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In a compelling new set of interviews, Noam Chomsky identifies the "dry kindling" of discontent around the world that could soon catch fire.
In wide-ranging interviews with David Barsamian, his longtime interlocutor, Noam Chomsky asks us to consider "the world we are leaving to our grandchildren" one imperiled by the escalation of climate change and the growing potential for nuclear war. If the current system is incapable of dealing with these threats, he argues, it's up to us to radically change it.
These ten interviews, conducted from 2013 to 2016, examine the latest developments around the globe: the devastation of Syria, the reach of state surveillance, growing anger over economic inequality, the place of religion in American political culture, and the bitterly contested 2016 U.S. presidential election. In accompanying personal reflections on his Philadelphia childhood and his eighty-seventh birthday, Chomsky also describes his own intellectual journey and the development of his uncompromising stance as America's premier dissident intellectual.
In wide-ranging interviews with David Barsamian, his longtime interlocutor, Noam Chomsky asks us to consider "the world we are leaving to our grandchildren" one imperiled by the escalation of climate change and the growing potential for nuclear war. If the current system is incapable of dealing with these threats, he argues, it's up to us to radically change it.
These ten interviews, conducted from 2013 to 2016, examine the latest developments around the globe: the devastation of Syria, the reach of state surveillance, growing anger over economic inequality, the place of religion in American political culture, and the bitterly contested 2016 U.S. presidential election. In accompanying personal reflections on his Philadelphia childhood and his eighty-seventh birthday, Chomsky also describes his own intellectual journey and the development of his uncompromising stance as America's premier dissident intellectual.
260 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2017
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About the author
Noam Chomsky
977 books17.4k followersAvram Noam Chomsky is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona and an institute professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Among the most cited living authors, Chomsky has written more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, and politics. In addition to his work in linguistics, since the 1960s Chomsky has been an influential voice on the American left as a consistent critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, and corporate influence on political institutions and the media.
Born to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants (his father was William Chomsky) in Philadelphia, Chomsky developed an early interest in anarchism from alternative bookstores in New York City. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania. During his postgraduate work in the Harvard Society of Fellows, Chomsky developed the theory of transformational grammar for which he earned his doctorate in 1955. That year he began teaching at MIT, and in 1957 emerged as a significant figure in linguistics with his landmark work Syntactic Structures, which played a major role in remodeling the study of language. From 1958 to 1959 Chomsky was a National Science Foundation fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study. He created or co-created the universal grammar theory, the generative grammar theory, the Chomsky hierarchy, and the minimalist program. Chomsky also played a pivotal role in the decline of linguistic behaviorism, and was particularly critical of the work of B.F. Skinner.
An outspoken opponent of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which he saw as an act of American imperialism, in 1967 Chomsky rose to national attention for his anti-war essay "The Responsibility of Intellectuals". Becoming associated with the New Left, he was arrested multiple times for his activism and placed on President Richard M. Nixon's list of political opponents. While expanding his work in linguistics over subsequent decades, he also became involved in the linguistics wars. In collaboration with Edward S. Herman, Chomsky later articulated the propaganda model of media criticism in Manufacturing Consent, and worked to expose the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. His defense of unconditional freedom of speech, including that of Holocaust denial, generated significant controversy in the Faurisson affair of the 1980s. Chomsky's commentary on the Cambodian genocide and the Bosnian genocide also generated controversy. Since retiring from active teaching at MIT, he has continued his vocal political activism, including opposing the 2003 invasion of Iraq and supporting the Occupy movement. An anti-Zionist, Chomsky considers Israel's treatment of Palestinians to be worse than South African–style apartheid, and criticizes U.S. support for Israel.
Chomsky is widely recognized as having helped to spark the cognitive revolution in the human sciences, contributing to the development of a new cognitivistic framework for the study of language and the mind. Chomsky remains a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, U.S. involvement and Israel's role in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and mass media. Chomsky and his ideas are highly influential in the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements. Since 2017, he has been Agnese Helms Haury Chair in the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona.
Born to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants (his father was William Chomsky) in Philadelphia, Chomsky developed an early interest in anarchism from alternative bookstores in New York City. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania. During his postgraduate work in the Harvard Society of Fellows, Chomsky developed the theory of transformational grammar for which he earned his doctorate in 1955. That year he began teaching at MIT, and in 1957 emerged as a significant figure in linguistics with his landmark work Syntactic Structures, which played a major role in remodeling the study of language. From 1958 to 1959 Chomsky was a National Science Foundation fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study. He created or co-created the universal grammar theory, the generative grammar theory, the Chomsky hierarchy, and the minimalist program. Chomsky also played a pivotal role in the decline of linguistic behaviorism, and was particularly critical of the work of B.F. Skinner.
An outspoken opponent of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which he saw as an act of American imperialism, in 1967 Chomsky rose to national attention for his anti-war essay "The Responsibility of Intellectuals". Becoming associated with the New Left, he was arrested multiple times for his activism and placed on President Richard M. Nixon's list of political opponents. While expanding his work in linguistics over subsequent decades, he also became involved in the linguistics wars. In collaboration with Edward S. Herman, Chomsky later articulated the propaganda model of media criticism in Manufacturing Consent, and worked to expose the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. His defense of unconditional freedom of speech, including that of Holocaust denial, generated significant controversy in the Faurisson affair of the 1980s. Chomsky's commentary on the Cambodian genocide and the Bosnian genocide also generated controversy. Since retiring from active teaching at MIT, he has continued his vocal political activism, including opposing the 2003 invasion of Iraq and supporting the Occupy movement. An anti-Zionist, Chomsky considers Israel's treatment of Palestinians to be worse than South African–style apartheid, and criticizes U.S. support for Israel.
Chomsky is widely recognized as having helped to spark the cognitive revolution in the human sciences, contributing to the development of a new cognitivistic framework for the study of language and the mind. Chomsky remains a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, U.S. involvement and Israel's role in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and mass media. Chomsky and his ideas are highly influential in the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements. Since 2017, he has been Agnese Helms Haury Chair in the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 184 reviews
February 5, 2018
Understanding global politics is like string art; it's not complete until you can see all the threads intersect.
Chomsky lambasts nearly every nation state that makes the news in this book, both U.S. political parties, and if you can't comprehend the United States as an imperialist power then this book is going to be a huge miss for you.
Chomsky's the person that stands up and says, "The Emperor is Naked".
This exemplifies the discourse within the book. Questions or thoughts are posed for Chomsky to extrapolate on. The sections include: State Spying and Democracy; A Tour of the Middle East; Power Systems Do Not Give Gifts; ISIS, the Kurds, and Turkey; Living Memory; Fearmongering; Alliances and Control; The Roots of Conflicts; Toward a Better Society; Elections and Voting; Crises and Organizing; The Trump Presidency.
So, when people say these actions are free recruitment advertising; they're serious. The question that Chomsky keeps coming back around to is what is your objective? Sometimes solving a problem isn't the fun or palatable option and the money game makes everything worse.
I recommend this book if you're still working out a comprehensive worldview because Chomsky does a good job highlighting cause and effect in essentialist terms. Short, sweet, and to the point.
Favorite quote:
Chomsky lambasts nearly every nation state that makes the news in this book, both U.S. political parties, and if you can't comprehend the United States as an imperialist power then this book is going to be a huge miss for you.
Chomsky's the person that stands up and says, "The Emperor is Naked".
You've written about a "democracy deficit"
"Deficit" is an understatement. Iran just had an election, and people criticized it, rightly, because you can't even enter Iranian political system unless you're vetted by clerics. That's terrible, of course. But what happens here [US]? You can't enter the political system unless you're vetted by concentrations of private capital. If you can't raise millions of dollars, you're out. Is that better?
This exemplifies the discourse within the book. Questions or thoughts are posed for Chomsky to extrapolate on. The sections include: State Spying and Democracy; A Tour of the Middle East; Power Systems Do Not Give Gifts; ISIS, the Kurds, and Turkey; Living Memory; Fearmongering; Alliances and Control; The Roots of Conflicts; Toward a Better Society; Elections and Voting; Crises and Organizing; The Trump Presidency.
Rocker wrote, "Political rights do not originate in parliaments, they are, rather, forced upon parliaments from without."
From below, in fact. I think that's an accurate comment. Power systems do not give gifts willingly. In history, you will occasionally find a benevolent dictator or a slave owner who decides to free his slaves, but these are basically statistical errors. Typically, systems of power will try to consolidate, sustain, and expand their power. That's true of parliaments, too. It's popular activism that compels change.
