9 Comments

Yascha, I wish you hadn't been so neutral.

Is it true that US throws out countries who don't embargo Cuba out of the international financial system? Europeans and Canadians have been tourists for decades. I wonder what his explanation are for the desperate protests that happened in Cube a few months ago followed by brutal crackdowns.

And about that poisoning of 1 million children in Gaza? Is that true? And doesn't Hamas misappropriate huge sums provided by the European Union?

Would have been interesting to have heard about his opinions on Venezuela and what his friend (I believe) Hugo Chavez did.

In terms of universal language.....it's really hard to find properties that are de novo in a species. Perhaps we will see that archaic humans and near-humans also had speech, and that their speech was related to communication among other hominids and intermediaries.

Expand full comment

he's still so full of nonsense after all these years. This idea that 'we' can't do anything about what happens in other countries so we shouldnt bother trying, utter rubbish. Dont know why you bothered to interview him to be honest, he has nothing new or valuable to contribute that you couldnt have got from one of his books from two decades ago

Expand full comment

Chomsky claimed that the US was poisoning the water in Gaza. I found this on Wikipedia. Only 5-10% of the aquifer yields drinking water quality. By 2000, the water from the Coastal Aquifer in the Gaza region was considered no longer drinkable due to high salinity from the sea water intrusion and high nitrate pollution from agricultural use. This from another source I don’t know. Israel's blockade of Gaza severely limits materials from entering, making it incredibly difficult to develop water and sanitation infrastructure to meet the needs of a growing population. Our country is far from perfect but Chomsky simply hates this country that he thrives in. He should count his lucky stars he does not live in China, Russia and countless other countries.

Expand full comment

Although I have not been especially well-versed on the subject of identity politics I gleaned no new insight into it from this conversation.

Expand full comment

I was surprised. This was my first experience of Chomsky after many years of hearing about him. I expected a razor-sharp intellect -- I had always figured that even though I'm sure Chomsky is wrong about many important things, he would completely shred me in an argument. In the event, I heard the anti-Americanism and anti-Zionism that I expected, but was surprised by the consistent non-answers to your questions. He came off more like a politician holding fast to his talking points like he was gripping the altar than like an intellectual. I supposed it's just an effect of age.

Expand full comment

Hasan Minaj is a more convincing critic of US foreign policy than Noam Chomsky. As a South Asian, I am proud of him!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmo6lZcdkO0

Expand full comment