“[T]hat aggression without UN authorization would be a war crime, a very serious one, is quite clear. . .”
By Ryan Grim Posted: 09/02/2013 5:19 pm EDT |
Updated: 09/02/2013 6:23 pm EDT Huffington Post
Noam Chomsky, United States linguist and political critic, attends a talk July 26 at the press club in Geneva. Chomsky has become well known for his critiques of U.S. foreign policy, state capitalism and the mainstream news media. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
Subscribe or “Follow” us on WAMMToday.org. For the TC EVENTS calendar and the ACTIONS AND ACTION ALERTS click on the tab at the top of the page and click on the item of interest to view. WAMMToday is also on FACEBOOK! Check the WAMMToday page for posts from this blog and more! “Like” our page today. Find us on TWITTER at WAMMToday (@touchpeace).
Chomsky recently traveled to the region to learn more about the Syria crisis, and his comments there led some to believe he was open to military intervention if negotiations failed to produce peace. “I believe you should choose the negotiating track first, and should you fail, then moving to the second option” — backing the rebels — “becomes more acceptable,” he said.
But his comments to HuffPost indicate that he remains opposed to any military action that came without U.N. approval.
“[T]hat aggression without UN authorization would be a war crime, a very serious one, is quite clear, despite tortured efforts to invoke other crimes as precedents,” he added.
Liberals more associated with the establishment than Chomsky, who have nevertheless tended to be critical of the president’s foreign policy, cheered his decision to involve Congress as a step away from an increasingly imperial presidency and toward more democratic accountability of war making.
Chomsky upended the field of linguistics with a devastating critique of B.F. Skinner in 1959 that changed the way people think about human cognitive development. He has led a parallel career as a leading anarcho-syndicalist author, historian and activist.