You said in a recent interview that U.S. policies have "succeeded in spreading jihadi terror from a small tribal area in Afghanistan to virtually the whole world, from West Africa to Levant to Southeast Asia. How did they do that?"
When the only method you have is to use your comparative advantage in violence, you will always make the situation worse. The military analyst Andrew Cockburn points out that every time you kill a leader, you think it's a big triumph. But what you're doing, almost invariably, is replacing him with a younger, more competent, more violent leader. It happens over and over.
So, when people say these actions are free recruitment advertising; they're serious. The question that Chomsky keeps coming back around to is what is your objective? Sometimes solving a problem isn't the fun or palatable option and the money game makes everything worse.
"When you're an activist, you have to think about the people you're trying to protect, and not just make yourself feel good."
I recommend this book if you're still working out a comprehensive worldview because Chomsky does a good job highlighting cause and effect in essentialist terms. Short, sweet, and to the point.
Favorite quote:
The efforts that go into trying to ensure the end of humanity are impressive. If there were somebody from outer space watching this, they could only conclude that humans are an absolutely unviable species, an evolutionary error tending toward self-destruction.
December 30, 2018
Excellent. I tend to agree with just about everything Chomsky has to say in this book made up of interviews on various (fairly current) global issues. I was only remarking to my wife earlier today how people are assumed to become more conservative as they grow older, yet we seem to have become more radical in our views. Recommended.
December 16, 2018
Noam calls Obama’s drone campaign “the world’s leading international terrorist campaign” and says “it’s pure terrorism on a scale that Al Qaeda couldn’t dream of. Furthermore, this campaign is generating terrorists and is known to be doing so.” Obama “has prosecuted more whistle-blowers than all presidents in the entire history of the country combined.” Under Obama we also get the Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project case where Obama’s administration changes “giving material support” to terrorist organizations to include merely giving advice. “Turkey has jailed more journalists than any other country.” “The human species at the moment is destroying its own commons. The environment is a common possession and we are destroying it. It’s a striking fact that the ones trying to defend the commons are mostly indigenous populations.” “Hume is one of my favorite philosophers, but he wrote some essays that are pretty awful – like his essay on national character which is very racist.” Note that the media rarely covers the many reports that the IPCC estimates are too optimistic. Noam gets a dozen requests a day to be interviewed. Libertarianism in the U.S. is about “Why should I pay for something I personally don’t benefit from?” Society must “enrich and empower the rich and powerful, period.” “It’s trying to undermine the heretical, subversive conception that you ought to care about other people. You’ve got to get rid of that notion.” Classical theorist Adam Smith thought “the fundamental human drive was sympathy and mutual support” – the opposite of today’s libertarianism.
Of a shallow topic, Noam said to the interviewer: “That’s interesting. But you can learn things much more easily just by opening the pages of a serious book.” Instead of accepting the Zionist insult of “self-hating Jew”, Noam considers himself choosing the biblical path of Elijah, who opposed evil. Noam believes supporters of Israel have been contributing to its destruction ever since Israel consciously choose expansion over security and diplomacy in the 70’s. “The three countries that are most supportive of Israel are the United States, Australia, and Canada – all settler-colonial societies that virtually exterminated their indigenous populations.” A single beheading by ISIS is horrifying; but searching for pieces of non-white human remains bombed by U.S. or Israeli planes is finding, at best, “a mistake”. “The concept that we could act as a law-abiding state is unimaginable.” Modern Iraq was created by Britain to keep Iraq oil out of Turkey’s hands. Then, to keep Iraq under control, the British created Kuwait to deprive Iraq of sea access. “Take a look at Africa. Almost all the difficulties there trace back to the establishment of borders by the imperial powers – England, France, Belgium, to a lesser extent Germany - which took no account of the nature of the populations, just drew boundaries where they wanted them. Naturally, that leads to conflict.”
“The United States is holding Guantanamo Bay only to impede and undermine Cuba’s development. It’s a major port.” We have much less of a claim to Guantanamo Bay (which we took at gunpoint), than Russia has to Crimea. Thanks to U.S. Cuba sanctions, “If say, a European manufacturer of medical equipment used a little piece of nickel imported from Cuba, his business would be banned from international commerce.” How many U.S. students learn that “The Cubans drove the South Africans out of Angola and compelled them to leave Namibia”? Nelson Mandela noted that this “destroyed the myth of the invincible white man.” “I don’t even think the phrase ‘double standards’ is appropriate. There is a single standard: If they do it to us, it’s a horrible crime. If we do much worse to them, it’s a noble endeavor. That’s a single standard. And it’s maintained with remarkable consistency and dedication.”
France has a “hideous record of extermination and violence in those regions (North Africa) for well over a century.” Robert Fisk wrote that “over one million Algerians were killed by France during the war of independence, between 1954 and 1962. That’s almost one in ten.” Noam adds, “When the French invaded Algeria, the explicit goal was to exterminate the population. And they did a pretty good job of it.” While discussing India and Pakistan. Noam asks “Suppose a water war broke out? It will turn into a nuclear war very quickly.” “Iran cannot be forgiven for overthrowing the dictator installed by Washington in a military coup in 1953, a coup that destroyed Iran’s parliamentary regime and its unconscionable belief that Iran might have some claim on its own national resources. In the past six decades, scarcely a day has passed when Washington was not tormenting Iranians.” Noam says, “The military analyst Andrew Cockburn points out that every time you kill a leader, you think it’s a big triumph. But what you are doing, almost invariably, is replacing him with a younger, more competent, more violent leader.” “the purpose of austerity was not economic development – in fact, austerity is very harmful to that. The goal was to dismantle welfare state programs: pensions, decent working conditions, regulations about labor rights, and so on.” Another amazing book by Noam Chomsky.
Of a shallow topic, Noam said to the interviewer: “That’s interesting. But you can learn things much more easily just by opening the pages of a serious book.” Instead of accepting the Zionist insult of “self-hating Jew”, Noam considers himself choosing the biblical path of Elijah, who opposed evil. Noam believes supporters of Israel have been contributing to its destruction ever since Israel consciously choose expansion over security and diplomacy in the 70’s. “The three countries that are most supportive of Israel are the United States, Australia, and Canada – all settler-colonial societies that virtually exterminated their indigenous populations.” A single beheading by ISIS is horrifying; but searching for pieces of non-white human remains bombed by U.S. or Israeli planes is finding, at best, “a mistake”. “The concept that we could act as a law-abiding state is unimaginable.” Modern Iraq was created by Britain to keep Iraq oil out of Turkey’s hands. Then, to keep Iraq under control, the British created Kuwait to deprive Iraq of sea access. “Take a look at Africa. Almost all the difficulties there trace back to the establishment of borders by the imperial powers – England, France, Belgium, to a lesser extent Germany - which took no account of the nature of the populations, just drew boundaries where they wanted them. Naturally, that leads to conflict.”
“The United States is holding Guantanamo Bay only to impede and undermine Cuba’s development. It’s a major port.” We have much less of a claim to Guantanamo Bay (which we took at gunpoint), than Russia has to Crimea. Thanks to U.S. Cuba sanctions, “If say, a European manufacturer of medical equipment used a little piece of nickel imported from Cuba, his business would be banned from international commerce.” How many U.S. students learn that “The Cubans drove the South Africans out of Angola and compelled them to leave Namibia”? Nelson Mandela noted that this “destroyed the myth of the invincible white man.” “I don’t even think the phrase ‘double standards’ is appropriate. There is a single standard: If they do it to us, it’s a horrible crime. If we do much worse to them, it’s a noble endeavor. That’s a single standard. And it’s maintained with remarkable consistency and dedication.”
France has a “hideous record of extermination and violence in those regions (North Africa) for well over a century.” Robert Fisk wrote that “over one million Algerians were killed by France during the war of independence, between 1954 and 1962. That’s almost one in ten.” Noam adds, “When the French invaded Algeria, the explicit goal was to exterminate the population. And they did a pretty good job of it.” While discussing India and Pakistan. Noam asks “Suppose a water war broke out? It will turn into a nuclear war very quickly.” “Iran cannot be forgiven for overthrowing the dictator installed by Washington in a military coup in 1953, a coup that destroyed Iran’s parliamentary regime and its unconscionable belief that Iran might have some claim on its own national resources. In the past six decades, scarcely a day has passed when Washington was not tormenting Iranians.” Noam says, “The military analyst Andrew Cockburn points out that every time you kill a leader, you think it’s a big triumph. But what you are doing, almost invariably, is replacing him with a younger, more competent, more violent leader.” “the purpose of austerity was not economic development – in fact, austerity is very harmful to that. The goal was to dismantle welfare state programs: pensions, decent working conditions, regulations about labor rights, and so on.” Another amazing book by Noam Chomsky.
