• jeffw@lemmy.worldOP
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    4 months ago

    I wouldn’t say heated with Putin but I do think he had some misguided conclusions about the invasion (honestly it’s been a while since I read his takes, but I remember being a bit confused and wondering if maybe he was losing his edge)

    • nevemsenki@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      According to Chomsky, Russia is acting with restraint and moderation. He compares Russia’s way of fighting with the US’s during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, arguing that large-scale destruction of infrastructure seen in that conflict “hasn’t happened in Ukraine”.

      https://www.newstatesman.com/the-weekend-interview/2023/04/noam-chomsky-interview-ukraine-free-actor-united-states-determines

      Seems very unambiguous to me.

      • jeffw@lemmy.worldOP
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        4 months ago

        Oof, that’s a bit worse than I recalled. The article seems to be saying that he just views Ukraine as a pawn in a US-Russia or NATO-Russia war, which doesn’t seem fair. Some of his conclusions would be fair if it were just a US-Russia war but it just isn’t.

        • nevemsenki@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          The feeling I get is his opposition/hate of the western world leaves him no room for nuance. Ukraine is helped by the west to defend against Russia = Ukriane has to be wrongand Russia has to be right.

          Realising this also makes me question a lot about him, to be honest…

          • cmbabul@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Not defending his points on Ukraine at all but Chomsky has a bit of Kissinger energy, he’s obviously not that evil since as far as I know he’s committed zero war crimes compared to the hundreds Henry committed, but he does seem to have the ability to shift his intellect to get behind whatever he believes is the best vector to achieve the ends he’s deemed necessary without any moral qualms.