[lbo-talk] We're all Hezbollah...

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Mon Jul 24 08:33:08 PDT 2006


Joanna:

Interesting what they're reporting in the San Jose Mercury News

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/15106560.htm

[WS:] Which, I understand, boils down to "the popular anger at the US, and also Israel, is growing." That might be true, but then so what? What is it that the disgruntled grunts can due other than burning a US flag in front of a US diplomatic mission? Blowing up a destroyer, or flying planes into high rise buildings are basically one-time stunts, rather difficult to replicate. Besides, these are not real damages but relatively minor annoyances well within the boundaries of what empires are willing and able to absorb.

When bat'ushka Stalin asked "How many divisions does the pope have?" he implied that the so called "moral authority" - including public opinion - does not matter vis a vis tanks. I think he exaggerated a bit - a more accurate way of expressing it would be "a pen might be mightier than a sword, but only if the writer sits in a tank." Which is exactly where the supporters/mouthpieces of the current US/Israeli policies are, and the opponents of those policies are not.

Wojtek



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