US in state of self-inflicted decline: Chomsky

legendary American academic Noam Chomsky (file photo).

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/226828.html

Renowned American academic Noam Chomsky condemns the concentration of wealth in the United States in the hands of the 1 percent, which he refers to as the “self-inflicted” American decline.

“The (US) policies are a failure for the large majority, the 99% in the imagery of the Occupy movements - and for the country, which has declined and will continue to do so under these policies,” Chomsky wrote in his article titled 'Losing' the world: American decline in perspective, part 1.”

From the 1970s, there has been a significant change in the US economy, as planners, whether private or state, shifted production off shores, partly due to the “declining rate of profit in domestic manufacturing,” then82-year-old senior academic noted.

He went on to say, “these decisions initiated a vicious cycle in which wealth became highly concentrated (dramatically so in the top 0.1% of the population), yielding concentration of political power, hence legislation to carry the cycle further: taxation and other fiscal policies, deregulation, changes in the rules of corporate governance allowing huge gains for executives, and so on.”

Whereas Chomsky maintained that “for the majority, real wages largely stagnated, and people were able to get by only by sharply increased workloads (far beyond Europe), unsustainable debt… creating paper wealth that inevitably disappeared when they burst (and the perpetrators were bailed out by the taxpayer).”

Meanwhile, the political system in the US has been increasingly torn up, he said, as “both parties are driven deeper into corporate pockets with the escalating cost of elections.”

This is “a serious problem for working people and the middle classes, and a real disaster for the most oppressed, African Americans, who have never escaped the legacy of slavery and its ugly aftermath,” Chomsky concluded.

Chomsky’s comments come against the backdrop of months of Occupy protests in the United States. The Occupy protests owe their inspiration to the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, which began when a group of demonstrators gathered in New York's financial district on September 17, 2011 to protest against the excessive influence of big corporations on the US policies and the high-level corruption in the country.

US against Arab democracy: Chomsky

Renowned American scholar Noam Chomsky

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/179491.html

Renowned American academic Noam Chomsky says the US and its allies will spare no effort to prevent democracy in the Arab World, as they fear losing their clout in the region.

Chomsky made the remark at the 25th anniversary celebration of the national media watch group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting in New York, Democracy Now reported on Wednesday.

At the meeting, Chomsky sketched out his views about the brewing popular revolutions sweeping across the Middle East and North Africa, expressing doubt that the US would allow authentic democracies to flourish in the region.

"Across the [Middle East], an overwhelming majority of the population regards the United States as the main threat to their interests," Chomsky says. "The US and its allies will do anything they can to prevent authentic democracy in the Arab world."

"The reason is very simple... Plainly, the US and its allies are not going to want governments which are responsive to the will of the people. If that happens, not only will the US not control the region, but it will be thrown out," the Jewish-American political analyst added.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Chomsky turned the spotlight on the ongoing anti-government protests in Bahrain, where people have been demonstrating since February 14 to put an end to the rule of the Al Khalifa dynasty and urge sweeping reforms.

He maintained that if ongoing movements correspond to the Unite States' strategic and economic goals, officials in Washington would be quick to throw their weight behind any uprising, otherwise they would show scant enthusiasm to advocate any change that might run counter to their interests.

"If actions correspond to our strategic and economic objectives, that’s OK. We can have elegant rhetoric, but what matters is facts," Chomsky noted.

"Actually, the most interesting case in many respects is Bahrain. Bahrain is quite important for two reasons. One reason, which has been reported, is that it's the home port of the US Fifth Fleet, major military force in the region," he said.

"Another more fundamental reason is that Bahrain is about 70 percent Shia, and it's right across the causeway from eastern Saudi Arabia, which also is majority Shia and happens to be where most of Saudi oil is," the 82-year-old senior academic noted.

He went on to say that as for oil-rich countries such as Libya, the US and its allies are more inclined to "get a more reliable dictator" and banish an "oil-rich dictator who's not reliable, who's a loose cannon. That's Libya.”

Chomsky argued that the United States fears that it will lose clout and eventually be forced out of the region if governments springing from the sovereign will of the people emerge in the region.

Chomsky enters West Bank 'on air'

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=126856§ionid=351020202


Denied entry by Israel, renowned US intellectual and linguist Noam Chomsky will hold his scheduled lecture at Birzeit University by video conference.

The American democracy activist had been invited by Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative Mustafa Barghouthi to lecture at the Palestinian Birzeit University on Monday.

But he was held up for hours by Israeli authorities at the Allenby crossing between Jordan and the West Bank on Sunday, and was ultimately denied entry into Palestinian land.

The octogenarian professor has apparently decided not to make another effort to travel through the border crossing, but will instead make his speech through a video conference, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Tuesday.

His lecture will also be broadcast live on al-Jazeera television, the English-language daily added on its website.

The outspoken Israel critic on Monday spoke to Palestinian caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, whom he was supposed to meet in Ramallah.

A statement released by Fayyad's office said he "strongly condemns the decision of the occupation forces to prevent Chomsky from entering Palestinian land."

Israeli officials did not admit the US philosopher because "the government did not like the kinds of things I say and they did not like that I was only talking at Birzeit and not at an Israeli university too," Chomsky told BBC.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman said that the idea that Israel prevents its critics from entering is "ludicrous," and "it's not happening."