Chomsky: "...prevent authentic democracy in the Arab world"

NOAM CHOMSKY: The U.S. and its allies will do anything they can to prevent authentic democracy in the Arab world. The reason is very simple. Across the region, an overwhelming majority of the population regards the United States as the main threat to their interests. In fact, opposition to U.S. policy is so high that a considerable majority think the region would be more secure if Iran had nuclear weapons. In Egypt, the most important country, that’s 80 percent. Similar figures elsewhere. There are some in the region who regard Iran as a threat—about 10 percent. Well, plainly, the U.S. and its allies are not going to want governments which are responsive to the will of the people. If that happens, not only will the U.S. not control the region, but it will be thrown out. So that’s obviously an intolerable result.

In the case of WikiLeaks, there was an interesting aside on this. The revelations from WikiLeaks that got the most publicity—headlines, euphoric commentary and so on—were that the Arabs support U.S. policy on Iran. They were quoting comments of Arab dictators. Yes, they claim to support U.S. policy on Iran. There was no mention of the Arab—of the Arab population, because it doesn’t matter. If the dictators support us, and the population is under control, then what’s the problem? This is like imperialism. What’s the problem if it works? As long as they can control their populations, fine. They can have campaigns of hatred; our friendly dictators will keep them under control. That’s the reaction not just of the diplomatic service in the State Department or of the media who reported this, but also of the general intellectual community. There is no comment on this. In fact, coverage of these polls is precisely zero in the United States, literally. There’s a few comments in England, but very little. It just doesn’t matter what the population thinks, as long as they’re under control.

SOURCE:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/5/11/noam_chomsky_the_us_and_its

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Thanks for posting this

How dare he suggest that America is looking out for anything other than whats best for the middle east? We are a force for good all over the world, just ask the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.

When Europe and America had colonies around the world.Beware,Brown,Black,Yellow and other hues the Whte man is on the prown again.If you have oil you can have democracy at cut rates.

He will get behind any anti-American idea he can find or make up.

Bush was an intelligent and peace loving man who was left no choice but to invade Iraq against both his better judgment and his wishes.

:eyes:

:rofl:

and that's true across the globe, not just in the Middle East or North Africa.