January 1, 2019
Global Discontents is based on a brilliant series of interviews with political activist Noam Chomasky and David Barsamian from 2013 until its publication in late 2016. He examines among other things global politics, climate and environmental issues, the worst of both partisan administrations' and legislators' motivations for American foreign policy, corporate driven legislation, ethics of our military interventions particularly in the Middle East, discontent of the lower class and its impact on their voting choices, and includes some pre and post election analyses. Everything he espouses and dissects gives me validation for what seems, as I age, to be my own increasingly leftist inclinations. He has a disturbing opinion on the direction the global political climate is taking, especially the role the United States has played historically and currently. There is a glimmer of hope in that cyclical pattern of rule by self-interested wealthy elites as opposed to resistance and activism of the marginalized. Chomsky describes himself as aligning with anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism. This is a quick and provoking read.
November 4, 2019
In this collection of freewheeling interviews covering a wide range of topical issues, the outspoken and egregious Noam Chomsky holds forth in his inimitable style that brooks no prisoners. Whether it be the divisive politics of Donald Trump, or the re-settlement issue that has become a thorn in the flesh governing Israel - Palestine relations, Chomsky never shies away from calling a spade a spade. What makes the book even more interesting is a reference to Chomsky's personal life that makes him reminisce about times nostalgic. From going to to see a baseball game with a teacher on whom every single boy in his class had an impossible crush, to copying an assignment from an encyclopedia, all make for some stirring reading.
Chomsky has been an uncrowned but universally acknowledged "conscience keeper" of our Planet. From Climate Change to Nuclear stockpiles, his has been a voice of dissent, reason and change. It has also been a voice that has led to measurable actions, both overt and implicit. In 'Global Discontents' that voices resonates unimpeded and undeterred.
Chomsky has been an uncrowned but universally acknowledged "conscience keeper" of our Planet. From Climate Change to Nuclear stockpiles, his has been a voice of dissent, reason and change. It has also been a voice that has led to measurable actions, both overt and implicit. In 'Global Discontents' that voices resonates unimpeded and undeterred.
January 1, 2018
It’s easy to forget that Noam Chomsky, so eerily prescient, can’t escape history. So, in the second chapter of Global Discontents: Conversations on the Rising Threats to Democracy (The American Empire Project), “A Tour of the Middle East,” dating from 2013, he predicted a better outcome for Turkey than is now likely since the coup attempt against Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
But other than that small misstep, Chomsky delivered great predictions and great insights one after the other. I was as spellbound reading Global Discontents as I would have been reading a taut thriller! Highly, highly recommended to political junkies and laymen alike.
In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from Henry Holt & Company, Metropolitan Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
But other than that small misstep, Chomsky delivered great predictions and great insights one after the other. I was as spellbound reading Global Discontents as I would have been reading a taut thriller! Highly, highly recommended to political junkies and laymen alike.
In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from Henry Holt & Company, Metropolitan Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
January 24, 2022
'Global Discontents' is a book which collates a series of interviews with Noam Chomsky from the period of 2013-2016. To those that are familiar with Chomsky's thinking and style there is really nothing new. The discussions mainly focus on a critical view of the US foreign policy. What is indeed interesting is that there are some discussions about Chomsky's life, his childhood, family and upbringing as well his time spent in a kibbutz in Israel.
There is also the usual issue of Chomsky's very frequent use of whataboutism. He loves to respond to criticism of various regimes or terrorist organisations with seemingly equivalent acts committed by the US or its allies. When asked about the Charlie Hebdo attack and the fact that was considered one of the biggest attacks on free speech he brought up the fact that the French government itself has closed down Basque nationalist newspapers. Or he compares this to the US bombing a radio station in Belgrade because it was broadcasting casualty numbers and was considered enemy propaganda.
Many of the topics covered in the interviews include:
- The Syrian civil war, the Assad regime and the US intervention there
- Israel policy of occupation
- Turkey protests in the Taksim square
- Advertising is used to break the markets and create uninformed consumers
- Climate change and the human species heading towards its own destructions all in the name of profit
- Chomsky lived in a kibbutz in Israel with his wife, eventually left because the groups he was with were becoming very reactionary and racist
- the US created ISIS through its policy of supporting Jihadi rebel groups instead of nationalist rebel groups
- Kurds were initially sold out by the US in the 70s when they were allied with Iraq, in the 90s the Kurds became a favoured group
- Indigenous groups all over the world are more interested in protecting the environment compared to the settler populations
- The US and Israel prefer supporting radical Islamist regimes rather than secular nationalist regimes in the Middle East. In 1967 Egypt and Saudi Arabia were in conflict over Yemen. Israel settled the matter by destroying the secular nationalist states such as Egypt and Syria and favouring Saudi Arabia.
- The Republican party has managed to mobilise a large body of supporters from the evangelical community along with other groups that were left by the wayside by the neoliberal order
- if ISIS is destroyed it will be replaced by something even worse if the root cause of jihadism is not addressed
- The map of the American Civil War matches exactly the Republican - Democrat split. The Confederate states mostly vote Republican since the civil rights movement
- The Democratic party has abandoned the white working class. The Republican party also does not have policies favouring them but does have a rhetoric that attracts them
- the migrant crisis (millions of Bangladeshis will be climate refugees due to rising water levels, the central American migrants moving Northwards)
- future conflict between Indian and Pakistan over future water supplies which might lead to nuclear war
- Trump enacted a lot of dangerous policies which are highly damaging to the environment and the welfare of the population
- US policy towards Iran, the Iranian revolution, Iran-Iraq war
There is also the usual issue of Chomsky's very frequent use of whataboutism. He loves to respond to criticism of various regimes or terrorist organisations with seemingly equivalent acts committed by the US or its allies. When asked about the Charlie Hebdo attack and the fact that was considered one of the biggest attacks on free speech he brought up the fact that the French government itself has closed down Basque nationalist newspapers. Or he compares this to the US bombing a radio station in Belgrade because it was broadcasting casualty numbers and was considered enemy propaganda.
Many of the topics covered in the interviews include:
- The Syrian civil war, the Assad regime and the US intervention there
- Israel policy of occupation
- Turkey protests in the Taksim square
- Advertising is used to break the markets and create uninformed consumers
- Climate change and the human species heading towards its own destructions all in the name of profit
- Chomsky lived in a kibbutz in Israel with his wife, eventually left because the groups he was with were becoming very reactionary and racist
- the US created ISIS through its policy of supporting Jihadi rebel groups instead of nationalist rebel groups
- Kurds were initially sold out by the US in the 70s when they were allied with Iraq, in the 90s the Kurds became a favoured group
- Indigenous groups all over the world are more interested in protecting the environment compared to the settler populations
- The US and Israel prefer supporting radical Islamist regimes rather than secular nationalist regimes in the Middle East. In 1967 Egypt and Saudi Arabia were in conflict over Yemen. Israel settled the matter by destroying the secular nationalist states such as Egypt and Syria and favouring Saudi Arabia.
- The Republican party has managed to mobilise a large body of supporters from the evangelical community along with other groups that were left by the wayside by the neoliberal order
- if ISIS is destroyed it will be replaced by something even worse if the root cause of jihadism is not addressed
- The map of the American Civil War matches exactly the Republican - Democrat split. The Confederate states mostly vote Republican since the civil rights movement
- The Democratic party has abandoned the white working class. The Republican party also does not have policies favouring them but does have a rhetoric that attracts them
- the migrant crisis (millions of Bangladeshis will be climate refugees due to rising water levels, the central American migrants moving Northwards)
- future conflict between Indian and Pakistan over future water supplies which might lead to nuclear war
- Trump enacted a lot of dangerous policies which are highly damaging to the environment and the welfare of the population
- US policy towards Iran, the Iranian revolution, Iran-Iraq war
September 29, 2020
Chomsky: the exemplar of objectivity.
I thoroughly enjoyed this series of interviews of Noam Chomsky that mostly occurred 3-5 years ago. While there were many topics, a common thread is Chomsky's insistence that a lot of politics is smoke and mirrors to detract from the two things that are actually important: climate change and the threat of nuclear annihilation. He is constantly befuddled that these two topics are mostly off limits, denied or not even discussed.
