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Linguist and progressive intellectual Nom Chomsky (94), a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has been controversial for arguing that Ukraine should yield to Russia’s demands to avoid catastrophic nuclear war.
According to the Israeli daily Jerusalem Post on the 17th (current time), Chomsky said in an interview with Current Affair magazine recently, “We need to pay attention to the real situation in the world. The possibility of nuclear war is inherent,” he said.
“I vividly remember the shock of the moment the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, when I was young,” he said. He said it was an option for resolving the Ukraine crisis. He continued, “I am not criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (who insists on fighting back). He is a respectable person and shows great courage.” It’s a story worth paying attention to,” he added.
Prof. Chomsky, who is regarded as a journalist and the founder of transformational generative grammar, has established himself as a critical intellectual representing the United States while vehemently condemning the US policy during the Vietnam War in the 1970s. He is a Jew and was born in Ukraine.
However, there are positive evaluations that such a claim shows the diversity of American society, as he has mainly been active in the United States. On the other hand, there are concerns that Putin’s invasion might be justified.
“Facing to the reality that the only alternative is a diplomatic solution,” he said, “may be ugly, opening a way out for Russian President Vladimir Putin and a handful of his aides.” The basic framework for diplomatic negotiations is “neutralization of Ukraine, perhaps granting a high degree of autonomy to the Donbas region within the structure of the Ukrainian Federation.” did.
“You may not like these negotiations,” Chomsky said. “Even if you don’t like the fact that a hurricane is coming tomorrow, you can’t stop hurricanes from coming by saying, ‘I don’t like hurricanes’ or ‘I don’t approve of hurricanes’.” did.
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