[R-G] Can We Recover from the "Western Liberal-Left Intellectual and Moral Collapse"?

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Iran and Venezuela, unlike Yugoslavia then and Sudan (Darfur) now, are
not in the midst of civil war, so, theoretically, it should be easier
for Western liberals and leftists to resist the notion that women,
GLBTQ individuals, students, journalists, trade unionists, ethnic
minorities, religious minorities, etc. in Iran or Venezuela are in
need of "democracy assistance," let alone for the purpose of "regime
change." -- Yoshie.

<http://monthlyreview.org/nfte0907.htm>
Notes from the Editors

It is almost unheard of for a whole issue of MR (other than
occasionally one of our special July-August issues) to be devoted to a
single contribution. The typical MR issue consists of a lot of short
articles. We have no intention of changing that. Nevertheless, we are
making a rare exception in the case of Edward S. Herman and David
Peterson's "The Dismantling of Yugoslavia," which we regard as the
definitive critique at this stage both of the U.S./NATO role in the
exploitation and exacerbation of the Yugoslavian tragedy and of the
"Western Liberal-Left Intellectual and Moral Collapse" that made this
possible. So effective has been the media propaganda system at
presenting the imperialist wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s as
"humanitarian interventions" that this not only bolstered support for
the invasions and occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq (in defiance of
international law), but is now being offered as a justification for
further possible "humanitarian interventions" elsewhere, such as Iran,
the Sudan (Darfur), Nigeria, and even Venezuela.

The widespread failure on the left to understand the dire implications
of such "humanitarian wars" by the United States and the other leading
imperial powers is firmly rooted in misconceptions about the
Yugoslavian case. In the closing paragraph of her Fools' Crusade:
Yugoslavia, NATO, and Western Delusions (Monthly Review Press, 2002),
Diana Johnstone warned—in words that should certainly give us pause
today—that "should the tough unilateralist approach of the second Bush
presidency cause serious disaffection among allies, U.S. leaders have
the option of returning to the soft approach of 'humanitarian war'
that proved so successful in silencing critics and rallying support
[in Yugoslavia]. To keep that option open, the partners in crime must
continue to impose their own mythical version of the 1999 NATO
crusade." The fundamental issue associated with such interventions has
been raised by Jean Bricmont in his newly published Monthly Review
Press book Humanitarian Imperialism: Using Human Rights to Sell War.
But a deeper understanding of the traps laid for those who today
support humanitarian wars to be carried out by the imperial powers is
only possible through a close examination of the Yugoslavian case
itself, presented as the model for such interventions: hence, the
overriding importance of Herman and Peterson's "The Dismantling of
Yugoslavia."

<http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/kumar011007.html>
Hands off Iran: Why Iranian Women Don't Need Rescuing by the US
by Deepa Kumar
--
Yoshie