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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Only Barbarians Clash, January 26, 2003
This review is from: Clash of Barbarisms: September 11 and the Making of the New World Disorder (Paperback)
After reading this slim volume, one receives the impression that it was a hurried effort, pieced together from previously published writings, not only of Gilbert Achcar's own work, but also of other writers. That, however, does not dull its message which is to portray the United States as the new Roman Empire, the political and military colossus of the 21st Century, the less than noble giant which can take what it wants from the world at large. And what the latter day Leviathan wants is not justice, nor fairness, demonstrating few of the noble principles which gave it birth. Mr. Achcar who teaches politics and international relations in France intended this book to counterpoise with Samuel Huntington's better known book, "The Clash of Civilizations". He contends that it is the barbarism of the West which is currently evident in the US which clashes with the barbarism of the East as practiced by Islamic fundamentalists. His conclusion is that Professor Huntington is wrong; cultured societies don't war but barbaric societies do. In an interesting comparison, Mr. Achcar depicts George W. Bush as a fundamentalist religious leader standing in fierce opposition to Islamic fundamentalists. The inference is that there are religious overtones to a war being planned against Iraq which -- much more likely -- is to control large oil reserves. One point that the book brings out which is overlooked in mass media reports of the Bush Administration's war against terrorism. It is not true, the author asserts, that Islamists hate the USA for its freedom, for its wealth, for its non-Islamic ways. The US is hated for its uncritical support of international policies which are unfair and do not promote justice -- an antithesis of what the USA preaches. Those critics of the USA find a gross hypocrisy about such stands and they hate the duplicity of it all. From a reader's point of view, the book was a little hard going at times perhaps because it is a translation, after all, from French. Nevertheless, for those who do not become edgy when learning uncomfortable facts about the most significant issue of this century, this book is recommended.
=pjr=
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, Balanced Viewpoint, February 23, 2003
I had the opportunity to listen to Achcar lecture at La Maison Francaise at NYU, and found his view intriguing, if not entirely acceptable, and certainly worthy of inclusion into a broader worldview. His English is faltering, but the translation is excellent and the book is well structured. Also, the book is about 100 pages long, and I found it an easy read, although not simply written. Reading the book would not take a great amount of time, and it provides a wealth of solid, but little known, historical and political information. The largest takeaway from his analysis is a more balanced approach to international interactions, and a detailed analysis of the history of the Middle East and Islam, as it relates to political struggles. His analysis is akin to Chomsky's understanding of American political strategy, but also dovetails contrapuntally with more mainstream writers such as Brzezniski.
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12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Are these Individuals HUMAN BEINGS, or What?!, March 7, 2003
This review is from: Clash of Barbarisms: September 11 and the Making of the New World Disorder (Paperback)
... I swear to almighty God, if I ever find myself standing face-to-face with ANY of the members of the current administration "serving" our nation in Washington, D.C., I will feel absolutely compelled to ask them the following question: "Are you a HUMAN BEING?!" ... I mean, are these people HUMAN BEINGS, or what?! ... Does ANYBODY out there feel like I do, and EVER question the basic HUMANITY of these characters? I find it UNBELIEVABLE - what these individuals are doing in the name of "serving" their country. If this is SERVING your country, I can HELP MYSELF. Thank you very much! ... Gilbert Achcar has written a masterpiece which serves as a mirror to our nation, staring us in the face. Interesting, how foreigners see us more realistically than we see ourselves. In reading this book, I have come to realize - without a doubt - that what this administration is doing in the name fighting a war on terrorism is exhibiting nothing more than the old saying of: "might is right in the world of greed and lust." ... To all those reading this who disagree, I say: READ THE FOLLOWING THREE PASSAGES FROM THIS BOOK, AND CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE! ... ... From page 37: "The United States is thus directly responsible for the resurgence of anti-Western Islamic fundamentalism. Over the past thirty years this resurgence has flourished in two successive waves. The Iranian revolution marked the climax of the first wave, in the 1970s; September 11 and the shock wave it sent out were the peak of the second wave, dating back to the 1990s. The United States is in fact doubly responsible for them. Not only did it contribute directly to propagating Islamic fundamentalism, but by helping to defeat and crush the Left and progressive nationalism throughout the Islamic world, it freed up the space for political Islam as the only ideological and organizational expression of popular resentment. Popular resentment, like nature, abhors a vacuum. The resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism is not the culturally inevitable form of radicalization in Muslim countries; until recently most people in Muslim countries spurned the ideology. It won only by default, after its competition was eliminated by their common adversary." ... From page 58: "This method of action serves entirely rational ends, contrary to what many would like to believe. Bin Laden hoped to create a situation in which the U.S. population, weary of bearing the brunt of its government's involvement in a part of the world that it has no more interest in than it did in Vietnam thirty years ago, would put pressure on its government to disengage and get out. This is why he directed his warnings, as in his October 7 message, not only to the U.S. government and its Western allies but also to their peoples. He did so even more clearly in his 1998 statements, which called people to attention: "The Western regimes and the government of the United States of America bear the blame for what might happen. If their people do not wish to be harmed inside their very own countries, they should seek to elect governments that are truly representative of them and that can protect their interests." 8 " ... From pages 72 & 73: "Given the scale of the catastrophe that the Bush administration did nothing to prevent, its culpable negligence would have been more than enough to provoke the immediate resignation of any honest, responsible leader. But the very way the 43rd president made his way to the White House, not to speak of the Enron scandal and other events since the elections, showed that Bush is neither honest nor responsible. It is enough to make one marvel at the fact that Bill Clinton's lies in the Lewinsky affair almost drove him to resign or led to his impeachment. The surge in George W. Bush's popularity after September 11 shows that the events' true lessons are still far from having been learned. Indeed, it shows that people in the U.S. have drawn conclusions that are the exact opposite of the right ones. ... So far we have mentioned three factors to explain the origins of the political-religious terrorism targeting the United States: the presence of U.S. troops in the Saudi Kingdom, the Iraq embargo, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We will not dwell further on the way in which the Bush administration deals with these Middle East issues. It is clear enough that it has done nothing until now but throw more oil on the fire, forgetting once more that the United States itself falls within the perimeter of this conflagration." ... Wise words, indeed, that need to be HEEDED before we see even MORE "Blowback" ( as the CIA calls it ) of bad karma generating suffering and destruction onto American civilians right here in our own country! We are NOT immune! We are NOT safe, as Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia so rightly states. ... As the new book, BUSH'S BRAIN, so eloquently attests to, this whole Iraq War comes down to two things: Oil & Israel. ... We need to GO SOLAR as soon as possible! ... YOWZA! - The Aeolian Kid
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