tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post8829116312660503833..comments2024-03-28T07:50:06.102-04:00Comments on Mike Norman Economics: Cory Morningstar — Syria: Avaaz, Purpose & The Art Of Selling Hate For Empiremike normanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03296006882513340747noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-72056942380223184502016-10-04T14:36:34.889-04:002016-10-04T14:36:34.889-04:00Do you think the immigration issue and terrorism h...Do you think the immigration issue and terrorism have lowered American sympathy for Muslims? (It always was rather low.)Peter Panhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473311771939167712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-17115090640215652552016-10-03T22:37:10.105-04:002016-10-03T22:37:10.105-04:00The issue is whether it is OK to mix humanitarian ...The issue is whether it is OK to mix humanitarian work with "other" work, such as propaganda and covert ops that use "humanitarian" work to induce desired cognitive-affective behavioral change. Many involved in humanitarian work say no it's not. It just creates suspicion around all humanitarian work and creates an adverse climate. This has affected the operations of bona fide UN humanitarian work in Syria, for example.<br /><br />It's like mixing news and propaganda. After awhile, it starts becoming more widely recognized and news loses its credibility.<br /><br />A third is missing the ideal and real. The ideal in regime change is supposedly bringing freedom and democracy but the reality is usually replacing one power structure that is unfriendly with a friendly one (puppet regime), regardless of its actual worth relative to freedom and democracy. In doing this the US has eroded its soft power as its intentions are increasing viewed as promoting the interests of elites without much regard for ordinary people, or even to their disadvantage.<br /><br />This happening in all these three cases now. Basically, mixing the ideal and real in this way is cynical and hypocritical. In the end it's poisonous.<br /><br />For example, the Russians knew that the US had no intention of separating the moderates from the terrorists even if they could. They went along with the charade to demonstrate to the world that the US was acting in bad faith and cannot be trusted to keep its word. Now the US has had to back out completely and try to save face by blaming it on Russia, while the Russian military assists the Syrian military in driving Al Qaeda out of their remaining territory in Aleppo.Tom Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08454222098667643650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-19267450393066801632016-10-03T22:21:08.965-04:002016-10-03T22:21:08.965-04:00An old grumbling curmudgeon that rivals the grinch...An old grumbling curmudgeon that rivals the grinch who stole xmas. Good grief.<br />Regardless of who pays for them or why, the people on the ground pulling people from rubble and providing emergency medical care are courageous and doing good work. This is essentially the timeless definition of "good." I'd assume they are paid for with government money one way or the other, even if the government is malicious, the acts are good and done in the finest tradition of being non-partisan as possible as the red cross was before the red cross became a bureaucratic political mess. Everything is suspect in war, of course, but of all things to target as politically motivated and evil??? Maybe bombing and droning people has been weighing on Barry's conscience and he wants to do something to ensure he isn't paraded in front of a tribunal in the Hague or some new institution in Beijing in a few years.Ryan Harrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04815033054435303399noreply@blogger.com