, “As U.S. Modernizes Nuclear Weapons, ‘Smaller’ Leaves Some Uneasy,”
New York Times
, 12 January 2016,
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/science/as-us-modernizes-nuclear-weapons-smaller-leaves-some-uneasy.html?_r=0
.
1. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF INTELLECTUALS, REDUX
1
. Steven Lukes,
Emile Durkheim: His Life and Work
(Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1973), 335.
2
. “Manifesto of the Ninety-Three German Intellectuals to the Civilized World,” 1914, World War I Document Archive,
http://www.gwpda.org/1914/93intell.html
.
3
. “Who Willed American Participation,”
New Republic
, 14 April 1917, 308–10.
4
. John Dewey,
The Middle Works of John Dewey, Volume 11, 1899–1924: Journal Articles, Essays, and Miscellany Published in the 1918–1919 Period
, ed. Jo Ann Boydston (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1982), 81–82.
5
. John Dewey, “Our Un-Free Press,” in
The Later Works of John Dewey, Volume 11, 1925–1953: Essays, Reviews, Trotsky Inquiry, Miscellany, and Liberalism and Social Action
, ed. Jo Ann Boydston (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1987), 270.
6
. Randolph Bourne, “Twilight of Idols,”
Seven Arts
, October 1917, 688–702.
7
. Michael Crozier, Samuel P. Huntington, and Joji Watanuke,
The Crisis of Democracy: Report on the Governability of Democracies to the Trilateral Commission
(New York: New York University Press, 1975),
http://www.trilateral.org/download/doc/crisis_of_democracy.pdf
.
8
. Adam Smith,
The Wealth of Nations
(New York: Bantam Classics, 2003), 96.
9
. Gordon S. Wood,
The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1969), 513–14. Lance Banning, in
The Sacred Fire of Liberty: James Madison and the Founding of the Federal Republic
(Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995), strongly affirms Madison’s dedication to popular rule but nevertheless concurs with Wood’s assessment of the Constitutional design (245).10
. James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 9 December 1787,
http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-10-02-0197
. See also Ralph Louis Ketcham,
James Madison: A Biography
(Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1990), 236, 247, 298.11
. Edward Thorndike, “How May We Improve the Selection, Training, and Life Work of Leaders?”
Teachers College Record
, April 1939, 593–605.12
. “Terrorist Group Profiles,” Department of State, January 1989. See also Robert Pear, “US Report Stirs Furor in South Africa,”
New York Times
, 14 January 1989.13
. United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force, Africa Recovery Programme/Economic Commission for Africa,
South African Destabilization: The Economic Cost of Frontline Resistance to Apartheid
, 1989, 13.14
. Noam Chomsky, “The Evil Scourge of Terrorism,” (speech to the International Erich Fromm Society, Stuttgart, Germany, 23 March 2010).15
. Remarks made about Reagan by Martin Anderson and Annelise Anderson of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, cited by Paul Boyer, “Burnishing Reagan’s Disarmament Credentials,”
Army Control Today
, September 2009.16
. John Coatsworth, “The Cold War in Central America, 1975–1991,” in
The Cambridge History of the Cold War: Volume 3: Endings
, Melvyn P. Leffler and Odd Arne Westad, eds., (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010).17
. Noam Chomsky,
Hopes and Prospects
(Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2010), 272.18
. Papers of John F. Kennedy, Presidential Papers, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda, National Security Action Memoranda [NSAM]: NSAM 134, Report on Internal Security Situation in South America, JFKNSF-335-013, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston, Massachusetts.19
. Lars Schoultz,
Human Rights and United States Policy Toward Latin America
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981); Charles Maechling Jr., “The Murderous Mind of the Latin American Military,”
Los Angeles Times
, 18 March 1982.20
. As found in Adam Isacson and Joy Olson,
Just the Facts
(Washington, DC: Latin America Working Group and Center for International Policy, 1999), ix.21
. Noam Chomsky, “Humanitarian Imperialism: The New Doctrine of Imperial Right,”
Monthly Review,
1 September 2008.22
. Noam Chomsky,
Rogue States
(Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2015), 88.23
. Noam Chomsky,
Deterring Democracy
(New York: Hill and Wang, 1991), 131.24
. Chomsky,
Hopes and Prospects
, 261.25
. Daniel Wilkinson, “Death and Drugs in Colombia,”
New York Review of Books
, 23 June 2011.26
. Anthony Lewis, “Abroad at Home,”
New York Times
, 2 March 1990.27
. Mary McGrory, “Havel’s Gentle Rebuke,”
Washington Post
, 25 February 1990.28
. Mark Mazzetti, Helene Cooper, and Peter Baker, “Behind the Hunt for Bin Laden,”
New York Times
, 2 May 2011.29
. Eric Alterman, “Bin Gotten,”
Nation
, 4 May 2011.30
. Elaine Scarry, “Rules of Engagement,”
Boston Review
, 8 November 2006.31
. Russell Baker, “A Heroic Historian on Heroes,”
New York Review of Books
, 11 June 2009.32
. Mark Mazower, “Short Cuts,”
London Review of Books
, 8 April 2010.33
. Eric S. Margolis, “Osama’s Ghost,”
American Conservative
, 20 May 2011.34
. Daniel Trotta, “Cost of War at Least $3.7 Trillion and Counting,” Reuters, 29 June 2011.35
. Michael Scheuer
, Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror
(Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2004).36
. Accusation of Dreyfusards as quoted in Geoffrey Hawthorn,
Enlightenment and Despair: A History of Social Theory
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), 117.