He touches on the nativist and anti-immigration ideas that proliferate through Europe, Israel and America. He is quite adamant in stating that these are political devices that serve as chaff in the wind that constantly distract the public from the threat to democracy: the utter and deliberate concentration of wealth. Chomsky blames both Repubs and Dems for their blatant self interest in persevering power and propagation of these power structures while both parties have clearly abandoned the working class American. Despite astronomic concentration of wealth, the average labor income has been flat for the 30 years. THIS is the main problem and polemics are merely distraction.
Highly critical of Obama, Chomsky strips away the delicate political language and names the predator drone attacks for what they are: murder and terror. Rightly, does Chomsky state that Obama constructed the largest terror campaign that has ever existed. With great wisdom, does Chomsky give the solution to defeating terrorism: stop participating in terrorism. America is the largest rogue state that there is as it plays by no rules and acts only in self interest which is justify as being "legal".
His take on the rise of Trump (this was in 2017) is that Trump likely was not clever enough to be a fascist at that time. He merely dug into very real problems (that are explained by wealth concentration) and rooted up nativist and anti-immigration sentiment to gain populist control. Over and over again, Chomsky states the Paul Ryan is MUCH more dangerous than Trump. Ryan presents his plan of of corporate control with the wonkishness of spreadsheets, making him very much a sheep in wolf's clothing. Ryan represents the plutocracy of corporate wealth and its infiltration into American politics. Chomsky believes the neoliberal legislation of someone like Paul Ryan would be an utter disaster for the average America.
The strength and genius of Chomsky is striping away the pomp and glossy veneer of context. Murder is murder. Oligarchy is oligarchy. Terror is terror. It does not matter who is the perpetrator, injustice is injustice and Chomsky clearly names unethical and immoral behavior with great elegance, eloquence and equanimity.
I thoroughly enjoyed this series of interviews of Noam Chomsky that mostly occurred 3-5 years ago. While there were many topics, a common thread is Chomsky's insistence that a lot of politics is smoke and mirrors to detract from the two things that are actually important: climate change and the threat of nuclear annihilation. He is constantly befuddled that these two topics are mostly off limits, denied or not even discussed.
He touches on the nativist and anti-immigration ideas that proliferate through Europe, Israel and America. He is quite adamant in stating that these are political devices that serve as chaff in the wind that constantly distract the public from the threat to democracy: the utter and deliberate concentration of wealth. Chomsky blames both Repubs and Dems for their blatant self interest in persevering power and propagation of these power structures while both parties have clearly abandoned the working class American. Despite astronomic concentration of wealth, the average labor income has been flat for the 30 years. THIS is the main problem and polemics are merely distraction.
Highly critical of Obama, Chomsky strips away the delicate political language and names the predator drone attacks for what they are: murder and terror. Rightly, does Chomsky state that Obama constructed the largest terror campaign that has ever existed. With great wisdom, does Chomsky give the solution to defeating terrorism: stop participating in terrorism. America is the largest rogue state that there is as it plays by no rules and acts only in self interest which is justify as being "legal".
His take on the rise of Trump (this was in 2017) is that Trump likely was not clever enough to be a fascist at that time. He merely dug into very real problems (that are explained by wealth concentration) and rooted up nativist and anti-immigration sentiment to gain populist control. Over and over again, Chomsky states the Paul Ryan is MUCH more dangerous than Trump. Ryan presents his plan of of corporate control with the wonkishness of spreadsheets, making him very much a sheep in wolf's clothing. Ryan represents the plutocracy of corporate wealth and its infiltration into American politics. Chomsky believes the neoliberal legislation of someone like Paul Ryan would be an utter disaster for the average America.
The strength and genius of Chomsky is striping away the pomp and glossy veneer of context. Murder is murder. Oligarchy is oligarchy. Terror is terror. It does not matter who is the perpetrator, injustice is injustice and Chomsky clearly names unethical and immoral behavior with great elegance, eloquence and equanimity.
December 13, 2025
25 books in 2025 😎
this book was so cool and made me realize what ‘public intellectual’ means: you just know a lot about everything. where do i apply? what if i just say im an intellectual. whos going to stop me. is there some sort of board certification of intellectuals or something.
anyway this was a very interesting book. it made me realize how hypocritical and deceptive world politics is, and how dystopian everything has become. it also made me realize that israeli soldiers are just like american soldiers - americans celebrated when they destroyed dams in north korea and flooded fields of crops, robbing civilians of their main source of food and clean water.
anyway the world is very dystopian.
this book was so cool and made me realize what ‘public intellectual’ means: you just know a lot about everything. where do i apply? what if i just say im an intellectual. whos going to stop me. is there some sort of board certification of intellectuals or something.
anyway this was a very interesting book. it made me realize how hypocritical and deceptive world politics is, and how dystopian everything has become. it also made me realize that israeli soldiers are just like american soldiers - americans celebrated when they destroyed dams in north korea and flooded fields of crops, robbing civilians of their main source of food and clean water.
anyway the world is very dystopian.
August 5, 2022
Global Discontents, Noam Chomsky (1928- ), 2017, 227 pages, Dewey 410.92
Interviews 2013-2017. Chomsky's clear view of the world political situation.
Recent articles by Chomsky: https://chomsky.info/updates/
For a thorough introduction to Chomsky's insights, see /Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky/, 2002: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
STATE SPYING
p. 2: Alfred W. McCoy, /Policing America's Empire: The United States, the Philippines, and the Rise of the Surveillance State/, 2009. The U.S. sowed discord among Filipinos, to pacify and control them after killing hundreds of thousands. Woodrow Wilson then used these techniques in the U.S. with his Red scare.
pp. 2-3: The FBI is using drones to surveil the U.S. We can expect the FBI to use drones to murder Americans: they won't have to send police, as they did to murder Fred Hampton in 1969.
p. 3. The National Security Agency collects your e-mails, chats, search histories, … from Google, Facebook, Apple, … . https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theg...
p. 3. Nation-state e-espionage: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.tech...
p. 4: The authorities probably aren't competent to use the data they collect.
p. 5: Noam Chomsky, /Trials of the Resistance/, 1970. The government failed to convict Vietnam-war protesters, despite massive files on everyone.
p. 7. Obama immediately and massively expanded drone-strike terrorism. This is creating terrorist enemies. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/24/wo...
pp. 9-10 Obama prosecuted more whistleblowers than all other presidents combined. And prosecuted the Humanitarian Law Project for explaining to Kurds their legal rights. The Roberts court sided with Obama and his then-Solicitor-General Elena Kagan. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/0... Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor dissent pp. 43-65 of 65 of the pdf.
Any interaction with anyone the government says is a terrorist, is illegal. Including Nelson Mandela. p. 50 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/t...
But U.S.-government-sponsored terrorists are OK: p. 62 https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSA...
p. 11, 86. A president could say, "To reduce terrorism, we need to stop engaging in it." The public would support that.
p. 12. People believe the rich and corporations pay too little in taxes. https://news.gallup.com/poll/1714/tax...
pp. 15-17. The world has always been ruled by wealth and power, not by popular vote. "Those who own the country ought to govern it." --John Jay. We must "protect the minority of the opulent against the majority." --James Madison. Every gain in freedom elicits a reaction from "the men of best quality." They don't give up power happily. Roughly the bottom 70% by income have no influence on policy. Political leaders don't pay any attention to them. The .1% are designing the policies. It's plutocracy. Kleptocracy may be a better term. In Iran, you can't enter the political system unless you're vetted by the clerics. That's bad. Here, you can't enter unless you're vetted by concentrations of private capital. Is that better?
MIDDLE EAST
pp. 20-21 War ends in total destruction, or in the survival of the most brutal elements. Chomsky's 1970 article on Cambodia: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1970... (paywalled)
p. 24. In the poorest, most-repressed countries, there's an elite in luxury. As in Ramallah, Palestine.
p. 24. Futile calls for a one-state solution only enable Israel to continue stealing Palestinian land.
p. 26. Palestinians are poor, powerless, and have no lobbyists, so they have no rights.
pp. 28, 76. It's largely indigenous people who are trying to defend the commons.
p. 29. If cynicism leads to passivity, we walk off the cliff.
