One of the most remarkable things about Noam Chomsky is his ability to distance himself from conventional assumptions and biases. Throughout his career, not only in his political writings but also his work in linguistics and the philosophy of language, he engages in thought-experiments which ask what conclusions an objective observer, a Martian, for instance, would draw were he to examine the problem at hand without the usual biases and presuppositions. This strategy is on display once again in a characteristically insightful piece by Chomsky recently posted on Alternet entitled “Why the US and Israel are the greatest threats to peace.” He invites us to consider what we would think of the current ominous conflict between Israel and Iran if we looked at the situation objectively or–even more unimaginable–from a point of view in which we were allied with Iran not Israel.
Those who can, even momentarily, free their minds from conventional orthodoxies might read this recent statement from the Iranian Deputy Ambassador to the UN and ask themselves whether or not what he says (ignoring the bad English translation) is sensible and correct.
