[lbo-talk] Vision of a Europe for a Eurasian Century (was Putin in Iran)

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

On 10/18/07, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Oct 18, 2007, at 10:41 AM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
> > Besides, Iran itself is not unlike a femme fatale.  She is at times
> > cruel, but ravishing all the same, so well endowed is she with
> > nature's gifts.  She will probably stab you in the back at the very
> > first opportunity, and yet she stirs the flesh of all men and women,
> > whether they are on the left, right, or center, who are politically
> > ambitious, like Chavez, HRC, and Putin.  Yes, she really has a way of
> > making you believe that, if you have her, you can, perhaps, rule the
> > world.  Who will have her, and on what terms?  Or will she just play
> > them all and seduce them into getting her what she wants, giving up
> > little in return?  That's the Great Game in which she is both a
> > ruthless player and the most precious prize.
>
> Nothing Orientalist about this, eh?
>
> But why femme? Why not some sort of trans- or post-gender seducer?

Statecraft at the highest level is still a decidedly sexist game,
overwhelmingly dominated by men from East to West, Left to Right, in
which the few women who become heads of state are typically those
connected to powerful men (being their wives, daughters, etc.).  A
well-intentioned gender-neutral language obscures this undeniable
reality.
-- 
Yoshie