[Peace-discuss] Letter to the News-Gazette

[C. G. Estabrook]

Mark--

I’ll strike the last sentence - perhaps an over-hasty generalization from your remarks to the real problem of the subservient academy.

But I’ll stand by my criticism of the mendacious and dangerous Obama-Clinton propaganda about "Russian aggression.”

It remains a truism, as Noam Chomsky pointed out long ago, that “It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and to expose lies." 

Best regards,

Carl


> On Oct 23, 2016, at 12:07 PM, Steinberg, Mark D <steinb at illinois.edu> wrote:
> 
> Thank you for your note Carl (I remember you well, so it is pleasant to hear from you even in criticism). 
> 
> I was given only a few lines by the editor so I did not try to contextualize Putin in comparisons to other countries, including the US. 
> 
> Frankly, though, I don't think my words are properly read as flattering those in power now in the US or those seeking to come to power. As you recognize in conclusion, my advice is critical of current anti-Russian rhetoric--not a view often heard among supporters of the democratic party, though I am one. 
> 
> So, I would resist your accusation of my subservience to power and betrayal of responsibility. That said, for myself and on behalf of what remains of a democratic and socialist left in Russia, I would stand by my criticism of Putin's shift to the authoritarian right. 
> 
> With respect,
> 
> Mark
> 
> 
> ____________________________________
> Mark D. Steinberg
> Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
> Department of History / University of Illinois
> 309 Gregory Hall
> 810 S. Wright Street
> Urbana IL 61801 (Campus mail: MC-466)
> 217.300.4104
> DGS office: 305A Gregory Hall
> Regular office: 425 Gregory Hall
> - publish.illinois.edu/mdsteinberg
> - globalutopias.weebly.com
> 
> 
> ________________________________________
> From: C. G. Estabrook [carl at newsfromneptune.com]
> Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2016 11:47 AM
> To: Peace-discuss List; Steinberg, Mark D
> Cc: sf-core; Occupy CU
> Subject: Letter to the News-Gazette
> 
> Editor, News-Gazette:
> 
> I was startled to read, in the Sunday (10/23) News-Gazette, the historian Mark Steinberg  - a former colleague when I was a visiting professor at UIUC - repeating dangerous Obama-Clinton propaganda about Russia.
> 
> He speaks of “Russia’s belligerent role in world affairs” - when Russia’s role seems defensive in comparison with the much more belligerent role of the US: President Obama has attacked eight countries (George Bush attacked only six) and killed thousands of civilians - including US citizens and hundreds of children with his drone assassinations, which have been called “the most extreme terrorist campaign of modern times.”
> 
> Steinberg speaks of Russia’s “covert armed intervention in Ukraine” - referring to Russia’s limited support for the Donbass region’s resistance to US-encouraged attack from the government in Kiev, established by a US-organized coup against a legitimate president; the Minsk II agreement, to bring the fighting to an end, was arranged by Russia, not the US.
> 
> He refers to “the bombing in Syria,” where Russia is legally supporting a legitimate secular government against a US-supported jihadist insurrection - while Obama administration killing (which Clinton proposes to expand) is illegal by international (and US) law.
> 
> And as the refugee Edward Snowden - in Moscow - makes clear, “cyber-espionage in the US” is at best a case of the US pot calling the Russian kettle black.
> 
> And it is at least embarrassing, in the midst of the present US election, to refer to “the erosion of democratic pluralism” in Russia, where Putin has far greater support than either Obama or Clinton do in the US.
> 
> “What is to be done?” Steinberg writes (perhaps with an historical parallel in mind), while Clinton touts war with Russia via a “no-fly zone” in Syria; but he’s surely correct to advise as follows:
> 
> “Not simplistic declarations about Putin as a petty dictator. Not even economic sanctions. Both have tended to ... reinforce his popularity with the majority of Russians ... Neither the Russian people nor President Putin respond positively to being insulted...” (as Clinton channels Joe McCarthy).
> 
> When academics, subservient to power, lend aid and comfort to warmongers like Obama and Clinton, they betray their responsibility to “tell truth and shame the devil.”
> 
> Regards,
> 
> C. G. Estabrook