POWER SYSTEMS DON'T GIVE GIFTS
p. 32. John Bellamy Foster and Robert W. McChesney /The Endless Crisis: How Monopoly Finance-Capital Produces Stagnation and Upheaval from the U.S.A. to China/, 2012. Oligopolies fix prices to extract more wealth from customers.
p. 33. /Manufacturing Consent/, book 1994, movie, 1993.
p. 35 Why should structures of authority exist? p. 36 If no reason, dismantle them for a more free, cooperative, and participatory system. p. 37 Rudolf Rocker, /Anarcho-Syndicalism/, 1938: Political rights are forced on parliaments from below. A benevolent dictator or an owner who frees slaves is a freak anomaly. Systems of power consolidate, sustain, and expand their power. Popular activism compels change. p. 37 Freeing man from exploitation and political and social enslavement remains the problem of our time. --"Notes on Anarchism," in /The Essential Chomsky/, 2008.
p. 38 Capitalism can't meet human needs. --Chomsky, "Language and Freedom," in /The Essential Chomsky/. Powerful people secure and maximize their power; powerless people are passive, hopeless, or atomized.
p. 38 1970 through now, we're in a backlash by the powerful against the liberating 1960s.
p. 39 Calls for "jobs" really means for profits.
p. 40 Extractive-industry billionaires' lobbyists write laws in all states:
https://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC...
p. 43 Ecuador asked the rich countries for 3.6 billion dollars, $3.91/barrel, half what the oil company offered it for the oil, to keep oil in the ground, in a national park in Amazonia. The rich countries wouldn't give them the money. https://www.ft.com/content/99e438ae-0...
p. 43 Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty reduced poverty. Now, the rich call for austerity during a recession (which even the IMF says is bad, p. 95), giving them an excuse to end the welfare state.
p. 44 Public schools, Social Security, food stamps, unemployment insurance, all are under attack. The rich and powerful want to end the subversive idea that society should do anything except enrich and empower them.
pp. 48, 51 Israel is following the path of South Africa: "So what if the world is against us. The U.S. is on our side."
p. 50 Fidel Castro helped end apartheid in South Africa, despite U.S. support of it. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-x...
William M. LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh, /Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana/, 2015, pp. 145-148.
p. 52 The U.S. gives Israel $3 billion/year, probably twice that.
p. 55 "Small acts times millions of people, can transform the world." --Howard Zinn, /You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train/, 1994.
p. 57 The word, "reform," is used to mean something that those in power approve of. "Educational reform" means undermine public education.
ISIS, THE KURDS, AND TURKEY
pp. 59, 101 The U.S. created the chaos that spawned ISIS.
p. 62 The US wanted to drive Saddam out of Kuwait in 1991--not let him withdraw. Chomsky, /Deterring Democracy/, 1991, ch. 6.
p. 63 "Arming Repression: U.S. Arms Sales to Turkey during the Clinton Administration" https://www.motherjones.com/politics/...
FUEL and TERRORISM
p. 74 Fuel should be priced much higher in the U.S., as it is in Europe, to discourage excessive use.
p. 75 CEOs--and therefore their servant politicians--care only about current profits, not whether their grandchildren will have a livable world.
p. 76 Indigenous people defend the commons.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theg... /The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman/, Davi Kopenawa and Bruce Albert, 2013: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
John Vidal, "Bolivia Enshrines Natural World's rights," 2011: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theg...
pp. 78-79 JFK started terrorism and murder in Cuba, lasting into the Clinton administration. It was a cause of the 1963 missile crisis. Keith Bolender, /Voices from the Other Side: An Oral History of Terrorism Against Cuba/, 2010.
pp. 82-83 Cheney & Rumsfeld wanted Iraqis tortured to make them say something that would link Saddam to Al Qaeda. When they didn't get it, they called for more torture. People under torture will say anything, so they claimed they got evidence.
p. 85 To make fun of people you're crushing, to ridicule them, as Charlie Hebdo did in its 2015 cartoons belittling the Prophet Muhammad, is obscene. But it shouldn't be illegal.
p. 88 It seemed like practically all of organized religion was based on the assumption that God was so stupid that he wouldn't notice you violating his commandments.
FEARMONGERING
p. 92 Israel is taking all West Bank land of any value, while excluding the Palestinian population.
ALLIANCES AND CONTROL
p. 104 The U.S. (as did the British we pushed out) supports radical Islam in Saudi Arabia. Secular nationalism might try to use resources for their own populations. Radical Islam may rely on imperial domination.
p. 104 Israel in 1967 smashed the secular nationalist states, Egypt and Syria, leaving radical-Islamist Saudia Arabia the dominant force.
p. 105 Real wages for U.S. male workers are back at 1960s levels.
p. 116 Without solidarity and cooperation, there is nothing.
THE ROOTS OF CONFLICTS
p. 119 When the only method you have is to use your comparative advantage in violence, you will always make the situation worse. To kill a leader is to replace him with a more violent leader. Andrew Cockburn, /Kill Chain/, 2015. ISIS: "Please attack us. It will be a recruiting tool." p. 121 We have a hammer. Everything looks like a nail.
p. 121 The traditional role of a great power is to expand its power. So we do what comes naturally.
p. 125 "Trade" agreements are actually investor-rights agreements. They give multinational corporations and investors substantial control over the resources, policies, and actions of countries.
pp. 127, 155 A lot of China's export economy is owned by outsiders. If Apple produces iPhones at Foxconn, they count as Chinese exports, but China doesn't get much from it.
p. 128 The U.S. is unique in how badly it handles rail. There's an ideological resistance here to effective public transportation. [In Wisconsin, rich Milwaukee-collar-county residents want to keep it difficult for poor Milwaukee residents to seek work in the suburbs. https://inthesetimes.com/article/wis-... ]
p. 129 China is ringed by offensive missiles in hostile states under U.S domination.
TOWARD A BETTER SOCIETY
p. 135 Organize around issues that:
*People care about.
*The fixes are feasible.
*You can /convince/ people the fixes are feasible.
Find small things that people recognize could be achieved; achieve those; see, success is possible; proceed to the next thing.
p. 144 Campaign funding is a good predictor of policy decisions. /The Golden Rule: The Investment Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money-Driven Political Systems/, Thomas Ferguson, 1995. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
p. 148 A better society would be where decisions are in the hands of an informed and engaged public. Workers would own and run factories. Communities would be under community control. Other institutions would be under popular control. Representatives would be under direct control from below and subject to immediate recall. National boundaries would fade--which has begun in Europe. Mutual aid, production for use rather than profit. Concern for species survival.
p. 149 You can take a high-speed train from Beijing to Kazakhstan but not from Boston to New York.
https://isreview.org/issue/101/multip...
ELECTIONS AND VOTING
The Democrats gave up on white workers around 1976. pp. 152-153. Neither party has anything for working people.
The Republican Party and rightwing-media listeners view the poor as leeches, Muslims as terrorists, distrust and demonize immigrants, look at science with contempt, and oppose even modest steps towards gun control. --Anthony DiMaggio https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/08/... Trump supporters tend to be middle- to upper class.
The United States' power to dominate the world has declined. The IMF, a U.S. tool, can no longer force Latin American an Asian countries to accept its all-strings-attached loans. pp. 154-155.
The presidential election is significant, but activism, organizing, popular movements are more important. p. 162.
Europe is very racist. It erupts when the population becomes less than homogeneous. p. 164. French prisons are filled with the few Muslims.
Europe's centrist and center-left political parties accepted dismantling pensions, decent working conditions, labor rights. The result is a right-wing backlash. pp. 164-165.
CRISES AND ORGANIZING
In El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, terrorist forces supported by the United States /were/ the government. p. 169.
OBAMA, TRUMP
The Obama nuclear weapons modernization program has increased the overall killing power of existing US ballistic missile forces by a factor of roughly three. p. 182. Trump continues it.
Elections are pretty much bought. Campaign funding equals electability. p. 183.
See also:
Chomsky's articles at counterpunch.org https://www.counterpunch.org/author/h...
Chomsky, /What Kind of Creatures Are We?/, 2016
Chomsky, /Who Rules the World?/, 2016
Chomsky, /The Culture of Terrorism/, 2015. Explains Iran-Contra.
Chomsky, /Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians/, 2014.
Chomsky, /Power Systems/, 2012
/The Essential Chomsky/, 2008.
Chomsky, /At War with Asia/, 2004.
Chomsky, /Middle East Illusions/, 2004.
Chomsky, /Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies/, 1989.
David Montgomery, /The Fall of the House of Labor/, 1987.
Fred Branfman, /Voices from the Plain of Jars: Life under an Air War/ (Laos), 1972, 2nd edition 2013.
Interviews 2013-2017. Chomsky's clear view of the world political situation.
