666

Daniel Miller

Description

The purpose of this augmented lecturing screencast [Miller, D. (2020). 666. Cascade Journal of Knowledge, volume 1 (2), 8:52. https://doi.org/10.46290/cjok000010] is to discuss the concept of the numerical figure “six hundred sixty-six” found in the biblical book of Revelation (13:18). It is said to be “the number of the beast”—a monstrous, multi-headed creature of the apocalypse. In the public imagination, “666” has long been associated with two, supposedly interrelated, entities: “the Antichrist” and the biological son of Satan. In the view of biblical scholars, however, these associations are false. Rather, the number 666 is a numerological reference to a first-century Roman emperor who had harshly persecuted those who would come to be known as Christians.

Hebrew Literature,

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning,

History of Religion,

Biblical Studies,

Ancient Near Eastern culture, Biblical Studies, Archaeology

VIDEO

https://www.academia.edu/video/1qv7Xl?email_video_card=description-read-more&pls=RVP

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

The father of modern linguistics speaks exclusively to The London Economic about Donald Trump, Jeremy Corbyn and most pressingly: the climate crisis.

 by Adam Turner
April 24, 2021
in News



Noam Chomsky is among the world’s most eminent political rebels. For decades, his stark criticisms of the United States’ foreign policy have troubled presidents, both Republican and Democrat.

Just last year, the self-proclaimed anarchist called Donald Trump “the worst criminal in history” for his refusals to act on the climate crisis in a controversial interview with the socialist publication Jacobin Magazine.

Former president, Barack Obama, didn’t get off lightly either. He was in Chomsky’s bad books for waging a targeted “global assassination campaign” (Obama is estimated to have carried out 1,878 drone strikes over eight years) during his time as leader.


Even Joe Biden, who only took up office in January this year, was reprimanded early in his presidency for adopting Trump’s policy on Iran with “virtually no change”. Biden’s appointment of Richard Nephew – author of the book The Art of Sanctions – as Iran envoy particularly concerned to the renowned academic who believes the sanctions on Iran were “illegitimate in the first place”.

The father of modern linguistics

You’d think the 92-year-old would be tired of talking politics by now, but if YouTube is anything to go by, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The video sharing website’s recent pages are full of clips of him chatting with university students (he’s still a Laureate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona and Institute Professor Emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology or MIT), debating well-known journalists and looking bewildered as entrepreneurs ask questions about his beard.

After three years’ worth of emails, we sit down to chat on Zoom (his video calling preference). When he appears on the screen from his home in Tucson, Arizona, he looks, with his wispy grey hair and long and unkempt beard, like a modern-day Plato – sat in front of a packed bookshelf, displaying only one photo of him and his wife. Over the course of nearly an hour and a half, we discuss everything from activism and internationalism, Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, to Jeremy Corbyn and Joe Biden, as well as nuclear war and perhaps the most pressing matter of all: the climate crisis.

Born in Philadelphia in 1928, to say the ‘father of modern linguistics’ – a name given to him for his revolutionary theories in the field – has lived a full life would be the understatement of the century. He was brought up by Jewish immigrant parents, William (Ze’ev) Chomsky and Elsie Simonofsky, during the Great Depression – his father fled the Russian Empire to escape conscription in 1913. He listened to Hitler’s Nuremberg rallies over the radio as WW2 unfolded when he was a boy and rose to prominence in his 20s and 30s during the Vietnam War for his anti-war activism, which almost landed him in prison. “I was an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal trial and on track to be the main target of the next.”

The veteran activist also featured on Richard Nixon’s opponents list – an extension of his enemies list derived from prominent public figures (actors, academics, politicians etc.) he thought could be a threat to his presidency. But it was way before all of this that the professor became political.

“When I was four or five years old, I was beginning to think about these things [politics], and it never changed. I grew up in the depression. My early childhood memories were things like miserable people coming to the door trying to sell rags, women’s strikers being attacked by security forces. I was surrounded by things like that.”
Anarchist libertarian

It wasn’t just gloomy lived experiences that influenced his early political beliefs. His family played a big part too. Although his mother and father were centre-left politically, his uncle was more radical and had “been through every political party”. At 12, a young Noam would stay with him and his wife at the weekend. During his visits, he’d go to his uncle’s newsstand and listen to radical activists, some of whom had fled the Spanish Civil War. He’d spend the rest of his time dipping between anarchist bookstores and devouring political literature passed around Union Square – a hive for radical politics at the time.

Since establishing his views as a child, they’ve rarely wavered. He’s an anarchist-libertarian (an anti-authoritarian wing of the socialist movement) and has been since he cares to remember. When I ask him how he’s managed to stave off conservatism or cynicism, he says:

“I didn’t see any reason to be [more conservative]. My early beliefs seemed to be only partially formed; of course, they developed much more afterwards, when I learned more, but they seemed to basically be on the right track.”

When I ask him personal questions such as this, he’s polite and respectful, but his answers are curt. It’s as if he knows that our time in every sense of the word – is limited, and he’d prefer to reserve his energy for important subjects. However, he flows freely from one long, cultivated soliloquy to another discussing things like democracy, activism and the planet’s future. I guess it’s to be expected of a world-renowned linguist that’s dedicated his life to academia.

