Monday, May 2, 2022

Chomsky for Trump!

In a recent interview, Noam Chomsky announced that only "one western statesman of stature" was pushing for peace in Ukraine and his name is Donald J Trump.  I would never have believed such a thing had I not watched the clip.  Even after watching the clip, I wonder if it was a deep fake.  When Trump came to office, Chomsky described him as a sociopathic maniac who would drive the country to civil war.  Now, a year and a half after his election loss, Chomsky sees him as a peace maker.  Though he does not directly state it, he views the expansion of NATO in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union as a key trigger for the current conflict.  He argues for a "partnership for peace" that would be open to membership around the world.  No military alliances.  Interestingly, he says that George H W Bush suggested such when the Soviet Union fell.  DeGaul had such a vision and Macron has sought something similar.

Does support for Trump make Chomsky a right-winger?  No, he has been anti-war since before I was born.  However, now that Trump is out of office and President Biden has established a record, the contrast has been stark.  Trump started no wars, the first president of that distinction since Carter.  Trump's team brokered the Abraham Accords, the first major peace agreement since... Carter and the Camp David Accords.  Trump de-escalated tensions with North Korea.  Trump even flirted with leaving NATO.  Though I generally disagree with Chomsky on most topics, I think he has a good point here.

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