Charlie Rose

REMant  01/12/2010 06:21 PM Report

I saw the 60 Mins story, and Meacham talked about him, here, too, didn't he? I certainly disagree with his perspective, which I think impairs his objectivity. I allow that there are paranoid ppl there and elsewhere, even among our own fundamentalists, and nasty ppl in many prisons, and even that the Revolutionary Guards may be going in a fascist direction, but, the underlying motive is neither paranoia nor authoritarianism, which was a bogus sociological concept, or anything Hannah Arendt had in mind. If we continue to push them into this corner these trends will undoubtedly worsen as they did in Germany, long before Chamberlain, and in the USSR, where Stalin's suspicions were often actually true. In all three cases the men in charge had in view an ideal socialist state, which, on the one hand, we disagree with, and, on the other, their citizens are unable to live up to. Pushing them simply fuels the use of force, which will feed on itself.

And Ahmadinejad is not always wrong or devious. For instance at the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Istanbul, Aljazeera reports: "Ahmadinejad said the global economic order needs 'radical change,' calling for Islamic principles to replace capitalist values. 'The present economic crisis is due to the capitalist system. The world needs radical change,' the Iranian president said. Describing interest rates as the 'biggest and most fundamental problem of the capitalist system,' Ahmadinejad said economic programmes based on Islamic principles offered the way out. 'The world is looking for fairer values that we cannot find in the capitalist system. The world system based on usury has collapsed, proving its failure,' he said. 'We have to draw up programmes based on Islamic economic thinkers. That way we can guide people to happiness, security, justice and honesty. This is the most correct way to salvation.' The president urged member countries of the OIC to agree to carrying out trade in their national currencies and setting up a common market. 'By announcing the type of money to be used between member countries, we will be saved from the adverse effects of global capitalism,' he said."

FYI, Islam, like medieval Catholicism eschewed usury, tho many Muslims in recent years have found ways around this. Presumably he wants to reverse that trend. But they were right, the taking of interest is an impediment to sustainable growth and the lower the natural rate is, the better, tho it cannot be dictated.

Americans are nothing if not hypocritical. Over the weekend Iran announced setting up several more uranium enrichment facilities, and in Western countries this might be applauded as the "green" thing to do, but of course not in this case. And Chavez asked what ppl would say if he made some of the comments about Netanyahu that Benji made about him. He is also talking about nationalizing banks. Where have I heard that before?