What we can learn from terrorists (p1). Tariq Ali

[@KP-uc1ez]

Brilliant. Regarding a period of transition, I'd like to quote a similarly illuminating comment from a relatively recent article (2023) by Paris Yeros - published thru the Agrarian South Journal of Political Economy. "If this war in Ukraine is an extension of the East- West dimension of the Cold War, the war in Palestine, which broke out again in October this year, is the essence of the same enduring North- South conflict. This is a classic situation of settler colonialism sponsored by imperialism, one of the last unresolved colonial questions of the last century and the most consequential for the systemic transition in the twenty-first. The Zionist State never stopped fulfilling its essential functions, which is to dominate the peoples of the region, degrade their sovereignty, and control energy resources and trade routes." Particularly for those unfamiliar with the terms and historical context relevant to this article quoted above, I should mention that in referring to the 'cold war,' Yeros, in this article and others (and he is of course by far not the only scholar pointing this out), explains that the cold war was not simply an East-West conflict, but also North-South: That the nature of the conflicts were and ARE also characterized by the struggles for decolonization, ie national liberation and self-determination, and the imperial powers' Reaction to it; a struggle we are still in the midst of. It is in this context that much 'terrorism,' in the manner in which Ali is speaking here, takes shape. Struggle against political-economic domination by imperialist powers ranging from the US-EU-Japan, to India, to little vassal imperial states like Israel, and like Kenya (a la Haiti 2024).

[@ghulammustafa5450]

Brilliant presentation!

[@alegarceau12]

Tariq Ali, Brilliant as usual!

[@McFraneth]

Good on you Tariq Ali. Economic terrorism is acceptable (EU austerity, The IMF and World Bank, the WTO etc) but a bunch of men who need to feed their families and have all the fish stocks stolen by Spanish trawlers so resort to piracy (Somali fishermen) are called pirates and a film with Tom Hanks is made... One example amongst many of men taking up arms as an absolute last resort when their right to live a decent life is trampled. I wish people could see this. I'd certainly become a resistance fighter if I had to (I live in south-west France which was under German occupation during the second world war and each year there is a ceremony in my small town in memory of the Jews who were betrayed and sent to their deaths). So to the murderous occupier I'd be a terrorist, for wanting to free my country. It's all spin: one person's terrorist is another's freedom fighter.

[@harshbhandari9070]

2:49

[@j-bone9472]

I can't seem to find Gen. Petraeus' remark about the unwinnable Afghan war, in what interview is it?

[@thefamousmuslim]

Very true

[@ashutosh1684]

Mr Kurt, Absolutely wrong. Kashmir can be decided by bilateral agreement as agreed in Shimla pact. US and India and friend not allies.

[@patentneer]

^^ Same-same. Same tune. The gloss voice of the Pakistani military-agri-nuclear industrial complex, your tax money at work. Tell us about topic # 1 Tariq: Do us all a favor, tell us your strategic insights into the vile and obnoxious nexus of Pakistan's elite with the terror business, no really? Never mind other things.

[@imrank340]

Lost the theme of the topic. Blubbering away anything and everything

[@McFraneth]

Try paying attention maybe?

[@TheLoyalOfficer]

His casualty figures on Iraq are way overblown.

[@TheLoyalOfficer]

Saumitra Debnath Well said. I wish others would realize the truth!

[@yonisgure7348]

TheLoyalOfficer Both of you chinless idiots give credence to the speculation that the internet is filled with the dregs of society. Take your Islamophobia somewhere else please. Good day.

[@TheLoyalOfficer]

yonis gure So there is nothing to be afraid of with Islam?

[@McFraneth]

I trust you're a Hindu.

[@SultanMenzuma]

Looking back at this comment is actually amazing. The death toll is much worse now . If anything Tariq Ali was being conservative.

[@christophalcmeonides8537]

Nice points though... You don't tell us what the alternatives would be in f.ex. Afghanistan & Japan