441. Tom Farer's Crisis of U.S. Liberalism
- Author:
- Paul Taylor
- Publication Date:
- 01-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Human Rights and Human Welfare - Review Essays
- Institution:
- Josef Korbel Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver
- Abstract:
- Confronting Global Terrorism is an account of the agenda for dealing with terrorism as it faces a concerned liberal in the early twenty-first century. The response to the appearance of terrorism, and the role of the U.S. Neo-Conservatives (Neocons) in determining how this response was made, and how badly, correctly heads the list of agenda items for Farer. But it is also necessary to deal with some of the other causes of the increasing problem of terrorism. One problem is that of how to deal with minorities in developed democracies—not much more to be said on this in these comments, except that Farer's judgments are profound and absolutely correct. Another is the problem of the Middle East, which must be seen as being at the core of the problems surrounding global terrorism facing us all, including the Neocons. Farer has produced a profound and courageous chapter on Palestinian-Israeli relations, since what he has to say is bound to irritate the more blinkered pro-Israelis in the U.S. For them, it should be required reading. The points made seem incontestable: that the balance of guilt for the awful situation is at least as much that of the Israelis as the Palestinians, and that there can be no solution unless Israel returns to the pre-1967 frontiers and accepts the internationalization of Jerusalem. All of this is backed up with detailed evidence and strong legal argument. I doubt, however, whether the Neocons will be persuaded.
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine