Re: Critique of the Perry Anderson piece I posted yesterday

Neumann's critique (as well as Cockburn's) is right on target.  The UN was
a product of US hegemony, it's true, but it seems crystal clear that it
has now become a constraint on the US itself, and as such, its complete
dismissal by the antiwar movement in favor of some transcendent principles
is quite silly.  I would only add that Anderson's equation between al
Qaeda and the Red Brigades/RAF is equally silly.  He draws this parallel
from the work of Olivier Roy, who has been announcing the death of
political Islam for over a decade now.  Although the extent to which the
US government has set up al Qaeda as a bogeyman which could strike
unsuspecting American civilians at a shopping mall at any time is
ridiculous, the challenge al Qaeda presents to American global power is
quite real.  The Red Brigades/RAF were isolated groups in the 1970s,
during Europe's decade of prosperity.  Today's Middle East is a region in
crisis, and the US is doing its best to erode or destroy existing
institutions of authority, thereby opening space for the bin Ladens of the
world.


-- 
Boris Stremlin
bstremli@binghamton.edu