Re: [Marxism] Regarding my recent piece on ISIS
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I was wondering a bit about Al Capote -- any relation to Truman? Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Regarding my recent piece on ISIS
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On Fri, June 20, 2014 10:43 am, Clay Claiborne via Marxism wrote: > I thought I was gathering material > from many source to layout the genesis of ISI, JAN & ISIS with > a clarity I > saw lacking in almost every other commentary. Was I that far off-base. > More > than 6k words and almost a week of work. Was I wasting my time? *tumbleweeds* Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] U.S. and Iran Signaling New Joint Effort in Iraq Crisis - NYTimes.com
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 6/16/14 8:22 PM, Louis Proyect via Marxism wrote: Obama was guided by Kissinger's dictum that America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests? If so, he's come a long way, particularly for a Democrat. But events seem to be moving rather fast. It's a not uncommon problem to create a monster and find to your dismay that it has turned. Particularly for imperial powers. Of course I'm chortling snidely at this latest development. In a sense it's starting to look like a replay of the Iran-Iraq war -- the oil sheikhs bankrolled that one too, as I recall. They seem to be feeling their oats a bit more these days, however, and are clearly less concerned with what Uncle might think. Hard to say where this one is going to go. Wouldn't it be lovely if Uncle finally threw Israel under the bus? That would please the sheikhs *and* the ayatollahs, though the latter would be the bigger winners, I'd think. Greater Syria! I know, I know -- unlikely, but a guy can dream, can't he? I wonder what the Turks are thinking. They contributed to the creation of this monster, and they may now get a breakaway Kurdistan on their border for their pains. No good deed goes unpunished, as the man said. They must be shitting bricks in Amman. Jordan as the new Belgium. What role will the Russkis play? Now *there*, if you please, is a delightful topic of revery. I think we can be sure they won't be passive. What delights me most is that all the weisenheimers' settled certainties are now called into question. Once again we are reminded that history is not over. I know, I'm getting over-excited. Time for a cold shower. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Israel Shamir: rightwing ideologue
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 6/15/14 8:45 PM, Louis Proyect via Marxism quoted : Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions. Louis seems to be indulging his penchant for sorting the sheep from the goats here. People are good guys or bad guys, white hats or black, reactionaries or progressives, bourgeois or proletarian, tyrants or democrats, stupid or intelligent, wrong or right, etc. I don't understand this mentality. In my experience people can be fools about one topic and quite astute about another; clever today and obtuse tomorrow. To be sure, there are people who are consistently stupid, though almost none who are consistently wise. The people in the former category are generally paid for it -- though not always. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] NYU's new board of trustees chair -- his charter school is tough on 5 year olds
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 6/15/14 6:44 PM, Sheldon Ranz wrote: Excuse me, but just out of curiosity, Michael, are you the same Michael Smith was the editor of Heights and Valley News, the paper of the Columbia Tenants Union back in the 1980s? Indeed I was. Are you related to John Ranz? Oh man, what a foolish Kilkenny Cats donnybrook that was. Haven't thought of it in years. John nearly strangled me with my own necktie on one particularly undignified occasion. A tough old bird. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] NYU's new board of trustees chair -- his charter school is tough on 5 year olds
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 6/15/14 3:27 PM, Louis Proyect wrote: I really wonder if you have the foggiest idea of Shamir's rancid politics. I certainly do not, and don't much care. But I liked the Counterpunch essay -- thought it was rather insightful, and entertaining too. Both in a way I find sadly lacking in the dour, dogmatical name-calling that constitutes much of Left discourse, and particularly, I'm sorry to say, on this list. It was just a couple of days ago that somebody was calling people 'dupes' here, because they didn't agree with him/her about Syria. Who really *enjoys* this kind of thing? Why? Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] NYU's new board of trustees chair -- his charter school is tough on 5 year olds
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 6/15/14 9:20 AM, Louis Proyect wrote: Shamir sees no difference between being a Jew and being a Zionist. In other words, he is the "leftist" counterpart of Abraham Foxman. Just take a look at this: "Putin’s affability does not turn him into a bountiful source for every Jewish initiative. ... What is a Jewish initiative? Why did he use the word Jewish rather than Israeli? Well, that's easy. The context is a discussion of Putin's rather emphatically-demonstrated philo-Semitism, which in the Russian context is a bigger deal than it would be in the American. Indeed the whole piece is largely about how the philo-Semite/anti-Semite card is being played in the polemics over the Ukraine brouhaha. I liked it very much and felt that it showed some awareness of how many elements are in play, an awareness I find conspicuously lacking on this distinguished list. You really need to stop putting a plus where I put a minus. Like all heuristics, it's not infallible. But as heuristics go, it's not bad. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] NYU's new board of trustees chair -- his charter school is tough on 5 year olds
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 6/14/14 9:01 PM, Sheldon Ranz via Marxism wrote: > Israel Shamir published an article, "The Fateful Triangle", in this weekend's edition of Counterpunch. http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/06/13/the-fateful-triangle/ A delightful piece, I thought, though as Louis accurately observes, Shamir has not read him closely. It is quite true that Louis has never 'called for' the Marines. This 'calling-for' trope always puts me in mind of the exchange in Henry IV: -- I can call spirits from the vasty deep! -- And so can I, and so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them? Shamir's is almost the first thing I've read on this topic that does justice to the muddle and fluidity of the situation. Look at the events of the last few days in Iraq. Indeed, indeed, history is not over. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] [lbo-talk] "Israeli Citizens Write to Dr. Gregor Gysi and Die Linkeâ End Your Support of Israeli Apartheid!"
