Onaje Barnes
Eco 357 Summary
Noam Chomsky, Foreign Policy and
Intelligentsia, Towards a New Cold
War
Main Point
The
United States is
no more engaged in programs for international good than any other nation. Our foreign policy is designed and
implemented by narrow groups who derive their power from domestic resources.
Furthermore any statements against
or objecting to mainstream or propagandist belief is often censored or dismissed
without legitimate consideration of truth.
Summary
The essay first addresses the idea
that the average American does not decide foreign policy issues and is unaware
of many facts in-regards to our foreign policy. Then it the essay goes on to basically
state that our policy is based on supremacy just as any other country and is
documented throughout our post WWII actions.
Chomsky first asks. Who sets
foreign policy? Does the domestic realm control foreign policy? He believes the government sets its
foreign policy based on maintaining its authority and uses propaganda to gain
support of the people.
Some people see through the
propaganda of the media and American Government. Two main groups of people, who are able
to escape propaganda:
- The
uneducated or lack of media involvement
- Those
who struggle to extract the truth/facts from the flood of propaganda
Intellectuals are divided into two
groups:
- Technocratic
and policy-oriented intellectuals- the good guys who make the system work and
raise no annoying questions
- Value
oriented intellectuals- those who may inhibit American way of life by asserted
concerns over American foreign policy.
Considered dangerous because they challenge existing forms of
authority.
People who serve the State
ideologies:
- Out
right Propagandists
- Technocratic
and policy oriented intellectuals
In our present system of allocation
of information one can lie freely about the war/moral crimes, real or alleged,
of an official enemy, while suppressing the involvement of ones state in
atrocities.
Post World War II
Most of the
industrial world was destroyed, while industrial production rose in the
US. Chomsky then
addresses the question what were the driving principles behind our international
economic success? He asserts that
formula was derived in a series memorandum of the War and Peace Studies Project
of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) during the War.
In the early
years of the war it was assumed that
Germany may
control part of the world, so the policy was to develop an “integrated policy to
achieve military and economic supremacy for the
US within the
Non-German world.” Other documents
further states that there must be equal access to resources for American
Companies everywhere, but no equal access for others. Resources meant petroleum or Oil.
America had to
not only retain its dominance in the Western Hemisphere
but establish a strong Middle Eastern presence.
America’s
main competitor was Great
Britain.
America
succeeded in diminishing the British presence mainly through treaties and CIA
backed operations that helped American allies gain control of many Arab
nations.
When
Iran for example
attempted experiment in democracy in-order to control their own oil supply, the
CIA backed a regime that was
US oil-company
friendly. Meanwhile the New York Times cited the good news that “partnership
must be the relationship between industrialized Western nations and less
industrialized nations but rich in raw materials. It was not good news for a country to
gain their economic freedom. The
CFR study also concluded according to Chomsky that South East
Asia must be integrated into the
US- dominated
global system.
Chomsky states
that documents such as the CFR studies and Pentagon Papers should be studied
with more insight if we want to understand American policy. He also says that in our free society we
do not beat or imprison those with radical ideals but we rather label them as
dangerous radicals and dismiss their questions and concerns. He infers that the government believes
that awareness of also views and facts may threaten social
order.