Imagine that LA had been blockaded since 2007, and had repeatedly been bombed since then. Now imagine that the current fires took place, and that the response was to bomb, maim, and starve the survivors for the next fourteen months, on the premise that doing so was a favor to them, and proof of the superiority of our civilization. That’s what we’ve done to Gaza and Lebanon. The enormity of that crime—series of crimes—can barely be imagined. Neither can the scale of the retribution that its survivors will have in mind for us for the foreseeable future.
Continue readingAuthor Archives: Irfan Khawaja
Aka “Poetic Justice”
No tears.
Let the Boomerang Speak
“Could Better Security Have Stopped the New Orleans Terror Attack?” asks The New York Times with furrowed brow. Yes, if you turn the country into a gigantic fortress, you can probably stave off another a “terror attack.” But then, you can achieve even greater assurance of safety against “terror attacks” if you take a cyanide tablet right now and sleep off the fear. How’s that for a remedy?
Continue readingAn Agitated Moslem
An irony no one could have made up: just a few days after the death of Jimmy Carter, the grandfather of our Afghan wars, a veteran of one of those wars launches a terrorist attack on the United States.
Asked about the possibility of blowback from the proxy war he had devised in Afghanistan, Carter’s National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinksi had dismissively asked his (French) interviewer what was more important in the grand scheme of things—a bunch of “agitated Moslems” or the “liberation of Central Europe”?
The lesson here, I take it, is that as long as we keep the proxy war in Ukraine going, New Orleans is a trifle. What’s one agitated Moslem in the French Quarter to the liberation of Central Europe?
My Foreknowledge of the New Orleans Attack
A couple of days ago, I predicted here that a “terrorist” attack on the United States would take place. Now one has, in New Orleans. Did I have foreknowledge of this attack? I sure did. In fact, I told you what the foreknowledge was in the post itself: You can’t spend decades supporting apartheid, conquest, occupation, and genocide, then take pride in shutting down the anti-war movement, and not expect to be attacked in retaliation. That’s what Americans and Israelis did, and that’s what happened to them. What did you think was going to happen? The victims of your psychopathic depredations were going to roll over and play dead forever? Continue reading
The Lessons of History
It’s amusing how many obituaries of Jimmy Carter mention ruefully that it was Carter’s idea, inspired by Zbigniew Brzezinski, to support the Afghan mujahidin against the Soviets. It seemed like such a great idea at the time, but look at Afghanistan today. Brzezinski was widely hailed as a strategic genius and moral prophet for devising that jihad, like Robert McNamara before him, and Paul Wolfowitz after. Three wizards. Three catastrophes.
Continue readingThe Rime of the Denial Manager
Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
–Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (1834)
About two weeks ago, I wrote a long post here on the killing of UnitedHealthCare (UHC) CEO Brian Thompson. Here’s a follow up. Continue reading
Thy Kingdom’s Will Be Done
I had a conversation the other day with a woman associated with a very liberal Protestant church who’d been organizing a charitable event for Gaza. The event was a dinner intended to raise money for a well-known medical relief organization. The event was a success, but she told me with chagrin that she had to be careful to advertise it in such a way as to avoid mentioning it to those members of the congregation who might have objected.
Continue reading“False Alternatives in the Politics of Knowledge”
Just a reminder to anyone attending the APA Eastern in New York this January: the Molinari Society is hosting a session on “False Alternatives in the Politics of Knowledge,” Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, 4-5:50 pm, room TBA. Cory Massimino and I will be giving papers, with Roderick Long moderating and commenting. Cory’s paper is “Between Convergency and Conspiracy.” Mine is “Between Indoctrination and False Neutrality,” a defense of an advocacy-based conception of pedagogy, using the teaching I did under the Israeli occupation as a case study. For more details, click here.
How Still We See Thee Lie
I was at a Christmas Eve service last night where the Confession and Lament Sequence said: “Forgive us for following the logics of Empire and the violence of Herod. Lord have mercy.”
It’s an admirable sentiment, but I had to wonder: if mercy is to be sought, is this the proper addressee? Is mercy in fact the thing to be sought at all?
Policy of Truth 