Noam Chomsky on U.S. Foreign Policy (1/8) (1995)

December 8, 1995 http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.... Watch the full program: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/10/noam-chomsky-and-christopher-hitc...

The Cold War (Russian: Холо́дная война́, Kholodnaya voyna, 1947--1991) was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition existing after World War II (1939--1945), primarily between the Soviet Union and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, particularly the United States. Although the primary participants' military force never officially clashed directly, they expressed the conflict through military coalitions, strategic conventional force deployments, extensive aid to states deemed vulnerable, proxy wars, espionage, propaganda, conventional and nuclear arms races, appeals to neutral nations, rivalry at sports events, and technological competitions such as the Space Race.

Despite being allies against the Axis powers, the USSR and the US disagreed about political philosophy and the configuration of the post-war world while occupying most of Europe. The Soviet Union created the Eastern Bloc with the eastern European countries it occupied, annexing some as Soviet Socialist Republics and maintaining others as satellite states, some of which were later consolidated as the Warsaw Pact (1955--1991). The US and its allies used containment of communism as a main strategy, establishing alliances such as NATO to that end.

The US funded the Marshall Plan to effectuate a more rapid post-War recovery of Europe, while the Soviet would not let most Eastern Bloc members participate. Elsewhere, in Latin America and Southeast Asia, the USSR assisted and helped foster communist revolutions, opposed by several Western countries and their regional allies; some they attempted to roll back, with mixed results. Some countries aligned with NATO and the Warsaw Pact, and others formed the Non-Aligned Movement.

The Cold War featured periods of relative calm and of international high tension -- the Berlin Blockade (1948--1949), the Korean War (1950--1953), the Berlin Crisis of 1961, the Vietnam War (1959--1975), the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), the Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979--1989), and the Able Archer 83 NATO exercises in November 1983. Both sides sought détente to relieve political tensions and deter direct military attack, which would probably guarantee their mutual assured destruction with nuclear weapons.

In the 1980s, under the Reagan Doctrine, the United States increased diplomatic, military, and economic pressures on the Soviet Union, at a time when the nation was already suffering economic stagnation. In the late 1980s, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the liberalizing reforms of perestroika ("reconstruction", "reorganization", 1987) and glasnost ("openness", ca. 1985). The Cold War ended after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, leaving the United States as the dominant military power, and Russia possessing most of the Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal. The Cold War and its events have had a significant impact on the world today, and it is commonly referred to in popular culture.

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[lodproductions90]

That was 1995? So now, 15 years later, it becomes more actual than ever! :-D

[mendali]

more 90's Chomsky! Thanks!

[Perussaataja]

@000000AEA000000 thanks for that quote, i had not read that before!

[000000AEA000000]

@Perussaataja Chomsky has another quote, where he says that he did never answer questions about wether he has personal believes, or not, because people ask the wrong questions.

I am also an Agnostic.

I do not KNOW if god exists, and therefore the question has a very limited importance in my life. Being an "Atheist" on the other hand IS something different. Atheism is the denying of god, because Atheists see the existance of god as impossible. Two total DIFFERENT pair of shoes.

[UtopiaMinor666]

I adore both chomsky and hitchens, Chomsky for his sincerity, his erudition when it comes to dates,times, in history. Hitchens for his charm, his intrepid ability to defend his views and what he believes is right (even when he's wrong) and how fiercly he does this, together, im trying to apply this to my life, to gather a higher synthesis in knowledge. I love these guys

[KarlXHungus]

@lexsite

Of course god is just like us, we made him in our image.

[lexsite]

@KarlXHungus So, god is just like us? Petty and vindictive. Fuck that little cunt I say :)

[Perussaataja]

@flyingmonkeyskin " I never felt marginalized because of my lack of religious beliefs. On the other hand, if you ask me whether or not I'm an atheist, I wouldn't even answer. I would first want an explanation of what it is that I'm supposed to not believe in, and I've never seen an explanation. "

[Perussaataja]

@flyingmonkeyskin i know, but in the interview of Science and theology Chomsky said he isnt actually atheist, cos he doesnt know what "god" actually stands for, so he doesnt know what he would a) believe in b) would be denying as an atheist.

[flyingmonkeyskin]

@Perussaataja agnosticism and atheism aren't mutually exclusive.

[Antikryst]

@Perussaataja Thanks, didn't know that one.

[Perussaataja]

@Antikryst true, but you can read more about chomsky´s views on religion in Science and Theology interview, assuming it is still available on net.