Chomsky is an exceptional scholar. He went to the University of Pennsylvania at 16 and later became a leading professor in linguistics. The author has also given speeches at events around the world and continues to do so virtually.

More recently, he co-authored a book with economist Robert Pollin, ‘Climate Crisis and the Green New Deal’, examining how to save the world from the climate crisis by laying out practical economic, humanitarian and technical solutions. His position on the topic is both clear and candid.

“We have maybe 20 or 30 years to see if human civilisation can survive, and we’re not doing it now. If we fail, if this generation fails, it’s basically saying, ‘it was nice having humans around for a couple of 100,000 years, but it’s over.”
“Lunacy, outright lunacy”

He’s talking about reducing carbon emissions to prevent a hothouse earth scenario, which would see the world hit its highest global temperature of any time in the past 1.2million years, making it, in his words, “unliveable”. Climate crisis is why the Paris Climate Agreement was set up in 2015. The International Treaty, signed by nearly 200 countries, aims to reduce carbon emissions and keep global temperatures well below 2.0C. However, Chomsky insists, “we’re nowhere meeting the promises.”

I ask him for his thoughts on another topical issue: nuclear weapons. More specifically, Boris Johnson’s plans to lift the cap on Trident (Britain’s nuclear deterrence). If reports are correct, the Prime Minister plans to increase nuclear warheads by 40%, which could break international law. The UK is a signatory of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) – a commitment for the government to gradual nuclear disarmament.

Is it dangerous?

“I wouldn’t say it’s just dangerous; it’s lunacy, outright lunacy. I mean it’s ludicrous for Britain to have a nuclear force altogether. It doesn’t defend Britain. In fact, it makes it a target; it contributes nothing to security. It’s a prestige thing. And along with heating the climate, nuclear war is a comparable threat, it’s a serious threat, very little discussed, but anyone who’s anywhere near the arms control community knows very well this is an extremely serious and growing threat.” he says.

The nonagenarian doesn’t think Johnson’s move will lead to an escalation from other countries because, in his words, “Britain no longer has the global role it once did”. He says the UK is now a “junior partner to the United States” – something he thinks will be accelerated because of Brexit. As his eyes flicker – perhaps as a signal of irritation – he moves on to Trump.

“During the Trump years, one of his great contributions was to tear to shreds the arms control regime, which had been painstakingly built up over 60 years, going back to Eisenhower. Piece after piece was dismantled. Trump was a wrecker,”

Chomsky isn’t a fan of Trump, he says “the most serious crimes he committed is the destruction of the acceleration of the use of fossil fuels and the elimination of regulatory apparatus. There’s nothing in comparison to that fact. And to be honest, and frank, that’s the worst crime in the history of the human race.”

I ask if he thinks Boris Johnson is going down a similar route.

“It’s not identical, it varies, but it’s too similar for comfort. I think developing the nuclear facilities is a case in point.”
“If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

While we’re on the subject of nuclear deterrence, I can’t help but ask about Jeremy Corbyn, who, depending on political leanings, was either the biggest threat to world peace or the saviour of humankind.

Would the world have been a safer place had Corbyn won the last general election in terms of nuclear threat?

“I think if Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course. I think his general positions were very reasonable. And I think that’s probably the reason for the extraordinary attack on him pretty much across the spectrum, with mostly fabricated charges of antisemitism. Anything that could be thrown at him was, it was a major assault. Again, pretty much across the spectrum, The Guardian, right-wing press, ‘we got to get rid of this guy’.

“I think that’s a sign, a reflection of the fact that he had very reasonable proposals. He was also doing something dangerous, he was trying to turn the Labour Party into an authentic political party, one that’s based on its constituents, not some bureaucracy somewhere that runs it and tells people how to vote. That’s scary. We don’t want to have authentic, popular based political parties around, they could be out of control.”

Although there is no doubt, the Labour Party has had serious problems with antisemitism. Last year, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) identified “serious failings in leadership and an inadequate process for handling antisemitism complaints across the Labour Party.” The 130-page report went on to conclude that “there were unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination for which the Labour Party is responsible.” The former Labour leader was embroiled in an antisemitism row of his own for appearing to support a graffiti artist whose antisemitic mural was removed from a wall – something he later apologised for.

I bring up the genuine concerns raised regarding the Labour Party’s and antisemitism, which some felt were dismissed by Corbyn.

“If you look at the facts, the Tory party has more antisemitism than the Labour Party. There’s something there, you know, you should deal with it. But it’s not even within shouting distance of the way the issue was presented. By now, there’s pretty careful analyses of it. And I think if you look at them, you find what we know in advance. Yes, there’s antisemitism in England. That’s a bad thing. We should deal with it. But it’s not in the Labour Party any more than anywhere else, probably less.

