[Peace-discuss] Kinzer -- Feb'08 event in CU / recent focus 580 interview on different subject

[Robert Naiman]

Kinzer's reporting from Nicaragua in the (first) Sandinista era was
quite awful. As far as I know, he never disowned that.

Besides that, however, as far as I know, he has been on the side of
the angels. His book about Iran is very, very good; and his line on US
policy towards Iran is very, very good; and his line on US foreign
policy in general is very, very good. We spoke together at
Northwestern in a panel on U.S. policy towards Pakistan, and we had no
substantive disagreement, although the discussion covered a wide range
of US foreign policy issues.

Of course, if he were just Joe Schmo, we wouldn't be bothering with
him; the point of the tour is that he will a) strongly oppose
attacking Iran b) strongly support real diplomacy c) has mainstream
credentials that will attract much more attention than if any of us
said the same things.


On Dec 17, 2007 1:23 PM, Karen Medina <kmedina at uiuc.edu> wrote:
> Peace,
>
> Last night AWARE agreed to co-sponsor a guest speaker for a February 2008 event, Stephen Kinzer.
>
> Mort had mentioned that Kinzer has not always said the things that we would agree with, however, of late, Kinzer has changed.
>
> Carl mentioned that Kinzer had recently been on Focus 580. The interview was recorded and is archived and available in
> RealAudio or for MP3 Download.
>
> Blood Of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua
> Stephen Kinzer
> on Focus 580 Thursday, December 6, 2007.
> http://www.will.uiuc.edu/am/focus/archives/07/071203.htm
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Just Foreign Policy (and other groups listed toward the end of this email) cordially invite AWARE to help organize:
> >* a possible February event (Friday 15 Feb or Sunday 17 Feb)
> >* against attacking Iran and in favor of real diplomacy.
> >* main speaker will be Stephen Kinzer, author of "All the Shah's Men," about the U.S.-sponsored coup in Iran and the blowback from that. The book is being re-issued with a new forward, "The Folly of Attacking Iran."
> >* Kinzer is expected in Peoria on Saturday, February 16 (organized by C-U alumna Lisa Offutt.) [link to a draft schedule is below]
> >* Bob Naiman thinks we could get Kinzer here on Friday the 15th or Sunday the 17th.
> >* They might like help raising some money (e.g. through UIUC departments.)
> >
> >[Mort and Barbara] hope that AWARE will help it happen.
> >
> >[the real] Mort wrote:
> >>> What should enter in picking a date are 1) conflicts (I see none now), 2) the availability of a suitable venue, and 3) personal preferences.
> >
> >Personal preferences have been stated from some:
> >Barbara wrote:
> >>Friday evening would be a better night generally
> >>than Sunday for getting a crowd of people.
> >>
> >Jenifer Cartwright wrote:
> >>> (peaceful types) are busy on Friday (contra
> >>> dance), so I vote for Sunday.
> >
> >
> >Current organizers:
> >>> >>> Just Foreign Policy, together with
> >>>>>>> Peace Action,
> >>>>>>> National Iranian American Council,
> >>>>>>> UFPJ, and other groups,
> >
> >>> >>> Here is the tour website, with the draft schedule:
> >>> >>> http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iran/
> >
> >organizing a tour in February against attacking Iran and in favor of real diplomacy. The main speaker will be Stephen Kinzer, author of "All the Shah's Men," about the U.S.-sponsored coup in Iran and the blowback from that. The
> >book is being re-issued with a new forward, "The Folly of Attacking Iran."
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>> As you can see from the draft schedule, he is expected in Peoria on Saturday, February 16 (organized by C-U alumna Lisa Offutt.)
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>> I think we could get Kinzer here on Friday the 15th or Sunday the 17th.
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>> Is this something folks would be interested in helping with? We would need to raise some money (e.g. through UIUC departments.)
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>> Kinzer is currently on the faculty at Northwestern, that might help on the UIUC front...
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-- 
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org