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On Mon, June 9, 2014 6:25 pm, Joseph Catron wrote: > If anyone knows Die Linke, please tell 'em I said they suck. They seem to be more or less the German equivalent of the Working Families Party. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] [lbo-talk] AP: "Israel no longer a cause that unifies US Jews"
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On Sun, June 8, 2014 6:05 pm, Joseph Catron wrote: > "Once a unifying cause for generations of American Jews, Israel is now > bitterly dividing Jewish communities." "Generations?" Two generations, okay. A flash in the pan. We may live to see the end of it! Wouldn't that be nice? Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Piketty's response to FT.com
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == TP can strike a wonderfully droll note and keep his poker face securely in place at the same time. Among other things, he's a very good writer, and so plain-spoken and lucid that he must be a breeze to translate. I'm still slogging through the book but finding it eminently readable. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] “Luhansk People’s Republic” declares war on “Donetsk People’s Republic” | Euromaidan PR
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On May 26, 2014, at 7:50 PM, Louis Proyect via Marxism wrote: > > http://euromaidanpr.com/2014/05/27/luhansk-peoples-republic-declares-war-on-donetsk-peoples-republic/#more-10020 Ten minutes that shook the world. Or should have. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Is Slavoj Zizek a US propaganda psyop?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On May 26, 2014, at 3:40 PM, "Einde O'Callaghan via Marxism" wrote: >> > My memory from my Latin lessons is that the word order was: "Delenda est > Carthago" That's certainly much better Latin, but the phrase has been cited for a long time, at least in the Anglophone world, with 'est' at the end. I dimly remember years ago reading a fascinating history of this development (well, it fascinated me, anyway; others may prefer to read about Trotsky In Norway, the subject of a recent book mentioned here). Can't recall now who wrote the history of brutish old Cato's tag, or any of the details. Quomodo ceciderunt potentates! > - I believe that "th" was used in classical Latin to represent > the sound of the Greek letter "theta", which was similar to the > voiceless "th" sound in English. Also the aspirated but un-spirantized 't' (compare the 't' sounds in English 'teen' and Spanish 'latino'). Which was, of course, also the original realization of theta. The sages are divided about just when it turned from an aspirate to a spirant. I was taught to read Homer with the aspirate pronunciation -- for chi and phi too -- which was deeply confusing to an American ear (American English has no un-aspirated voiceless stops, except in clusters). Now that I'm out of school for good, I use the spirant renderings with great self-indulgent pleasure. Even to this day I feel that I'm doing something delightfully louche. > And Zizek would definitely merit a "delendus"! Wouldn't he just. More than Carthage, actually. Michael Smith m...@smithbowen.net A man should take care not to be made a proverb; and, therefore, should avoid having any one topick of which people can say, "We shall hear him upon it." --Dr J Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Is Slavoj Zizek a US propaganda psyop?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On May 26, 2014, at 12:33 PM, Richard Fidler wrote: > Actually, Michael, in Latin it is Cartago delenda est. No "th" in Latin, and > cities are feminine, hence "delenda". Of course it is, because as you correctly note, 'Carthago' is feminine; but Zizek, presumably, is not. Hence he is delendus rather than delenda. As for 'no th in Latin', I suggest a quick look at L&S or OLD. 'Cart(h)ago' is of course not a native Latin word. Michael Smith m...@smithbowen.net A man should take care not to be made a proverb; and, therefore, should avoid having any one topick of which people can say, "We shall hear him upon it." --Dr J Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Is Slavoj Zizek a US propaganda psyop?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On May 26, 2014, at 9:51 AM, Louis Proyect via Marxism wrote: > > Levich is a long time "anti-imperialist" who was a Marxmail subscriber over a > decade ago. I can't remember if I booted him or if he unsubbed. The title of > the workshop comes from "Carthage delenda est", which means Carthage must be > destroyed. I wonder if Michael Smith was an outside consultant on the title. Unfortunately, I was not. I would have gotten the gerundive right (sc. delendus). And oh by the way, it's 'Carthago' in Latin. But sounds like a fun event, and I would enjoy seeing Zizek deconstructed, preferably in the literal sense of the term. Michael Smith m...@smithbowen.net A man should take care not to be made a proverb; and, therefore, should avoid having any one topick of which people can say, "We shall hear him upon it." --Dr J Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Thailand: Smells like a coup, tastes like a coup, looks like a coup
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On May 21, 2014, at 9:38 PM, Louis Proyect wrote: > > When I read this sort of thing, I have to wonder how people take him > seriously. I mean, for christ's sake, how else does a Thai become a > billionaire except through the sort of practices found throughout East Asia? It's a … Thaidan! Michael Smith m...@smithbowen.net A man should take care not to be made a proverb; and, therefore, should avoid having any one topick of which people can say, "We shall hear him upon it." --Dr J Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
