On Dec 14, 2009, at 3:50 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> American planners are not idiots. (We went to school with most of
> them.) They (essentially the same people through the last two
> administrations, except for a slight neocon detour) would not have
> poured people and money into their 21st-century Middle East wars out
> of pique or madness. Their plans were not irrational -- just
> vicious. Capitalism, imperialism, and geopolitics provide an
> adequate account. And, as Carrol pointed out, they're winning.
Intellectual ability and being in the grip of delusions aren't mutually exclusive.
I just listed a bunch of reasons why the "control of oil" analysis doesn't make much sense. Could you refute those instead of invoking the high-level generalities of "capitalism, imperialism, and geopolitics"?
There's a longing on the left to believe that our rulers are always clear-eyed and rational. Obviously they wouldn't have gotten this far if they were loony dopes. But they don't always know what they're doing, really.
Doug