[lbo-talk] The Nation anguishes about AP

Yoshie Furuhashi critical.montages at gmail.com
Mon Oct 9 17:14:57 PDT 2006


On 10/9/06, Chris Doss <lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Iran in 2006: Functioning industrialized state.
> Relatively developed. Economy based on exporting oil.
> IRANIAN ISLAMISTS = BAD!
>
> Chechnya in 1999: A freakin' wreck ruled by feuding
> bloodthirsty clans. Ethnic cleansing has kicked out
> all non-Chechens. Frequent attacks on border regions.
> Economy based on hostage-taking, slavery and
> remittances from Al-Qaeda. How Romantic!
> CHECHEN ISLAMISTS = GOOD!

There are two kinds of Western liberal and leftist attitudes to Islamists. One kind follows Washington and the mass media:

Islamists hated by Washington and the mass media = BAD Islamists backed or tolerated by Washington and the mass media = GOOD

The kind who think well of Chechen Islamists and ill of Iranian Islamists belong in the above category.

The other kind works by this logic:

Islamists who have state power = BAD Islamists who don't have state power = GOOD (or TOLERABLE)

This kind manage to love Hizballah while hating its paymaster!

Iran lands on the bad side of both kinds of Western liberals and leftists. :->

Neither kind think about the BIG PICTURE (that the Right never forgets): what sort of world we want to live in and what roles states and movements may play in moving the world toward or away from it. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>



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