Recent articles by Chomsky: https://chomsky.info/updates/
For a thorough introduction to Chomsky's insights, see /Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky/, 2002: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
STATE SPYING
p. 2: Alfred W. McCoy, /Policing America's Empire: The United States, the Philippines, and the Rise of the Surveillance State/, 2009. The U.S. sowed discord among Filipinos, to pacify and control them after killing hundreds of thousands. Woodrow Wilson then used these techniques in the U.S. with his Red scare.
pp. 2-3: The FBI is using drones to surveil the U.S. We can expect the FBI to use drones to murder Americans: they won't have to send police, as they did to murder Fred Hampton in 1969.
p. 3. The National Security Agency collects your e-mails, chats, search histories, … from Google, Facebook, Apple, … . https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theg...
p. 3. Nation-state e-espionage: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.tech...
p. 4: The authorities probably aren't competent to use the data they collect.
p. 5: Noam Chomsky, /Trials of the Resistance/, 1970. The government failed to convict Vietnam-war protesters, despite massive files on everyone.
p. 7. Obama immediately and massively expanded drone-strike terrorism. This is creating terrorist enemies. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/24/wo...
pp. 9-10 Obama prosecuted more whistleblowers than all other presidents combined. And prosecuted the Humanitarian Law Project for explaining to Kurds their legal rights. The Roberts court sided with Obama and his then-Solicitor-General Elena Kagan. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/0... Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor dissent pp. 43-65 of 65 of the pdf.
Any interaction with anyone the government says is a terrorist, is illegal. Including Nelson Mandela. p. 50 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/t...
But U.S.-government-sponsored terrorists are OK: p. 62 https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSA...
p. 11, 86. A president could say, "To reduce terrorism, we need to stop engaging in it." The public would support that.
p. 12. People believe the rich and corporations pay too little in taxes. https://news.gallup.com/poll/1714/tax...
pp. 15-17. The world has always been ruled by wealth and power, not by popular vote. "Those who own the country ought to govern it." --John Jay. We must "protect the minority of the opulent against the majority." --James Madison. Every gain in freedom elicits a reaction from "the men of best quality." They don't give up power happily. Roughly the bottom 70% by income have no influence on policy. Political leaders don't pay any attention to them. The .1% are designing the policies. It's plutocracy. Kleptocracy may be a better term. In Iran, you can't enter the political system unless you're vetted by the clerics. That's bad. Here, you can't enter unless you're vetted by concentrations of private capital. Is that better?
MIDDLE EAST
pp. 20-21 War ends in total destruction, or in the survival of the most brutal elements. Chomsky's 1970 article on Cambodia: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1970... (paywalled)
p. 24. In the poorest, most-repressed countries, there's an elite in luxury. As in Ramallah, Palestine.
p. 24. Futile calls for a one-state solution only enable Israel to continue stealing Palestinian land.
p. 26. Palestinians are poor, powerless, and have no lobbyists, so they have no rights.
pp. 28, 76. It's largely indigenous people who are trying to defend the commons.
p. 29. If cynicism leads to passivity, we walk off the cliff.
POWER SYSTEMS DON'T GIVE GIFTS
p. 32. John Bellamy Foster and Robert W. McChesney /The Endless Crisis: How Monopoly Finance-Capital Produces Stagnation and Upheaval from the U.S.A. to China/, 2012. Oligopolies fix prices to extract more wealth from customers.
p. 33. /Manufacturing Consent/, book 1994, movie, 1993.
p. 35 Why should structures of authority exist? p. 36 If no reason, dismantle them for a more free, cooperative, and participatory system. p. 37 Rudolf Rocker, /Anarcho-Syndicalism/, 1938: Political rights are forced on parliaments from below. A benevolent dictator or an owner who frees slaves is a freak anomaly. Systems of power consolidate, sustain, and expand their power. Popular activism compels change. p. 37 Freeing man from exploitation and political and social enslavement remains the problem of our time. --"Notes on Anarchism," in /The Essential Chomsky/, 2008.
p. 38 Capitalism can't meet human needs. --Chomsky, "Language and Freedom," in /The Essential Chomsky/. Powerful people secure and maximize their power; powerless people are passive, hopeless, or atomized.
p. 38 1970 through now, we're in a backlash by the powerful against the liberating 1960s.
p. 39 Calls for "jobs" really means for profits.
p. 40 Extractive-industry billionaires' lobbyists write laws in all states:
https://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC...
p. 43 Ecuador asked the rich countries for 3.6 billion dollars, $3.91/barrel, half what the oil company offered it for the oil, to keep oil in the ground, in a national park in Amazonia. The rich countries wouldn't give them the money. https://www.ft.com/content/99e438ae-0...
p. 43 Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty reduced poverty. Now, the rich call for austerity during a recession (which even the IMF says is bad, p. 95), giving them an excuse to end the welfare state.
p. 44 Public schools, Social Security, food stamps, unemployment insurance, all are under attack. The rich and powerful want to end the subversive idea that society should do anything except enrich and empower them.
pp. 48, 51 Israel is following the path of South Africa: "So what if the world is against us. The U.S. is on our side."
p. 50 Fidel Castro helped end apartheid in South Africa, despite U.S. support of it. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-x...
William M. LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh, /Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana/, 2015, pp. 145-148.
p. 52 The U.S. gives Israel $3 billion/year, probably twice that.
p. 55 "Small acts times millions of people, can transform the world." --Howard Zinn, /You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train/, 1994.
p. 57 The word, "reform," is used to mean something that those in power approve of. "Educational reform" means undermine public education.
ISIS, THE KURDS, AND TURKEY
pp. 59, 101 The U.S. created the chaos that spawned ISIS.
p. 62 The US wanted to drive Saddam out of Kuwait in 1991--not let him withdraw. Chomsky, /Deterring Democracy/, 1991, ch. 6.
p. 63 "Arming Repression: U.S. Arms Sales to Turkey during the Clinton Administration" https://www.motherjones.com/politics/...
FUEL and TERRORISM
p. 74 Fuel should be priced much higher in the U.S., as it is in Europe, to discourage excessive use.
p. 75 CEOs--and therefore their servant politicians--care only about current profits, not whether their grandchildren will have a livable world.
p. 76 Indigenous people defend the commons.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theg... /The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman/, Davi Kopenawa and Bruce Albert, 2013: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
John Vidal, "Bolivia Enshrines Natural World's rights," 2011: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theg...
pp. 78-79 JFK started terrorism and murder in Cuba, lasting into the Clinton administration. It was a cause of the 1963 missile crisis. Keith Bolender, /Voices from the Other Side: An Oral History of Terrorism Against Cuba/, 2010.
pp. 82-83 Cheney & Rumsfeld wanted Iraqis tortured to make them say something that would link Saddam to Al Qaeda. When they didn't get it, they called for more torture. People under torture will say anything, so they claimed they got evidence.
p. 85 To make fun of people you're crushing, to ridicule them, as Charlie Hebdo did in its 2015 cartoons belittling the Prophet Muhammad, is obscene. But it shouldn't be illegal.
p. 88 It seemed like practically all of organized religion was based on the assumption that God was so stupid that he wouldn't notice you violating his commandments.
FEARMONGERING
p. 92 Israel is taking all West Bank land of any value, while excluding the Palestinian population.
ALLIANCES AND CONTROL
p. 104 The U.S. (as did the British we pushed out) supports radical Islam in Saudi Arabia. Secular nationalism might try to use resources for their own populations. Radical Islam may rely on imperial domination.
p. 104 Israel in 1967 smashed the secular nationalist states, Egypt and Syria, leaving radical-Islamist Saudia Arabia the dominant force.
p. 105 Real wages for U.S. male workers are back at 1960s levels.
p. 116 Without solidarity and cooperation, there is nothing.
THE ROOTS OF CONFLICTS
p. 119 When the only method you have is to use your comparative advantage in violence, you will always make the situation worse. To kill a leader is to replace him with a more violent leader. Andrew Cockburn, /Kill Chain/, 2015. ISIS: "Please attack us. It will be a recruiting tool." p. 121 We have a hammer. Everything looks like a nail.
p. 121 The traditional role of a great power is to expand its power. So we do what comes naturally.
p. 125 "Trade" agreements are actually investor-rights agreements. They give multinational corporations and investors substantial control over the resources, policies, and actions of countries.
pp. 127, 155 A lot of China's export economy is owned by outsiders. If Apple produces iPhones at Foxconn, they count as Chinese exports, but China doesn't get much from it.
p. 128 The U.S. is unique in how badly it handles rail. There's an ideological resistance here to effective public transportation. [In Wisconsin, rich Milwaukee-collar-county residents want to keep it difficult for poor Milwaukee residents to seek work in the suburbs. https://inthesetimes.com/article/wis-... ]
p. 129 China is ringed by offensive missiles in hostile states under U.S domination.
