tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post1472504532350617188..comments2024-03-06T06:34:42.881-05:00Comments on EconoSpeak: Ben Rhodes Has Been Stupid And Irresponsible Regarding IranUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-1999666036005403992016-05-11T17:22:31.729-04:002016-05-11T17:22:31.729-04:00As it turns out, David Samuals, the author of the ...As it turns out, David Samuals, the author of the piece, was also the subject. Debating Ben Rhodes in light of that article is nonsense on both sides:<br />http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/05/10-problems-with-nyt-mags-ben-rhodes-profile.htmlThornton Hallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11402495641975262697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-61134198435260758702016-05-11T01:39:59.727-04:002016-05-11T01:39:59.727-04:00Funny thing about the author is that in 2009 he wa...Funny thing about the author is that in 2009 he was supporting bombing Iran. Go figure.rosserjb@jmu.eduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300046915843554101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-52769861782516704892016-05-10T01:14:46.794-04:002016-05-10T01:14:46.794-04:00I have gleaned that the article was a mix of what...I have gleaned that the article was a mix of what Rhodes said and what the reporter thought, and it's hard to tell them apart. If the gist is that Rhodes thinks the press are a bunch of juvenile muppets, and the foreign policy establishment a circle-jerk of received wisdom, then he's surely right but unwise to say so.<br /><br />The hoo-ha about the Iran deal is typical Beltway self-absorption. It was a multi-lateral deal, and the other parties are not about to unwind it on US say-so. Nor, given other US interests, would it be sensible to do so. But that won't stop the noise.Peter Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13289172253358199028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-31263835371199289612016-05-09T21:32:31.516-04:002016-05-09T21:32:31.516-04:00I agree in general with Obama's critique of es...I agree in general with Obama's critique of establishment foreign policy, and I think his views are closer to Bernie's than to Hillary's more hawkish ones, even though she was involved with those initial negotiations with the Iranian hardliners, and she has strongly supported the nuclear deal with Iran publicly, while disagreeing openly about some other matters, notably Syria.<br /><br />I would note that sometimes atheists know more than believers because they have spent a lot of effort thinking about what it is they do not believe. Really.rosserjb@jmu.eduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300046915843554101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-38945125825018318172016-05-09T17:47:27.755-04:002016-05-09T17:47:27.755-04:00The big picture is this: if you read the long piec...The big picture is this: if you read the long piece by Jeffery Goldberg in conversation with Obama, it is obvious that Obama sees thru and rejects the foreign policy consensus that has barely changed since the end of the Cold War, let alone realized how totally wrong it was about that conflict, ironically imagining that Marx was right about the threat to democratic social democracy. <br /><br />That establishment treats phrases like "American credibility" and "national interest" as well defined terms of art that can be used to understand the world without the need to look behind them. Obama looks behind them. It's not hard. <br /><br />Like all wrong paradigms, it looks absurdly stupid from the outside. But folks within the faith will always be able to correct the details of those without. Atheists are not well known for their encyclopedic knowledge of dogma. And having seen that the emperors have no clothes, he is prone to hubristic pronouncements. <br /><br />Academic economics is the same way. How not to sound mocking and juvenile when the smartest people in the room debate recipes for orienting the broken clock of mechanical economics toward the proper time of Darwinian reality?Thornton Hallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11402495641975262697noreply@blogger.com