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"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
September 13, 2007
Noam Chomsky On Attacking Iran
Here's Noam Chomsky, emailing Alexander Cockburn on how he's changed his mind on the likelihood of the Bush administration attacking Iran:
Yes, I was quite sceptical. Less so over the years. They're desperate. Everything they touch is in ruins. They're even in danger of losing control over Middle Eastern oil -- to China, the topic that's rarely discussed but is on every planner or corporation exec's mind, if they're sane. Iran already has observer status at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization -- from which the US was pointedly excluded. Chinese trade with Saudi Arabia, even military sales, is growing fast. With the Bush administration in danger of losing Shiite Iraq, where most of the oil is (and most Saudi oil in regions with a harshly oppressed Shiite population), they may be in real trouble.Under these circumstances, they're unpredictable. They might go for broke, and hope they can salvage something from the wreckage. If they do bomb, I suspect it will be accompanied by a ground assault in Khuzestan, near the Gulf, where the oil is (and an Arab population -- there already is an Ahwazi liberation front, probably organized by the CIA, which the US can "defend" from the evil Persians), and then they can bomb the rest of the country to rubble. And show who's boss.
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Posted at September 13, 2007 10:53 AM | TrackBackooh! ooh! i included china! and so did syriana! but, so, there's motive, there's opportunity, there's cornered-rodentiality — what cards do we have now? joint-chiefs ex machina?
no kurds. i guess they're better off keeping turkey guessing. and they're raising money for kurdezuela.
Posted by: hapa at September 13, 2007 11:43 AMhello. i would like to say that i wonder if mr chomsky thinks cheneyco are planning to create a new arab state on top of iran's oil. thx.
Posted by: hapa at September 14, 2007 09:58 PM