[BES Friends] BES Book Discussion Starting Nov 11 9:30 am

[Stephen Meskin]

The following item was left out of the newsletter.
Beginning Sunday Nov 11 and continuing on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of 
each month a book discussion group will meet at BES at 9:30 am..

We will discuss the same book over a number of weeks or even months, if 
the book warrants.

Our first book is Noam Chomsky's "Hegemony and Survival: America's Quest 
for Global Dominance"  Paperback copies may be purchased at the Society 
for $10.  Come pick one up tomorrow; we'll be there from 9:30 am until 
about 2pm.

The discussion next week Nov 11 will focus on the first two chapters:
1.  Priorities and Prospects
2.  Imperial Strategy
which comprise about 50 pages.

For more information call Bob Corbett at 410-268-3346
 
 From Publishers Weekly
In this highly readable, heavily footnoted critique of American foreign 
policy from the late 1950s to the present, Chomsky (whose 9-11 was a 
bestseller last year) argues that current U.S. policies in Afghanistan 
and Iraq are not a specific response to September 11, but simply the 
continuation of a consistent half-century of foreign policy-an "imperial 
grand strategy"-in which the United States has attempted to "maintain 
its hegemony through the threat or use of military force." Such an 
analysis is bound to be met with skepticism or antagonism in 
post-September 11 America, but Chomsky builds his arguments carefully, 
substantiates claims with appropriate documentation and answers expected 
counterclaims. Chomsky is also deeply critical of inconsistency in 
making the charge of "terrorism." Using the official U.S. legal code 
definition of terrorism, he argues that it is an exact description of 
U.S. foreign policy (especially regarding Cuba, Central America, Vietnam 
and much of the Middle East), although the term is rarely used in this 
way in the U.S. media, he notes, even when the World Court in 1986 
condemned Washington for "unlawful use of force" ("international 
terrorism, in lay terms" Chomsky argues) in Nicaragua. Claiming that the 
U.S. is a rogue nation in its foreign policies and its "contempt for 
international law," Chomsky brings together many themes he has mined in 
the past, making this cogent and provocative book an important addition 
to an ongoing public discussion about U.S. policy.