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November 2002

ISBN:
1-58367-081-5
$15.95 paper


ISBN:
1-58367-082-3
$55.00 cloth

128 pp.

Current Events/International Relations

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THE CLASH OF BARBARISMS

September 11 and the Making of the New
World Disorder

by Gilbert Achcar

A NOTE FROM HOWARD ZINN TO GILBERT ACHCAR
“Thanks so much for THE CLASH OF BARBARISMS. I read it on the flight back to Boston and was thoroughly taken by it. From the start, to talk about two barbarisms immediately overturns the traditional perspective, and opens up avenues of understanding. I like very much your analysis of ‘narcissistic compassion.’ And your history of US-Saudi relations is important and instructive — I learned a good deal from it. Yes, each civilization has its own barbarism. And I like the way you deal with terrorism, and get at its political roots. I believe as you do that this Achilles will be found vulnerable.”
— HOWARD ZINN

“This inquiry into the probable shape of things to come is sober, uncompromising, deeply-informed, and full of provocative insights and judicious analyses.”
— NOAM CHOMSKY

“The most forceful, most rigorous text that there is to read on this war.”
— LE MONDE DIPLOMATIQUE

The shift in the U.S. global role precipitated by the events of September 11, 2001—although the events were unexpected—was a long time in the making. In this challenging work, Gilbert Achcar analyzes how this shift came about and examines its fateful consequences.

Achcar’s Clash of Barbarisms traces the rise of militant and anti-Western Islamic fundamentalism to its roots in U.S. policies aimed at control of the oil reserves of the Middle East, and above all, Saudi Arabia—the “Muslim Texas.” Achcar examines the political premises of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda and shows how these led to the massive miscalculation of the September 11 attacks, with results both politically counterproductive and morally reprehensible.

The major result of this miscalculation has been to complete a shift from the vision of a world order based on international law and respecting the rights of strong and weak nations alike, announced by George Bush, Sr., in 1990, to the world order being created by the administration of George W. Bush today, in which the United States asserts its own power and pursues its interests without regard for law or rights. In this context, we are living through a “clash of barbarisms” indeed.

This important and timely work is already scheduled for publication in French, English, German, Turkish, and Korean. It draws on first-hand knowledge of the Middle East, but looks beyond immediate events to clarify their geopolitical bases.

Table of Contents

Introduction: From One September 11th to Another
Chapter One: Narcissistic Compassion and Global Spectacle
Chapter Two: Oil, Religion, Fanaticism, and Frankensteins
Chapter Three: Hatred, Barbarisms, Asymmetry and Anomie
Conclusion: Leviathan and the Presidents
Notes
Index

About the Author
GILBERT ACHCAR lived in Lebanon, before moving to France in 1983. He teaches Politics and International Relations at the University of Paris– VIII and is a frequent contributor to Le Monde Diplomatique. He is the author of several books on contemporary politics published in French, and editor of The Legacy of Ernest Mandel (Verso, 1999).

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