Der Forscher kommentierte so die in letzter Zeit vielfach diskutierte Konzeption einer Ausschließlichkeit der US-Amerikaner. US-Präsident Barack Obama hatte diese Idee im September in einer Fernsehansprache an das Volk erwähnt. Nach seiner Meinung rechtfertigt diese Konzeption die Einmischung Washingtons in die Angelegenheiten anderer Länder. Der russische Präsident Wladimir Putin hat eine Art Ferndiskussion mit Obama eingeleitet. Putin beharrt in seinem Artikel, der in der Zeitung „New York Times“ veröffentlicht wurde, auf der Gleichheit aller Völker und warnt vor unheilbringenden Folgen der Anwendung der Doktrin der Ausschließlichkeit eines Staates.
„Die Doktrin (der Ausschließlichkeit) stammt in Wirklichkeit nicht aus Amerika. Fast jede Großmacht hat in der Vergangenheit derartige Erklärungen abgegeben, welche eine blutige Desasterspur hinterließen“, so Chomsky.
Dem Forscher zufolge haben sich viele Staaten während ihrer Sternstunde Mythen über ihre „einzigartige Tugendhaftigkeit“ und folglich auch ihre besonderen Rechte erdichtet.
„(Adolf) Hitler, die japanischen Faschisten und viele andere Monster taten das Gleiche. Ebenso wie Großbritannien und Frankreich in ihrer Blütezeit. Das Erstaunlichste an den Ausschließlichkeitsansprüchen ist, dass es darin nichts Ausschließliches gibt“, so Chomsky. Derartige „dunkle Flecken“ gebe es auch in der russischen Geschichte.
Laut Chomsky ist es möglich, aus dieser sich wiederholenden Situation herauszukommen. Dafür sei es notwendig, „das intellektuelle und moralische Niveau derjenigen zu heben, die kulturelle Mythen und Werte propagieren“. Es sei auch notwendig, gesellschaftliche Organisationen mit eigenem Bildungssystem zu gründen, um „der offiziellen Doktrin entgegenwirken zu kö nnen“, so der Wissenschaftler.
http://de.ria.ru/opinion/20131009/267043250.html
9/10/13
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Chomsky to RT: All superpowers feel exceptional, inflate security myth for ‘frightened population’....
ReplyDeleteThe United States is not the first superpower to act as if it’s exceptional and will likely not be the last, although US leaders could be squandering a fruitful opportunity for improved international relations, Noam Chomsky said in an interview with RT.
RT: I’d like to begin with Iran. The new president, Rouhani, has appeared to be much softer than his predecessor. On his recent trip to the US it was hailed as progress and the first time two presidents spoke in over 30 years. Do you see US policy towards Iran changing?
Noam Chomsky: The real issue is what will happen in the United States. The way the issue is presented in the United States, and most of the West, the problem is Iran’s intransigence and its rejection of the demands of the international community. There is plenty to criticize in Iran but the real issue is quite different. It’s the refusal of the West, primarily of the United States, to enter into serious diplomacy with Iran. And as far as Iran violating the will of the international community, that depends on a very special definition of international community which is standard in the West where the term means the United States and anybody who goes along with it. So if the international community includes the world then the story is quite different. For example the non-aligned countries, which is most of the world’s population, have vigorously supported Iran’s right to enrich uranium – still do.
The nearby region, in the Arab world, Arab’s don’t like Iran it’s quite unpopular there are hostilities that go back very far. But they do not regard Iran as a threat, a very small percentage regard Iran as a threat. The threats they perceive are the United States and Israel, so they are not part of the world as far as “international community” is concerned but it’s a western obsession. Are there ways to deal with it, whatever one takes a threat to be? Sure, there are ways.
So for example in 2010 there was a very positive advance that could have mitigated whatever the threat is supposed to be. Turkey and Brazil reached a deal with Iran in which Iran would ship out its low-enriched uranium in exchange for storage in Turkey, and in return the west would provide isotopes for Iran’s medical reactors. As soon as that was announced Brazil and Turkey were bitterly condemned by Washington and by the media, which more or less reflexively follow what Washington says. The Brazilian government was pretty upset by this, so much so that the Brazilian Foreign Minister released a letter from President Obama to the president of Brazil in which Obama had proposed this assuming that Iran would turn it down. When Iran accepted, of course he had to denounce it and Obama went right to the Security Council to try to get harsher sanctions. Well that’s one case.......http://rt.com/op-edge/chomsky-interview-foreign-policy-960/
10/10/13
American Exceptionalism Isn’t So Exceptional – Noam Chomsky...
ReplyDeleteNoam Chomsky, an American philosopher, political commentator and professor of linguistics (emeritus) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, recently answered RIA Novosti’s questions about the idea of American exceptionalism. Sometimes described as the "father of modern linguistics," Chomsky, 84, has authored dozens of books and has been an outspoken critic of US foreign policy.
Q: What are your thoughts on the ongoing discussion about American exceptionalism? Do you see most nations subscribing to some form of exceptionalism?
A: “American exceptionalism” is a quasi-religious doctrine holding that the US is uniquely good and therefore entitled, or even required, to intervene unilaterally for the benefit of all. The doctrine is not really American. Just about every powerful state in history has advanced similar claims, typically leaving a trail of blood and disaster.
Q: What is this “uniquely good” based upon? Is it institutions or values that determine uniqueness? Is it possible to project this uniqueness to other states or it is US-specific? Is the doctrine evolving under the pressure of the changing world?
A: Generally, powerful states (and even others) create mythologies about their “unique goodness.” Russia did too, right through its worst crimes. Hitler, Japanese fascists, and other monsters have done the same. So did Britain and France during their day in the sun. The most striking fact about claims to exceptionalism is that they are virtually exceptionless, and typically they have the features of deeply held secular religions.
Q: Is there a way to lead in the world without such a doctrine?
A: Sure. It would require raising the intellectual and moral level of those who promulgate cultural myths and values. And creating popular organizations with their own educational systems to combat official doctrines. It’s been done, can be done far more.
http://en.ria.ru/interview/20131010/184056604/American-Exceptionalism-Isnt-So-Exceptional--Noam-Chomsky-.html
10/10/13