From: mongiovg (mongiovg@stjohns.edu)
Date: Wed Mar 12 2003 - 14:02:18 EST
Pardon me for not appending the obligatory condemnation of western hypocrisy and bougeois values. I foolishly assumed that those caveats would not have to be rehearsed to members of this list; hence my "One need not romanticize the Atlantic alliance or its members ...." My point was that what's happening now isn't just your standard-issue hardball diplomacy, which is of course one of the ways that western hypocrisy plays itself out. The Bush message is "Cross us and we're gonna fuck you up, and we don't even have to pay lip service to democracy, freedom, decades of good diplomatic relations, warm ties of friendhip between countless members of our populations, our shared cultural heritage and our mutually beneficial economic ties; who gives a shit about any of that stuff? Why don't we give a shit? Because we don't have to, that's why." That implicit message strikes me as a dangerous departure from precedent. The fact that what was in place prior to the Bush offensive left much to be desired doesn't negate my suggestion that what is happening now is extremely dangerous for global security and prosperity. Nor does it deny the necessity of exploring " the material motives for these bourgeois countries' behaviors" as Paul rightly notes. Nothing I wrote implies anything different. Gary >===== Original Message From Paul Zarembka <zarembka@buffalo.edu> ===== >On Wed, 12 Mar 2003, mongiovg wrote: > >> This is mind-boggling, and, for me, as disturbing as any recent >> development connected with the Iraq situation. One need not be a >> romantic about the Atlantic alliance, or its members, to think that >> the Bush government's attempt to demonize France & Germany to the >> American public is reckless and dangerous. These countries share a >> commitment to values that are indispensable to global peace and >> prosperity: democracy, human and civil rights, free speech, rule of >> law--the whole Enlightenment thing. > >... > >Wow, this idealization of the French and German governments is >unbelievable (and romantic). Of course, the 'freedom' fries is also >unbelievable, but let's get just a shade critical and consider material >motives for these bourgeois countries' behaviors. Paul > >*********************************************************************** >"Confronting 9-11, Ideologies of Race, and Eminent Economists", Vol. 20 >RESEARCH IN POLITICAL ECONOMY, Paul Zarembka, editor, Elsevier Science >******************** http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PZarembka
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