2. TERRORISTS WANTED THE WORLD OVER
1
. Nada Bakri and Graham Bowley, “Top Hezbollah Commander Killed in Syria,”
New York Times
, 13 February 2008.
2
. Associated Press, “Intelligence Chief: Hezbollah Leader May Have Been Killed by Insiders or Syria,” 17 February 2008.
3
. Cynthia O’Murchu and Farrid Shamsuddin, “Seven Days,”
Financial Times
(London), 16 February 2008.
4
. Ferry Biedermann, “A Militant Wanted the World Over,”
Financial Times
(London), 14 February 2008.
5
. A media review by Jeff Nygaard found one reference to the Gallup poll, a brief notice in the
Omaha World-Herald
that “completely misrepresented the findings.”
Nygaard Notes Independent Weekly News and Analysis
, 16 November 2001, reprinted in
Counterpoise
5, nos. 3/4 (2002).
6
. Biedermann, “A Militant Wanted the World Over.”
7
. Noam Chomsky,
Middle East Illusions
(London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004), 235.
8
. Amnon Kapeliouk,
Yediot Ahronot
, 15 November 1985.
9
. Bernard Gwertzman, “U.S. Defends Action in U.N. on Raid,”
New York Times,
7 October 1985.10
.
Yearbook of the United Nations
, Vol. 39, 1985, 291.11
. Bernard Weinraub, “Israeli Extends ‘Hand of Peace’ to Jordanians,”
New York Times
, 18 October 1985.12
. See Noam Chomsky,
Necessary Illusions
(Toronto: House of Anansi, 1995), chapter 5.13
. See, for example, Aviv Lavie, “Inside Israel’s Secret Prison,”
Ha’aretz
, 23 August 2003.14
. Yoav Biran, Minister Plenipotentiary, Embassy of Israel, letter,
Manchester Guardian Weekly
, 25 July 1982; Gad Becker,
Yediot Ahronot
, 13 April 1983; Reuters, “Shamir Promises to Crush Rioters,”
New York Times
, 1 April 1988.15
. Yoram Peri,
Davar
, 10 December 1982.16
. Justin Huggler and Phil Reeves, “Once Upon a Time in Jenin,”
Independent
(London), 25 April 2002.17
. Amira Hass,
Ha’aretz
, April 19, 2002, reprinted in Hass,
Reporting from Ramallah: An Israeli Journalist in an Occupied Land
(Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), distributed by MIT Press, 2003).18
. Biedermann, “A Militant Wanted the World Over.”19
. Bob Woodward and Charles Babcock, “Anti-Terrorist Unit Blamed in Beirut Bombing,”
Washington Post
, 12 May 1985.20
. Nora Boustany, “Beirut Bomb’s Legacy Suspicion and Tears,”
Washington Post
, 6 March 1988.21
. Ethan Bronner, “Israel Lets Reporters See Devastated Gaza Site and Image of a Confident Military,”
New York Times
, 16 January 2009.22
. Julie Flint, “Israeli Soldiers in New Terror Raid on Shi’ite Village,”
Guardian
(London), 6 March 1985.23
. Adam Goldman and Ellen Nakashima, “CIA and Mossad Killed Senior Hezbollah Figure in Car Bomb,”
Washington Post
, 30 January 2008.24
. “Three Decades of Terror,”
Financial Times
, 2 July 2007.25
. Fawaz A. Gerges,
Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy
(New York: Mariner Books, 2007).26
. “Text of Reagan’s Letter to Congress on Marines in Lebanon,”
New York Times
, 30 September 1982. See also Micah Zenko, “When Reagan Cut and Run,”
Foreign Policy
, 7 February 2014.27
. Jimmy Carter,
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006).28
. Tobias Buck, “Israel Denies Killing Hizbollah Commander,”
Financial Times
(London), 13 February 2008.29
. Noam Chomsky,
Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians
(Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2015), 591.30
. Ibid.31
. Ibid., 589.32
. Henry Kamm, “Ruins of War Litter Hills and Valleys of Lebanon,”
New York Times
, 20 June 1982.33
. Chomsky,
Fateful Triangle
, 590.34
. Ibid.35
. Isabel Kershner, “Israel Reduces Electricity Flow to Gaza,”
New York Times
, 9 February 2008.36
. James Astill, “Strike One,”
Guardian
(London), 2 October 2001.
