title: Perilous Power: The Middle East & U.S. Foreign Policy: Dialogues on Terror, Democracy, War, and Justice
author:  Noam Chomsky 
description: This intriguing series of conversations between like-minded peers about America in the Middle East pairs dissident intellectual Chomsky with Achcar, who is less well known for critiques of U.S. foreign policy (<I>Clash of Barbarisms</I>). Drawing on deep historical background, they deconstruct Western assumptions about international politics: "Every state you can think of is based on violence, repression... the state system itself has no inherent legitimacy." While refreshingly careful to note when their conclusions aren't backed by rigorous documentation, both make broad assumptions about human behavior, while easily disregarding contradictions. For example they rely on opinion polls to indicate the desires of a given people (as opposed to the ruling elite), but reject the once-broad Palestinian support of the Oslo Peace Accords, for instance, because, as Chomsky says, the Palestinians "were just totally deluded." Similarly, they give little weight to nonrational influences&mdash;religiosity, fear&mdash;where these almost certainly played a key role in forming public opinion, such as in Arab disillusionment with secular nationalism or Israeli presumptions of anti-Semitism. Particularly in Chomsky's case, this can extend to an unfortunate contempt for those with whom he disagrees. Both men raise vital questions, but some readers may be alienated by the authors' often dismissive manner. <I>(Nov.)</I> <BR>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: PERILOUS POWER
  
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  expanded edition
  PERILOUS
  POWER
  THE MIDDLE EAST &
  U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
  Dialogues on
  Terror, Democracy, War,
  and Justice
  NOAM CHOMSKY &
  GILBERT ACHCAR
  Edited with a preface
  by Stephen R. Shalom
  
  Copyright © 2007, 2009 by Noam Chomsky and Gilbert Achcar
  Preface Copyright © 2007, 2009 by Stephen R. Shalom
  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
  Chomsky, Noam.
  Perilous power : the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy :dialogues on terror, 
   democracy, war, and justice / Noam Chomsky and Gilbert Achcar ; edited with a preface 
  by Stephen R. Shalom.
  p. cm.
  Includes bibliographical references and index.
  ISBN-13: 978-1-59451-312-1 (hc)
  ISBN-13: 978-1-59451-313-8 (pbk)
  1. Middle East—Foreign relations—United States. 2.  United States—Foreign 
  relations—Middle East. 3. Terrorism—Government policy—United States.
  4. Iraq War, 2003—Protest movements—United States. 5. Insurgency—Iraq.
  6.  Democracy—Middle East. 7. Democracy—Middle East. 
  I.