Reviews for Pirates and emperors, old and new

The average rating for Pirates and emperors, old and new based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-10-23 00:00:00 Delcine Johnson الكتاب عبارة عن الثلاث فصول الاولى من كتاب ارهاب القراصنة وارهاب الأباطرة وكنت قراءت الكتاب من فترة فقلت فرصة اعيد قراءته مرة ثانية والترجمة المرة ده احسن الصراحة مضافا اليها هوامش مهمة . كعادة تشومسكي كتاب مهم ومن مميزات اشومسكي عندما تقرأ له كانك بتقرأ قصة سياسية اسلوب سهل لايصال المعلومة. الكتاب مقسم الى ثلاث فصول الفصل الأول : يتكلم ان المنظرون الديمقراطيون لاحظوا منذ زمن طويل أنه فى المجتمع المتحرر مثل أمريكا الذي يكون للشعب فيه صوت مسموع وتكون الحكومة لا تقدر على استخدام وسائل العنف فى الدفاع عن مصالح النخبة التي تسيطر على شئون البلاد ، يتعين على النخبة ضمان ألا ينطق هذا الصوت إلا بأشياء الملائمة ، وابتكار اساليب لصناعة الموافقة ، وطبعا اهم ابتكار هو الاعلام الذى يصنع ما يسمى بهندسة الموافقة. لكن فى الدول الاخري يتم استخدام العنف حتى لا يتم النطق الا بأشياء ملائمة. ومن ضمن الاساليب لعمل غسيل مخ للشعب عمل مناظرات سياسية فيفرح الشعب ويتغنى بالحرية لكنه لا يعلم ان المناظرة تكون داخل افتراضات سياسية مسبقة تضم مذاهب اساسية لتضمن الالتزام بالخط السائد . واعطى مثال على ذلك موقف امريكا واسرائيل فى عملية السلام وحرب فيتنام . الفصل الثانى : بدأ الفصل بزيارة من شيمون بيريز لرئيس امريكا ريجان عام 1985 لمناقشة عملية السلام فى منطقة الشرق الاوسط وتعجب تشومسكي من كيف يتم الحديث عن السلام بين اثنين من أكبر قادة ارهاب فى العالم ، وذلك لأنهم يتحدثوا عن السلام من وجهة نظر أمريكا الذى لا يهدد الوجود الفلسطيني بل يلغيه ، وحتى عندما طرح عرفات حل لاعتراف متبادل بين الدولتين عام 1984 رفضته اسرائيل ولم ترد عليه امريكا اساسا ، ولم يقوم الاعلام الامريكي حتى بنشر الخبر ، بل عام 1985 قصفت اسرائيل جواً مدينة حمام بتونس للقضاء على منظمة التحرير وعلى عرفات وقتلت مدنيين ولم تلام من احد . فيديو عن القصف الاسرائيلي وتكلم عن غزو اسرائيل للبنان وان منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية التى كانت وقتها فى لبنان التزمت بوقف اطلاق النار لمدة عام وكان ذلك كارثة لاسرائيل لانها يهدد سياسة التهرب من اقرار تسوية اسرائيلية ، فأخذت تقوم بأعمال عدائية حتى ترد المنظمة وتتخذ اسرائيل اى سبب للقيام بغزو لبنان ، وقال ان الذى سهل غزو لبنان اتفاقية السلام التى قامت بين اسرائيل ومصر لأن اسرائيل صعب جدا انها تقوم بغزو لبنان وليست مؤمنة حدودها مع مصر . وتكلم مؤرخ عسكري اسرئيلي ان من اهداف الغزو عمل نظام جديد موالى لاسرائيل في لبنان والشرق الاوسط ، ودفع مسيرة التحول الساداتى لبقية الدول العربية عشان بس يارب الناس تعرف ان الكلام ان اتفاقية السلام مع اسرائيل كانت ضد اسرائيل وان السادات ضحك عليهم والكلام ده كله اى كلام الصراحة , لما يكونوا مش عايزين سلام مش هيتعمل سلام وهيستمروا فى اشعال المنطقة واتخاذ اى اسباب للعدوان ولما يكونوا عايزين سلام هيتعمل بشروطهم وبمباركة امريكية طالما احنا اصلا ورئيسنا بنقول ان الحل فى يد امريكا الى هيا اصلا اكبر حليف لاسرائيل فى الدنيا كلها الفصل الثالث : تكلم عن معمر القذافى وكيف اتهمت امريكا ليبيا بالقيام بعمل ارهابى فى مطاري روما وفيينا وذلك السبب فى ضرب أمريكا لخليج سرت , ومع ان وزيري الداخلية النمساوي والايطالى قالوا انه امريكا لم تقدم دليل لإدانة ليبيا الا ان امريكا قامت بالهجوم. وامريكا ايضا اتهمت ليبيا بتفجير ملهى ليلي ببرلين وبدون ايضا اى دليل ، قامت امريكا بقصف بنى غازي وطرابلس . فامريكا تقوم باستخدام كلمة ارهاب لاى عمل تقوم به اى دولة او منظمة ضد مصلحة أمريكا لكن عندما تقوم امريكا واسرائيل باعمال اكثر ارهابا وحتى ابادة جماعية يسمى انتقاما او دفاع عن النفس وليس ارهابا . كتاب جيد انصح به .

