I hope you don't mind me calling attention to some terrible sloppiness in your LRB Diary on Obama and Syria (http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n18/david-bromwich/diary), especially since you are Sterling Professor of English at Yale. I am certainly in awe of Yale's reputation and must conclude that anybody who has become a Sterling Professor must have leaped some high hurdles--but really. You write:
>>What exactly are those forces? One of the largest and the least talked of in the US has been Saudi Arabia. If it is necessary to supply weapons and money to jihadists to weaken Syria, and thereby to weaken Iran as well, the Saudis have shown that they are willing to do such things. Turkey and Qatar also support the rebellion for reasons of political advantage; and Israel is interested in prolonging the war, though not in assuring the victory of jihadists. It makes Israel shine more brightly as America’s sole reliable partner in a region sinking into devastation. A New York Times story on 5 September offered this disclosure by a former Israeli diplomat, referring to the jihadist rebels and Assad government forces: ‘Let them both bleed, haemorrhage to death: that’s the strategic thinking here. As long as this lingers, there’s no real threat from Syria.’<< I must prevail upon you from using the term "jihadist" in such an obviously demagogic and irresponsible manner. Most scholars of the region put no more than 10 percent of the rebels into that category. Perhaps you use the term based on having watched a Youtube clip showing a FSA member crying out "Alluakhbar" after firing a machine gun at an armored helicopter or some such thing. In wartime men and women who are observant Muslims often resort to such morale-boosting rhetoric but that does not mean that they intend to come to New Haven and impose Sharia law on your faculty or prevent you from enjoying a nice Pinot Noir. My suggestion to you is to find some time to study up on Syrian economics, politics, and society. I put together a reference guide intended just for people like you. It is titled "A Guide for the Perplexed on Syria" (http://louisproyect.org/2013/09/16/a-guide-for-the-perplexed-on-syria/). I am sure you will find it most salutary. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