TOWARD A BETTER SOCIETY
p. 135 Organize around issues that:
*People care about.
*The fixes are feasible.
*You can /convince/ people the fixes are feasible.
Find small things that people recognize could be achieved; achieve those; see, success is possible; proceed to the next thing.
p. 144 Campaign funding is a good predictor of policy decisions. /The Golden Rule: The Investment Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money-Driven Political Systems/, Thomas Ferguson, 1995. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
p. 148 A better society would be where decisions are in the hands of an informed and engaged public. Workers would own and run factories. Communities would be under community control. Other institutions would be under popular control. Representatives would be under direct control from below and subject to immediate recall. National boundaries would fade--which has begun in Europe. Mutual aid, production for use rather than profit. Concern for species survival.
p. 149 You can take a high-speed train from Beijing to Kazakhstan but not from Boston to New York.
https://isreview.org/issue/101/multip...
ELECTIONS AND VOTING
The Democrats gave up on white workers around 1976. pp. 152-153. Neither party has anything for working people.
The Republican Party and rightwing-media listeners view the poor as leeches, Muslims as terrorists, distrust and demonize immigrants, look at science with contempt, and oppose even modest steps towards gun control. --Anthony DiMaggio https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/08/... Trump supporters tend to be middle- to upper class.
The United States' power to dominate the world has declined. The IMF, a U.S. tool, can no longer force Latin American an Asian countries to accept its all-strings-attached loans. pp. 154-155.
The presidential election is significant, but activism, organizing, popular movements are more important. p. 162.
Europe is very racist. It erupts when the population becomes less than homogeneous. p. 164. French prisons are filled with the few Muslims.
Europe's centrist and center-left political parties accepted dismantling pensions, decent working conditions, labor rights. The result is a right-wing backlash. pp. 164-165.
CRISES AND ORGANIZING
In El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, terrorist forces supported by the United States /were/ the government. p. 169.
OBAMA, TRUMP
The Obama nuclear weapons modernization program has increased the overall killing power of existing US ballistic missile forces by a factor of roughly three. p. 182. Trump continues it.
Elections are pretty much bought. Campaign funding equals electability. p. 183.
See also:
Chomsky's articles at counterpunch.org https://www.counterpunch.org/author/h...
Chomsky, /What Kind of Creatures Are We?/, 2016
Chomsky, /Who Rules the World?/, 2016
Chomsky, /The Culture of Terrorism/, 2015. Explains Iran-Contra.
Chomsky, /Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians/, 2014.
Chomsky, /Power Systems/, 2012
/The Essential Chomsky/, 2008.
Chomsky, /At War with Asia/, 2004.
Chomsky, /Middle East Illusions/, 2004.
Chomsky, /Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies/, 1989.
David Montgomery, /The Fall of the House of Labor/, 1987.
Fred Branfman, /Voices from the Plain of Jars: Life under an Air War/ (Laos), 1972, 2nd edition 2013.
November 11, 2025
The audiobook was very interesting format in a interview back and forth
The conversation covers a lot and it's very interesting to see how things have progressed since the time of the recording to now, especially in the USA
The conversation covers a lot and it's very interesting to see how things have progressed since the time of the recording to now, especially in the USA
March 7, 2019
These interviews cover a staggering amount of material in 200 pages. Unlike Who Rules the World?, Global Discontents is conveniently accessible and concise (and covers much of the same material). I'd recommend it as an alternative for someone struggling with WRTW's density or (legitimately maligned) repetitive content. That book, however useful and illuminating, didn't have much in the way of editing; by contrast, Barsamian's interviews with Chomsky rarely recycle ideas. This is probably as efficient a breakdown of national and global political and economic infrastructure as you'll find.
It's almost satisfying that Chomsky is one of the most widely cited, routinely reviled, and/or universally ignored intellectuals of the 20th/21st centuries. I've read a lot of criticism about him recently, some of which I should probably follow up on--but just like Omar, AOC, or Sanders, any articulate, well-read, high-profile ambassador of the left is bound to be savaged by the global superpowers they take on. It's a badge of honor to face those slings and arrows. Sometimes it takes a cranky, pretentious 90-year-old to stand up to the systemic evils of the world.
It's almost satisfying that Chomsky is one of the most widely cited, routinely reviled, and/or universally ignored intellectuals of the 20th/21st centuries. I've read a lot of criticism about him recently, some of which I should probably follow up on--but just like Omar, AOC, or Sanders, any articulate, well-read, high-profile ambassador of the left is bound to be savaged by the global superpowers they take on. It's a badge of honor to face those slings and arrows. Sometimes it takes a cranky, pretentious 90-year-old to stand up to the systemic evils of the world.
August 23, 2020
A series of interviews Chomsky did between 2013 and 2017, sharing his views on geopolitical developments in modern times. He covers relevant topics like current issues and trends in the Middle East, shifts in the balance of global power and the surveillance state system.
Chomsky provides historical context on those topics and shares his projections of the - at the time - future. As the timeframe of the book covers the late years of the Obama administration and leading up to the election of Donald Trump, you are reading global political events and anticipations in hindsight.
And although Chomsky is one of the leading (living) intellectuals of our times, it’s important to remember that these are still the perspectives of a single, admittedly very experienced and well informed, man. But even you don’t agree with all his views, it’s astonishing how accurate his forecasts have been.
Chomsky provides historical context on those topics and shares his projections of the - at the time - future. As the timeframe of the book covers the late years of the Obama administration and leading up to the election of Donald Trump, you are reading global political events and anticipations in hindsight.
And although Chomsky is one of the leading (living) intellectuals of our times, it’s important to remember that these are still the perspectives of a single, admittedly very experienced and well informed, man. But even you don’t agree with all his views, it’s astonishing how accurate his forecasts have been.
January 22, 2018
The book is what it is: guided conversations between a journalist and Noam Chomsky on global issues from an American perspective. I appreciate that it is a conversation, however, many of the answers were not in-depth and often from single views without exploring issues in a holistic way.
Nonetheless, I picked up this book at an airport and it gave me good company during my flights.
Point to note though - the ‘selling point’ is a question: ‘what kind of world are we leaving our grandchildren’. This question is neither answered or explored.
Nonetheless, I picked up this book at an airport and it gave me good company during my flights.
Point to note though - the ‘selling point’ is a question: ‘what kind of world are we leaving our grandchildren’. This question is neither answered or explored.
November 13, 2024
The Roots of Conflicts
An excellent array of topics covered here by David Barsamian.
He asks interesting questions to Chomsky, bringing out some fascinating insights that will have readers searching the sources at the back for further reading.
A worthy note worth adding, there's a small section that breaks down the Syrian conflict into manageable bites. I'd argue this makes this a worthy read unto itself.
An excellent array of topics covered here by David Barsamian.
He asks interesting questions to Chomsky, bringing out some fascinating insights that will have readers searching the sources at the back for further reading.
A worthy note worth adding, there's a small section that breaks down the Syrian conflict into manageable bites. I'd argue this makes this a worthy read unto itself.
June 24, 2021
The interview Q&A format is way more palatable than typical non-fiction and gives my dumb brain room to breathe.
April 24, 2022
Informative, but not interesting. I prefer more structured books; this didn't seem to be organized at all. It was also a little repetitive. Chomsky is plainly as smart, intuitive, and sensitive as they come. He seemed to have a perfect understanding of practically every issue in global politics, economics, culture, war, history, philosophy, etc. If you can name it, he can distill it into clear, simple terms.
In this way, I feel like I have a better grasp of a few key issues plaguing humanity right now. Unfortunately, his genius didn't make for a particularly gripping read. I will check out his other books soon.
In this way, I feel like I have a better grasp of a few key issues plaguing humanity right now. Unfortunately, his genius didn't make for a particularly gripping read. I will check out his other books soon.
September 6, 2021
beeem legal meeeesmo, aborda vários pontos mtt interessantes e ao msm tempo se mantém sendo um livro bem levinho pelo ritmo dinâmico de entrevista, os ultimos capítulos devem ter sido os que eu achei mais interessantes pq acabam sendo as opiniões do Chomsky sobre o período eleitoral dos EUA no finzinho de 2016.
