No Good Intentions

Phil interviews Stephen Gowans, Canadian political blogger at "What's Left." In his brand-new article on Syria, "Cruelty with a Point: The Continuing Immiseration of Syria," Gowans points out that liberal critics of US foreign policy, such as Joshua Landis and Steven Simon, believe that US foreign policy is basically benevolent, bringing democracy and prosperity to the world. Sometimes, however, they argue that US foreign policies are misguided, as on Syria, and end up as pointlessly cruel, creating starvation, sickness, and death. These liberals miss the point that the USA is an empire whose goal of hegemony requires continuous acts of cruelty, such as sanctions and military interventions. Gowans points out that US sanctions, for example, have been leveled on Syria 1979. It backed a rebellion in Syria in 1982, it started a proxy war for regime-change in 2011. Its latest regime of 'Caesar Sanctions' have tanked the Syrian currency, and caused widespread hunger. Landis and Simon neglect to mention that Washington's Long War on Syria (the title of Gowans' book) are flagrantly illegal, and in violation of Syrian sovereignty.