<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492286143643_4610">Chomsky has also been very hard on Venezuela, perhaps understandably and in context, but it still sounds discordant for him to be emphasizing the crimes/corruption of governments which we have done so much to undermine.</div> <div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" style="display: block;"> <div style="font-family: garamond, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div dir="ltr"><font face="Arial" size="2"> On Saturday, April 15, 2017 12:09 PM, "Brussel, Morton K via Peace-discuss" <peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net> wrote:<br></font></div> <br><br> <div class="y_msg_container"><div id="yiv7782311447">
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Is this—Chomsky’s words on Assad— a defensive posture, showing that both sides are equivalently terrible? <br class="yiv7782311447">
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<div class="yiv7782311447">Begin forwarded message:</div>
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<span class="yiv7782311447" style="font-family:-webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b class="yiv7782311447">From:
</b></span><span class="yiv7782311447" style="font-family:-webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sukla Sen <<a class="yiv7782311447" href="mailto:sukla.sen@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:sukla.sen@gmail.com">sukla.sen@gmail.com</a>><br class="yiv7782311447">
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<span class="yiv7782311447" style="font-family:-webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b class="yiv7782311447">Subject:
</b></span><span class="yiv7782311447" style="font-family:-webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b class="yiv7782311447">[ufpj-activist] "The Assad Regime is a Moral Disgrace": Noam Chomsky on Ongoing Syrian War</b><br class="yiv7782311447">
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<span class="yiv7782311447" style="font-family:-webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b class="yiv7782311447">Date:
</b></span><span class="yiv7782311447" style="font-family:-webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;">April 12, 2017 at 1:31:43 PM CDT<br class="yiv7782311447">
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<span class="yiv7782311447" style="font-family:-webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b class="yiv7782311447">To:
</b></span><span class="yiv7782311447" style="font-family:-webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;">foil-l <<a class="yiv7782311447" href="mailto:foil-l@insaf.net" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:foil-l@insaf.net">foil-l@insaf.net</a>><br class="yiv7782311447">
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<div class="yiv7782311447">[NOAM CHOMSKY: Syria is a horrible catastrophe. The Assad regime is a<br class="yiv7782311447">
moral disgrace. They’re carrying out horrendous acts, the Russians<br class="yiv7782311447">
with them.]<br class="yiv7782311447">
<br class="yiv7782311447">
<a class="yiv7782311447" href="https://www.democracynow.org/2017/4/5/the_assad_regime_is_a_moral" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://www.democracynow.org/2017/4/5/the_assad_regime_is_a_moral</a><br class="yiv7782311447">
<br class="yiv7782311447">
"The Assad Regime is a Moral Disgrace": Noam Chomsky on Ongoing Syrian War<br class="yiv7782311447">
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STORY APRIL 05, 2017 Watch icon WATCH FULL SHOW<br class="yiv7782311447">
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[Video]<br class="yiv7782311447">
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TOPICS<br class="yiv7782311447">
<br class="yiv7782311447">
Syria<br class="yiv7782311447">
GUESTS<br class="yiv7782311447">
<br class="yiv7782311447">
Noam Chomsky<br class="yiv7782311447">
world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author. He is<br class="yiv7782311447">
institute professor emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology,<br class="yiv7782311447">
where he has taught for more than 50 years. His new book comes out<br class="yiv7782311447">
today, titled Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of<br class="yiv7782311447">
Concentration of Wealth & Power.<br class="yiv7782311447">
<br class="yiv7782311447">
As worldwide outrage mounts over an alleged chemical weapons attack in<br class="yiv7782311447">
Idlib province, which was reportedly carried out by the Assad<br class="yiv7782311447">
government, we speak with world-renowned political dissident, linguist<br class="yiv7782311447">
and author Noam Chomsky about the ongoing conflict in Syria.<br class="yiv7782311447">
<br class="yiv7782311447">
TRANSCRIPT<br class="yiv7782311447">
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This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.<br class="yiv7782311447">
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AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to Noam Chomsky, one of the world’s<br class="yiv7782311447">
best-known dissidents. He’s institute professor emeritus at<br class="yiv7782311447">
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he taught for more than<br class="yiv7782311447">
50 years. Juan González and I spoke to him live on Democracy Now! on<br class="yiv7782311447">
Tuesday’s program. After the broadcast, we continued the conversation.<br class="yiv7782311447">
I asked him to talk about the situation in Syria, as well as the<br class="yiv7782311447">
broader Middle East.<br class="yiv7782311447">
<br class="yiv7782311447">
***NOAM CHOMSKY: Syria is a horrible catastrophe. The Assad regime is<br class="yiv7782311447">
a moral disgrace. They’re carrying out horrendous acts, the Russians<br class="yiv7782311447">
with them.*** [Emphasis added.]<br class="yiv7782311447">
<br class="yiv7782311447">
AMY GOODMAN: Why the Russians with them?<br class="yiv7782311447">
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NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, pretty simple reason: Syria is their one ally in<br class="yiv7782311447">
the whole region. Not a close ally, but they do have—their one<br class="yiv7782311447">
Mediterranean base is in Syria. It’s the one country that’s more or<br class="yiv7782311447">
less cooperated with them. And they don’t want to lose their one ally.<br class="yiv7782311447">
It’s very ugly, but that’s what’s happening.<br class="yiv7782311447">
<br class="yiv7782311447">
Meanwhile, there have been—it’s kind of like the North Korean case we<br class="yiv7782311447">
were discussing. There have been possible opportunities to terminate<br class="yiv7782311447">
the horrors. In 2012, there was an initiative from the Russians, which<br class="yiv7782311447">
was not pursued, so we don’t know how serious it was, but it was a<br class="yiv7782311447">
proposal to—for a negotiated settlement, in which Assad would be<br class="yiv7782311447">
phased out, not immediately. You know, you can’t tell them, "We’re<br class="yiv7782311447">
going to murder you. Please negotiate." That’s not going to work. But<br class="yiv7782311447">
some system in which, in the course of negotiations, he would be<br class="yiv7782311447">
removed, and some kind of settlement would be made. The West would not<br class="yiv7782311447">
accept it, not just the United States. France, England, the United<br class="yiv7782311447">
States simply refused to even consider it. At the time, they believed<br class="yiv7782311447">
they could overthrow Assad, so they didn’t want to do this, so the war<br class="yiv7782311447">
went on. Could it have worked? You never know for sure. But it could<br class="yiv7782311447">
have been pursued. Meanwhile, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are supporting<br class="yiv7782311447">
jihadi groups, which are not all that different from ISIS. So you have<br class="yiv7782311447">
a horror story on all sides. The Syrian people are being decimated.<br class="yiv7782311447">
<br class="yiv7782311447">
AMY GOODMAN: And the U.S. now sending 400 more troops to Syria. But if<br class="yiv7782311447">
the U.S. has a better relationship with Russia, could that change<br class="yiv7782311447">
everything?<br class="yiv7782311447">
<br class="yiv7782311447">
NOAM CHOMSKY: It could lead to some kind of accommodation in which a<br class="yiv7782311447">
negotiated diplomatic settlement would be implemented, which would by<br class="yiv7782311447">
no means be lovely, but it would at least cut down the level of<br class="yiv7782311447">
violence, which is critical, because the country is simply being<br class="yiv7782311447">
destroyed. It’s descending to suicide.<br class="yiv7782311447">
<br class="yiv7782311447">
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-- <br class="yiv7782311447">
Peace Is Doable<br class="yiv7782311447">
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