The 7 principles of Neoimperialism

Carl Remick carlremick at hotmail.com
Sat Sep 14 12:29:55 PDT 2002



>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
>
>Carl Remick wrote:
>
>>Awesome. This excerpt constitutes a 2553-word definition of "hubris." I
>>believe the nation's current state of dementia exceeds that of any other
>>time in US history, which is saying something.
>
>Really? Worse than the Cold War? Worse than when Herman Kahn was thinking
>the unthinkable? Worse than the Reagan years, when they talked openly about
>winnable nuclear wars?
>
>Doug

Much worse. There was something self-parodying about the thinking-the-unthinkable school; in retrospect, Herman Kahn seems more a performance artist than a theoretician -- comic relief compared to those two Council on Foreign Relations policy bots you interviewed the other day. While the US was very willing to use force in the past, it was just a bit embarrassed about it -- e.g., steadily frittering its power away in endless failed escalations in Vietnam. But there's no gap between thought and action for today's grim apostles of neoimperialism, no reluctance to wield whatever's available in the nation's arsenal. Don Rumseld's New Model Army is ready for use anyplace anytime in any degree, on any whim at all.

The stately melancholy and predictable chess-game rhythms of the cold war seem preferable to today's terrorists-under-the-bed public hysterias and the mercurial militarism of the current Washington establishment.

Carl

_________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list