On Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 10:35 PM, Robert Naiman <[email protected]> wrote:
> Now let us consider the threatened U.S. military strike on Syria. How shall > we organize against this? > > Well, there are a number of possible choices. We could, for example, point > out that a U.S. military strike on Syria, absent a Syrian attack on the > U.S., or authorization by the U.N Security Council, is a clear violation of > the U.N. Charter. > > Another possibility is that we could point out that a U.S. military strike > on Syria, absent a Syrian attack on the U.S., or authorization by the U.S. > Congress, is a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution. > =============== Substitute Yugoslavia in the hypotheses above to get a sense of how ridiculous reliance on legal arguments would, in all likelihood, turn out. Never underestimate the rhetorical jujitsu of national [in]security lawyers. Earlier you trumpeted supposedly virtuous Democrats from *one* chamber of Congress working to ensure the slaughter of innocents was consistent with consitutional and international law. I was merely reminding you, with the attached articles, that Congress has *two* chambers; bicameralism. I also mocked their pathetic attempts to look and act like platonic guardians of the ever so bright and clear, only to the elect, delphic oracle of the national interest. Finally, about the invisible currents of masculinities coursing through all the discussions and models of the regional politics of Syria-Saudi Arabia-Turkey-Egypt-Israel-Iran-Russia etc. There is quite a rich vein of material by feminist scholars/critics of the dominant international relations theories which are the bread an butter of the cognitive supply chains that lead to the State Department, the Pentagon and the mangle of law firms surrounding and feeding the USG's war machines. Mr. Kerry's remark re the cowardice supposedly displayed in the alleged chemical weapons attack is an indicator that this current of lethal masculinity is all too frequently ignored; we all know real men engage in civil wars with muskets and cannons. Mr. Carlin summarizes some of their arguments in condensed form: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CghWWWXSUUU The planet does not need yet another iteration of so-called military humanism. E. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
