Greenwald’s argument is a simple one: Because of the overwhelming military might of the United States, no other country can attack us without facing utter destruction. Other countries, wishing rationally to advance their own interests, grasp this fact.
Accordingly, they will neither attack us nor threaten us. A rational American foreign policy then to a large extent presents no difficulty. Military measures directed against other countries are unnecessary. Given the manifest costs of these measures, we should not undertake them.
Of course the Bush administration does not see matters this way. FULL ARTICLE
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lester: “bernard lewis isn’t considered an expert on the middle east IN the middle east.”
Finally, you’ve posted something accurate. It’s true. Arabs don’t consider Lewis an expert. They considered Edward Saied an expert, someone who was so Marxist he would have made Marx blush, and who hated the US more than death.
Lester
“do you really want to learn about the middle east from one the architects of the iraq war?
Prior to 9/11 and the Iraq war, was his take on Middle Eastern history accurate?
lester, who would you recommend as an expert on the Middle East?
IMHO- evidentally not! look at where his advice has left us? and I can say specifically that I remeber seeing a repeat of an interview with him on C Span in which he stated that countries that had regimes hostile to us were pro US and regimes friendly to us were anti US. That’s not true. Jordan is relatively (meaning like only 83 percent of them hate us) and pre 03 iraq and Iran both had regimes AND populations that hated us.
fundamentalist- I tend to prefer to talk to ordinary muslim people rather than “experts” like Mr Lewis Or Juan Cole. But
http://www.aldeilis.net/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=108&Itemid=114
I would recommend henry Cattan’s work. He is both a lawyer and a historian and does an excellent job of prsenting the palestinian position. It is biased of course.
Lester,
All I want to do is to buy a few books on the Middle East. In an effort to spend my money wisely, my chief objective is to get the names of a few historians whose information is accurate and to avoid the hacks who have an axe to grind.
Two historians having the same exact set of facts may arrive at different conclusions. Reminds me of the blind men and the elephant.
Anyway, I can recognize bias when I see it, just as I do every time I turn on CNN or FOX. What I try to glean from their programming, such as it is, are the basic facts of whatever story is being presented and ignore the rhetoric.
imho- well the above excerpt is from Cattan’s excellent “the question of Palestine”. He was one of the palestinians driven out by the creation of israel. He argued against israel to the UN in 1948, even getting Gandhi on his side. So, it’s at least authentic though I don’t know how widely available the book, which I own and re read pretty often, is today.
excuse me, that would be “the Palestine Question”
http://www.amazon.com/Palestine-Question-Henry-Cattan/dp/0863569323/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195052821&sr=1-11
5 bucks or so isn’t bad for used. it is essentially the palestinian view of every war or event since the balfour declaration and is very very straightforward, no fat
lester: “I tend to prefer to talk to ordinary muslim people rather than “experts” like Mr Lewis Or Juan Cole.”
Are you saying there is no value in scholarship? Just ask the locals what they think? Would you ask the man on the street in the US what’s wrong with this country and accept it as the complete answer?
fundamentalist- No there is tremendous value in scholarship, but it’s the difference between getting one opinion and getting many many opinions. I mean, if you wanted to know what the south “was like” you wouldn’t crack open a book by some you know, trotsky-ite in new york city. that’s why alot of the neoconservative stuff didn’t pan out as expected, people don’t always do what you would logically expect them too. Like, for example, almost to a man all the shias i know thought cindy sheehan was a nut. You would think they would support her as she wants the same thing they want, US divestiture from iraq, but they thought the typical right wing thing that her son signed up and therefore should have expected he may go to war and so on.
muslims: you never know what they’ll say next!
Anyone familiar with this author and/or this book? “The Peace to End All Peace” by David Fromkin.
http://www.amazon.com/Peace-End-All-Ottoman-Creation/dp/0805068848/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195076051&sr=1-1
Also, authors Michael Oren and Albert Hourani.
I just want to say that I really do appreciate your input.
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