febrúar 19, 2003
Krugman & Kristof
Í gær birtust tveir ágætir pistlar í NYT eftir Paul Krugman og Nicholas Kristof.Krugman segir m.a. í Behind the Great Divide:
Most people, though, get their news from TV — and there the difference is immense. The coverage of Saturday's antiwar rallies was a reminder of the extent to which U.S. cable news, in particular, seems to be reporting about a different planet than the one covered by foreign media.Kristof, sem verður að teljast ansi "líberal" í flestum málum, byrjar pistlinn Mr. Bush's Liberal Problem með orðunum:
What would someone watching cable news have seen? On Saturday, news anchors on Fox described the demonstrators in New York as "the usual protesters" or "serial protesters." CNN wasn't quite so dismissive, but on Sunday morning the headline on the network's Web site read "Antiwar rallies delight Iraq," and the accompanying picture showed marchers in Baghdad, not London or New York.
The big problem with liberals in international affairs is that ever since Woodrow Wilson, they've been too idealistic.Hann heldur svo áfram:
Now, alas, President Bush is also trying to be a foreign policy idealist — from the right — and is showing the same cavalier obtuseness to practical consequences.Hann segir síðan undir lok pistilsins:
Finally, Iraq. Mr. Bush and his aides, like Bobby Kennedy, dream things that never were and say why not. Mr. Bush imagines the transformative effect that a democratic, stable and prospering Iraq would have on the entire Arab world.Og lokar svo með orðunum:
Maybe. But it would be helpful if he also had nightmares of things that never were, to understand how policies can go wrong. It seems equally possible that invading Iraq will trigger precisely the scenario we fear — Saddam handing out anthrax or even smallpox to terrorists — and that our invasion will lead thousands of young Arabs to join Al Qaeda. Instead of becoming safer, we could be in a more perilous state than ever.
So let's hope President Bush learns from liberal mistakes and worries less about ideals and more about practical results. The world may not be able to afford much more of his idealism.Tilvitnanir: © 2003 The New York Times Company
Agust skrifaði 19.02.03 23:01
Flokkun: Meðmæli , Mið-Austurlönd