Review # 2 was written on 2012-06-21 00:00:00 James Brickhouse The Politics of Terrorism 21 June 2012 I remember reading this book a few years ago. A friend of mine had leant me a Chomsky book (Hegemony or Survival) and I literally lapped it up so when I was visiting my local library and found a copy of this book I immediately borrowed it and read it. I remember going to a 80s party around the same time and the thing that was sticking in my head was 'Ronald Reagan's War on Terror' and so to fit in with the 80s theme, I threw on a camo-shirt and went as 'Ronald Reagan's War on Terror'. I also remember (I think it was the same party) sitting around the outside fire at 6:00 am in the morning, under the influence of many substances, when one of our friends burst out onto the balcony above us and screamed out 'Ronald Reagan has just died'. There was a pregnant pause before everybody literally burst out in laughter. The main theme of this book is summed up in a quote that he uses at the beginning of the book. Alexander the Great confronts a Mediterranean pirate and demands that he cease his pirating activities he Alexander would have to do something about it. The pirate captain replies by saying 'the only difference between you are I is that you have an army'. In essence, what Chomsky is saying (particularly since this book was originally written in 1987) was that the difference between the PLO and the American Government is that the American government has much more resources. In the end both organisations practice terrorism and are terrorists. The idea that Chomsky is exploring in this book is how states can be terrorists and that just because a state does something it does not necessarily mean that it is not terrorism. Once again it really comes down to the concept of history being written by the winners. The example that Chomsky uses above with regards to Alexander is that he was no different to the pirate except that because of his army he could commit acts of piracy with impunity. It does not matter whether a ship of rag-tag pirates raids the city of Tyre and carries of a heap of loot, or if Alexander's army lays siege to the city of Tyre and carries of its loot: it is the same thing. The only difference is that when Alexander justifies his act of piracy he has an army to back him up. We need to remember that when this book was written, Hamas did not exist (they came about during the second Intifada, or war of stones). In a way Fatah did not exist either, as they only came about after the PLO decided to lay down its arms and to seek a political solution. However certain groups chose not to accept the PLO ,or its leader Arafat, as to them he was a terrorist and would always be a terrorist. A similar situation occurred in Northern Ireland with regards to the IRA, and its political arm, Sin Fein. The IRA chose to cease fighting and to seek a political solution, however the protestant elements of Northern Ireland refused to have anything to do with the IRA because they were terrorists. However, from scenes of Northern Ireland that I have seen, the protestants were just as bad as the IRA. One example that Chomsky uses in this book is when a cruise ship (The Achille Lauro) was hijacked by PLO terrorists and a Jewish man in a wheel chair (Leon Klinghoffer) was pushed off the ship and into the water. There was a huge furore over this which resulted in the bombing of Palestine. What Chomsky is demonstrating here is that there was outrage when a crippled old man was killed yet when hundreds of Palestinian women and children were killed in the retaliation there was no backlash whatsoever. Because the United States holds a position of power they can act with impunity. This has been seen time and time again when an unfriendly government arises in a nearby country (usually Latin America) and as a result arms are supplied to certain groups that are seeking to overthrow the government. While the United States on one hand champions democracy, it is only a very narrow form of democracy that they champion: one that will allow American business interests into the country without asking any questions and to operate with impunity. As soon as a government arises that champions state owned infrastructure, the United States goes out of its way to remove said government. Further, the tight control of the media in the United States means that only a certain version of events gets shown to the public. This was the case with Salvatore Allande in Chile. He was a socialist who was seeking socialist solutions to the country's problems. However the United States did not like him or his policies, and as such went out of the way to destroy the country economically. When it became clear that Chile's economy was going nowhere fast, a pro-capitalist dictator, Augusto Pinocet, was put in power with the help of the military: Allande and all of his supporters were rounded up and either imprisoned or killed. As a result Chile became a military dictatorship for over a decade. For a country that claims to champion freedom and democracy, their actions in Chile were outright hypocritical. Chomsky's major gripe is with the media and how stories are selected based upon what they want the people to hear. His point is that there are many horrendous acts going on around the world, committed by pro and anti-US governments. However it is only the actions of anti-US governments that hit the media. Take for example Iran. Not a day goes by without the US media bashing Iran and its government. However there are other governments that support the US but are notorious for supressing freedom of speech and being incredibly corrupt. However, corruption also exists in the United States, it is just obfuscated using works like lobby groups and political donations.