Noam Chomsky: The Arab World And The Supernatural Power of the United States
Mohammed Attar Interviews Noam Chomsky
( July 14, 2013, Beirut, Sri Lanka Guardian) During his recent visit to Beirut, American thinker and philosopher Noam Chomsky met with a group of independent Syrian media activists, aid workers and individuals active in cultural and economic spheres. Chomsky had made it clear that he had come to listen to them; to lend an ear to their different views on the current situation in Syria.
Following the meeting I had the honour of holding an interview with him. At the outset of our discussion I stated that my motivation in talking with him was to encourage him to open up to Syrians, to address them directly with his evaluation of the situation in their country, following a series of interviews with Lebanese newspapers in which he had approached the subject through the filter of the papers’ own priorities and political biases. However Chomsky, now in his eighties, gently insisted that he was here to acquaint himself with the issue up close, rather than to offer fully formed conclusions of his own.
The discussion ranged over positions that Chomsky has subscribed to in previous interviews concerning his view of the complex situation in Syria, Hezbollah’s involvement, the American and Israeli stances towards revolutionary Syria and other related issues.
On Hezbollah’s involvement and Iranian policies
What is your view of Hezbollah’s undisguised involvement on the frontlines in Syria, in support of regime forces? You have made statements indicating that you can understand their intervention.
