On 11/4/06, Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Nov 4, 2006, at 10:07 PM, michael a. lebowitz wrote:
> Really, Doug! I followed the URL Yoshie provided
> <http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/3280>. How pathetic!
You didn't answer whether it's true or not. Sometimes smelly sources
tell the truth, and in this case it appears to be true. Did you
follow another link she sent? I love the detail that the stones be
just the right size, so that death is painful and doesn't occur too
quickly.
Unfortunately, many people think like that: when they love details in
a story, they don't care about whether it's true or its source has any
credibility or things like those.
Really, how can anyone say a word in defense of a regime like this?
IMHO, the Iranian government is supported by a majority of Iranians,
due to the necessary goods and services that it provides them with,
which the West or Western leftists or Iranian dissidents can never
provide them with, among other things. For that reason, Western
leftists ought to clarify what the Iranian government does and doesn't
do, good and bad, based upon credible sources, so the Western public
can become well informed about the state of affairs in Iran.
But too many leftists say the Iranian government doesn't do anything
right or useful for the Iranian people, so no one can or should say a
word in its defense. Listening to them, the Western public might be
forgiven if they think, why not sanction Iran?
Seriously, leftists are not good at advancing arguments against
sanctions on Iran. If I were apolitical and listened only to what you
were saying about Iran, I might think the Iranian government should be
economically sanctioned.
More generally, leftists are not good at preventing or removing
sanctions. American leftists have been unable to lift even the
ridiculous blockade on Cuba, the country many of them still love, and
they couldn't end the sanctions on Iraq either. American pundits
blamed only the Iraqi government for the negative impacts of sanctions
on the Iraqi people, and American leftists did not effectively counter
that. To this day, many Americans think that Washington should have
just continued smart sanctions and contained the Iraqi government.
Americans haven't learned much, except that, thankfully, the Iraq War
taught them that invading a big country costs a lot and kills many
Americans. That doesn't stop them from thinking that sending more
troops to Afghanistan or sanctioning Iran is a good idea.
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>
