Chomsky Noah West Point Failed States Speech

Dec 06, 2012 06:05 PM

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09:41 PM, May 29, 2006

Speech

Failed States

United States Military Academy

West Point, New York (United States)

ID: 192376 - 04/20/2006 - 0:56 - $29.95

Chomsky, Noam Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, LinguisticsNoam Chomsky talked about his book  Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy , published by Metropolitan Books. The book is about just war theory and the invasion of Iraq. During the talk, Professor Chomsky criticized the work of Michael Walzer, an influential proponent of just war theory and the author of the popular book  Just and Unjust Wars . Following his remarks, Professor Chomsky took questions from the West Point cadets in the audience about international law and the Bush administration's foreign policy.

Said that one could look at international declarations : eg the Geneva Convention, the UN Charter etc

OR one could look at Theory of Just War.

OR one could look at it from intuitions about fairness. intuitive judgments.

See John Rawls: Theory of Justice.

Tacitus quote: the Powerful do what they can; the Weak do what they must....

John Quincy Adams quote: The Powerful always assume that they have a vast soul that informs their actions. (Germany had been the most civilized country on earth)

"Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws."

Read Wiki on Just War Theory (Chomsky questions Walzer's theory)