[lbo-talk] Fantasy That Drives US Politics

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Mon Aug 7 10:49:12 PDT 2006


Yoshie:

That pretty much sums up what those who are in charge of the White House and Congress think. Their thinking is divorced from reality.

[WS:] It may be divorced from reality, but it certainly is not divorced from the way a big chunk, probably the majority, of the US populace sees the world. This point is explicitly made by Phil Short in his account of the rise of Pol Pot in Cambodia (_Pol Pot: The History of a Nightmare_). Short specifically argues that the tendency to see the world in black-and-white terms, shared by the US administration and the populace alike, caused the US policy makers to miss a more nuanced approach favored by local players. This resulted in a blunt and heavy handed approach that eventually upset the political "balance" (if it indeed is the right word here) in Cambodia and helped propelling Pol Pot from a relatively minor player to the leadership of a national movement.

Definitely worth reading - it sheds light on the US policies today.

Wojtek



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list