ISIS, the Kurds & Turkey
ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, aka Islamic State, is now the latest threat to our security. Or so our leaders tell us and the media repeat. It has seized territory in Syria and Iraq. The U.S. has been meddling in the Middle East non-stop for decades. What has it produced? Wars, militias, sectarianism and strife. And lots of oil and weapons sales. U.S. policy in the region is shrouded in propaganda about democracy and human rights while in practice Washington backs feudal regimes like Saudi Arabia. The U.S. is bombing ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Kurds in both countries are fighting ISIS. Turkey, which has its own major issues with its large Kurdish minority and had allowed jihadis to enter Syria through its borders, is now permitting Iraqi Kurdish fighters to go into Syria to fight ISIS. The endless war on terror has taken new twists and turns.
Interviewed by David Barsamian.
Recorded at MIT.
Speaker
Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky, by any measure, has led a most extraordinary life. In one index he is ranked as the eighth most cited person in history, right up there with Aristotle, Shakespeare, Marx, Plato and Freud. His contributions to modern linguistics are legendary. In addition to his pioneering work in that field, he has been a leading voice for peace and social justice for many decades. Chris Hedges says he is “America’s greatest intellectual” who “makes the powerful, as well as their liberal apologists, deeply uncomfortable.” The New Statesman calls him “the conscience of the American people.” He is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT and Laureate Professor of Linguistics and Haury Chair in the Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona. At 96, he continues to inform and inspire people all over the world. He is the author of scores of books including Consequences of Capitalism, Chronicles of Dissent, Notes on Resistance, and Letters from Lexington (new edition.) His latest book is The Myth of American Idealism: How U.S. Foreign Policy Endangers the World.
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