March 3, 2024
I absolutely love these interviews from Chomsky as there are updates on world events. I appreciated his thoughts on Trump’s presidency, what to go, and as always his thoughts on global affairs.
July 30, 2020
I read this book, which I checked out from the library some 16 months ago, possibly more, as a palate cleanser after reading several far heftier tomes. It did the trick nicely, as it probably took all of four or five hours to read, and Noam Chomsky elucidates his views concisely and cogently. If I have any issue with books on current events, it’s that it’s hard for them to stay current - would love to hear what he has to say on some of the stuff that’s going on now, although I doubt that his heavy emphasis on the existential threat of climate change would be much different. I think the best thing that these interviews provide are his keen observations on the patterns he sees in foreign relations, as they certainly aren’t anything we’ll be exposed to in modern-day media (another favorite target of his, although he doesn’t go into it in depth, despite frequently mentioning the effects of propaganda). I’m certainly interested in reading more Noam Chomsky cuz reading stuff by him is a good way to feel like an informed adult.
April 25, 2020
Get to know who are some of Chomsky's favourite thinkers (Hume, Smith and Francis Hutcheson) and who is his Arabic teacher in college whom in the end, become his friend – Giorgo Levi Della Vida, an Italian anti-fascist émigré where Chomsky was told that the Bible was mistranslated and finally spark him to study linguistics till he become the modern linguistic revolutioner.
After travelling through a critical analysis of all political canvas covering Iran, Turkey (on Erdogan), USA (on Trump, Obama, Sanders, Clinton, Roosevelt etc.), China and Saudi, Chomsky describes the characteristics for a better society – where the decisions are in the hands of an informed and engaged public. Workers would own and run factories, communities would be under community control, other institutions would be under popular control. In general, it is a global system based on mutual aid, mutual support, production for use rather than profit and concern for species survival.
After travelling through a critical analysis of all political canvas covering Iran, Turkey (on Erdogan), USA (on Trump, Obama, Sanders, Clinton, Roosevelt etc.), China and Saudi, Chomsky describes the characteristics for a better society – where the decisions are in the hands of an informed and engaged public. Workers would own and run factories, communities would be under community control, other institutions would be under popular control. In general, it is a global system based on mutual aid, mutual support, production for use rather than profit and concern for species survival.
July 5, 2018
NC doesn't waver in what he believes in. The interviews are a bit repetitive but only because they're dealing with current events (2013-Trump Presidency). If you want a better idea of why certain things in the Middle East are happening, and where they originated, how Obama was not Mother Teresa during his 8 years, and how DT might be acting the way he does to take attention away from what's going on behind the scenes you should pick this up.
What I most enjoy about Noam is that he goes after everything: Muslims, Republicans, Democrats, Jews, Climate Change, Corporations & Self Examination.
"I turned to my mother and asked her, "Why we don't trade in my brother for the monkey?" She didn't give me a reasonable answer and just laughed. And then I realized how ridiculous the adult world is, because it would have been an obvious trade."
What I most enjoy about Noam is that he goes after everything: Muslims, Republicans, Democrats, Jews, Climate Change, Corporations & Self Examination.
"I turned to my mother and asked her, "Why we don't trade in my brother for the monkey?" She didn't give me a reasonable answer and just laughed. And then I realized how ridiculous the adult world is, because it would have been an obvious trade."
October 10, 2017
Chomsky always seems to be a breath of fresh air for me. Encouraging and inspirational in that he tries to remind us of the importance of paying attention and organizing.
This work, composed of interviews from June 2013- June 2017, discusses perspectives on Latin America and Israel that I felt I have read from him before, but also touches on many other subjects (drone warfare, climate change, the decline of US influence, the 2016 election, a Trump presidency, etc) that I was familiar with but hadn't heard his opinion yet.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone curious or infuriated with the world we live in and thank you to the publisher for providing me with this arc through netgalley.
This work, composed of interviews from June 2013- June 2017, discusses perspectives on Latin America and Israel that I felt I have read from him before, but also touches on many other subjects (drone warfare, climate change, the decline of US influence, the 2016 election, a Trump presidency, etc) that I was familiar with but hadn't heard his opinion yet.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone curious or infuriated with the world we live in and thank you to the publisher for providing me with this arc through netgalley.
March 17, 2020
What a brilliant man Chomsky is ! I must admit that I Googled and researched quite a bit so as to be able to comprehend the geo-politics underlined by him in the course of the 12 interviews with David Barsamian, but every moment was definitely worth it.
Global Discontents is a series of interviews wherein Chomsky delves into the intricacies of international relations (and the overbearing nature of US on these relations). The manner in which he has managed to describe complex socio-political concepts is absolutely enthralling.
Also, the man has a wicked sense of humour. His disdain for Trump has been expressed beautifully. I’m an absolute fan, I must say. Will definitely be reading more of his work now.
Global Discontents is a series of interviews wherein Chomsky delves into the intricacies of international relations (and the overbearing nature of US on these relations). The manner in which he has managed to describe complex socio-political concepts is absolutely enthralling.
Also, the man has a wicked sense of humour. His disdain for Trump has been expressed beautifully. I’m an absolute fan, I must say. Will definitely be reading more of his work now.
June 1, 2020
This probably wasn't the right book for me to grapple with 'global discontents' because it assumes quite a high level of knowledge. I also could have done with a little introduction when the interviewer changes tack and introduces a new topic for Chomsky.
He's clearly an exceptional thinker and his politics are difficult to argue with buuuut this just didn't stand up to me as a particularly good read. It could have been done much better! The conversational format was actually pretty distracting I didn't feel I was in the room with them at all. Too many specific un-delved into references that blocked me out.
I'm sure Chomsky fans with better knowledge of the US and its historic foreign policies will enjoy but this one wasn't for me.
He's clearly an exceptional thinker and his politics are difficult to argue with buuuut this just didn't stand up to me as a particularly good read. It could have been done much better! The conversational format was actually pretty distracting I didn't feel I was in the room with them at all. Too many specific un-delved into references that blocked me out.
I'm sure Chomsky fans with better knowledge of the US and its historic foreign policies will enjoy but this one wasn't for me.
April 4, 2020
নোয়াম চমস্কি এবং ডেভিড বার্সামিয়ানের আলাপচারিতা। সাক্ষাৎকারগুলো ২০১৩ থেকে ২০১৬ সালের মধ্যে নেওয়া। যেখানে বিশ্বরাজনীতির ময়দান, মধ্যপ্রাচ্য সংকট, আইসিস, হিন্দুত্ববাদের ভয়াবহতার কথা উঠে এসেছে।চমস্কির মতে, আগামী দিনগুলির বড় চ্যালেঞ্জ হলো বৈশ্বিক উষ্ণায়ন এবং পারমাণবিক শক্তির মহড়া। এই চ্যালেঞ্জ মোকাবিলায় করণীয় সম্পর্কে বলেছেন। মোড়ল রাষ্ট্র ইউনাইটেড স্টেটস এবং তার মক্কেল রাষ্ট্রগুলো যেমন,ইসরাইল, সৌদি আরব, পুরো ইইউয়ের শয়তানি কার্যক্রমের স্বরূপ বিশ্লেষণ করেছেন স্বমহিমায়।
July 20, 2020
Such a necessary book to read to understand the state of global affairs in the last decade. I appreciate how Chomsky has a broad understanding of the many political events in the world.
Personally, I recommend reading this book in small bites. It can be overwhelming to see so many unfortunate events occurring all at once. Also, I really enjoyed how each conversation is found within a single chapter.
I would highly recommend! I learned many things I had not known before.
Personally, I recommend reading this book in small bites. It can be overwhelming to see so many unfortunate events occurring all at once. Also, I really enjoyed how each conversation is found within a single chapter.
I would highly recommend! I learned many things I had not known before.
September 11, 2020
A quick trot through a collection of recent interviews with Chomsky, reflecting on his well-worn ideas of anti-imperialism. An easy way to tie together the more significant geopolitical events of the last half-decade, with a straightforward clarity to leftist politics that few offer like Chomsky does. And quite a bit of it's actually funny, which is always a treat from a book like this
September 3, 2018
50% of the book I am thinking, Wow, how insightful, there is no way that's not Right On, I am so enamored with you, Noam. The other 50% I am thinking, Jesus christ I am not smart enough for this shit
February 2, 2019
An enlightening view of global affairs through Chomsky's lens. Paints a grim picture of the current state of the world, but an accurate and thought provoking one.
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