Free at last? - 5 comments

Chomsky dashes off another bit of ideological small-arms for professional anti-Americans in his piece in the Guardian today yesterday:

The US-dominated world order is being challenged by a new spirit of independence in the global south.

The prospect that Europe and Asia might move towards greater independence has troubled US planners since the second world war. The concerns have only risen as the "tripolar order" - Europe, North America and Asia - has continued to evolve.

Every day Latin America, too, is becoming more independent. Now Asia and the Americas are strengthening their ties while the reigning superpower, the odd man out, consumes itself in misadventures in the Middle East.

Let's see which countries Noam lionises for their refusal to "bow down" to the USA.

China, unlike Europe, refuses to be intimidated by Washington...

To all intents and purposes, a single-party state.

In January, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah visited Beijing, which is expected to lead to a Sino-Saudi memorandum of understanding...

An absolute monarchy/theocracy.

Already much of Iran's oil goes to China, and China is providing Iran with weapons that both states presumably regard as deterrent to US designs.

Iran, which can be generously described as an "elective monarchy" - alternatively a theocracy, characterised by state-sponsored anti-Western and anti-Jewish propaganda...

The key is India-China cooperation... left-centre governments prevail from Venezuela to Argentina...

OK, not a problem.

Cuba-Venezuela relations are becoming ever closer, each relying on its comparative advantage. Venezuela is providing low-cost oil, while in return Cuba organises literacy and health programmes, sending thousands of highly skilled professionals, teachers and doctors, who work in the poorest and most neglected areas, as they do elsewhere in the third world.

A beautiful sentiment, but once again, a one-party state, and democracy denied. I'm sure we'd all hope that a democractic Cuba would continue to behave in such a way, but until it is so, how can these actions be judged legitimate? If Cuban resources are being used - without the will of the Cuban people - to prop up other South American governments, how too can they claim to be legitimate?

Growing popular movements, primarily in the south but with increasing participation in the rich industrial countries, are serving as the bases for many of these developments towards more independence and concern for the needs of the great majority of the population.

Look, that's great, but organising countries based entirely around political opposition to the USA, and turning a blind eye to trivial things like democracy and self-determination, or if you prefer to use their ciphers - greed, decadence, and exploitation of people and the planet - then you condemn to silence those you wish to save.

Once upon a time, though, I'd have loved this article, and I'm sure it has stirred the sinews of many.