Over the course of two sessions, the Seattle Weekly newspaper talked with MIT Professor Noam Chomsky on topics like whether China will become a threat to the US, the trouble with George and the Iraq problem. Chomsky is notorious for not really enjoying interviews and is hesitant to give them because everyone wants to talk to him. Just as prominent scientists like Richard Dawkins and Steven J Gould were hesitant to speak to Evangelicals about Creationism because of the simple desire by some groups to get a reaction, Chomsky’s best discussions are those where he is involved in a real conversation rather than headline grabbing. This interview is one of those few real discussions.

The fact of the matter is that there is no War on Terror. It’s a minor consideration. So invading Iraq and taking control of the world’s energy resources was way more important than the threat of terror. And the same with other things. Take, say, nuclear terror. The American intelligence systems estimate that the likelihood of a “dirty bomb,” a dirty nuclear bomb attack in the United States in the next 10 years, is about 50 percent. Well, that’s pretty high. Are they doing anything about it? Yeah. They’re increasing the threat, by increasing nuclear proliferation, by compelling potential adversaries to take very dangerous measures to try to counter rising American threats.

Seattle Weekly: Transcript of Geov Parrish interview with Noam Chomsky

Popularity: 1% [?]