“But compared with, say, islamophobia, it doesn’t even come close. Okay, that’s acceptable. You’re allowed that. In fact, if you look at the famous international Holocaust Remembrance Association’s statement on antisemitism, which everybody’s supposed to accept, just take its provisions and think about them for a minute. It follows that almost everybody’s a hysterical islamophobe. The charges of what they call indications of antisemitism if you apply that to attitudes towards Islam and Muslims, it cuts a very wide swath.”

The current IHRA statement on antisemitism from its website reads:

‘Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.’

Chomsky, who has previously spoken of being subjected to antisemitism as a child, finishes with “antisemitism shouldn’t be vulgarised and politicised, turned into a weapon. It’s too serious for that.”
“Antisemitism shouldn’t be turned into a weapon”

Keir Starmer, the current Labour leader, declared that tackling antisemitism was his first priority as Labour leader. He followed through with his word when he sacked Rebecca Long-Bailey in summer 2020 for sharing an article that contained antisemitic conspiracy theories. Corbyn was later suspended himself for sharing a statement 30 minutes after the EHRC report claiming the scale of the antisemitism problem had been “overstated for political reasons”.

Starmer has since faced criticism from large swathes of dedicated Corbyn supporters, many of which feel the party is moving to more centre-ground and not acting as serious opposition to the current government. Those more sympathetic to the challenges he’s faced early in his premiership – namely a global pandemic – believe he’s adopting a similar strategy to Joe Biden by waiting until his opponent fails.

Wary that our time has run over by 36 minutes already, I ask if Starmer’s strategy is a good one.

“It’s a good strategy if you want to turn the Labour Party into a junior partner of the Tories. Pretty much like what Tony Blair did, it used to be called Thatcher light. If that’s what you want, fine. If you want a Labour Party that actually represents the working people of England, middle-class people of England, pursue their interests, it’s not the way to do it. It depends on what your goals are. It looks to me that Starmer’s is pretty much dismantling the activist Labour Party that the Corbyn people were trying to develop.”

It’s a statement that will thrill Corbynistas but probably won’t surprise Starmtroopers either. After all, Chomsky himself said he’d back Corbyn during the 2017 election campaign, and he’s hardly someone that’s tempted by moderate politics, although he did endorse Joe Biden.

Though he’s happy about the path he’s going down regarding the climate crisis, he’s not convinced it’s entirely original. “Biden’s programme is much better than any predecessor, not because of a religious conversion, because of very significant activist pressures, which have made a difference.”

After just over one hour 20 minutes, the interview draws to a close. He politely explains he has got to go, more appointments. I steal a second to ask one final question. Where does he see the world in 2050? His answer is unapologetically Chomsky-esque.

“Well, there’s one thing we can say, either we will have reached net-zero emissions by 2050, or we can pretty much say goodbye to each other.”

Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin’s book, ‘Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal’ is available here.

 

Hamas fires long-range missile at Ramon Airport (+VIDEOS)

TEHRAN, May 13 (MNA) – The spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades said the armed wing has for the first time fired a rocket towards Ramon Airport south of the country.

“The Ayyash 250 missile, with a range greater than 250km has been launched at Ramon Airport, about 220km from Gaza,” Abu Obeida said.

The rocket is named after Yahya Ayyash, one of Hamas’s leading operatives before he was assassinated by Israel regime in 1996.

Abu Obeida called the rocket launching part of the Al-Qassam Brigades’ response to the killing of its senior commanders.

Sirens go off warning of rocket attacks at Tel Aviv

The Zionist media reported sirens went off warning of rocket attacks following a large-scale rocket attack by Resistance forces on Tel Aviv. 

Al-Qassam Brigades said it had targeted Tel Aviv, Beersheba and Netivot, as well as Tel Nof and Nevatim airbases.

Israeli TV Channel 12 reports that in the new round of attacks by the Palestinian Resistance, more than 100 rockets were fired at the occupied territories.

It also reported that three people were injured in the town of Kiryat Gat.

Our weapons are for sake of our land, to defend our people: Hamas

The spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, warned Israel there are “no red lines if al-Aqsa is violated”.

Abu Obeida said the decision to bomb Dimona, Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities “is easier for us than drinking water”.

“We reassure our people that we have more rockets in our inventory, and our missile strikes have revealed the enemy’s fragility,” he said.

Abu Obedia said the Israeli army will sorely regret carrying out a ground invasion.

“Our weapons are for our land, for the defense of our people and victory for our sanctities,” the military spokesman said,

“What distinguishes this battle is the solidarity of the Palestinians across the country and their unanimous support for resistance.”

Gaza martyrs rise to 83 as Israeli air raids intensify

The number of Palestinians martyred in the Gaza Strip has now risen to 83, including 17 children, the local health ministry has said. 

Israeli fighters jet bomb high-rise buildings and other targets in Gaza while violence also spreads within the occupied territories, Al-Jazeera reported.

Since the Israeli offensive began late on Monday, Gaza’s health ministry says at least 83 people, including 17 children, have been martyred. More than 480 others have been wounded.

Israeli army vehicle hit by rocket

Palestinian news sources reported that a Kornet anti-tank missile hit a military vehicle of the Israeli army in southern Gaza.

Sources say several Zionist forces appear to have been killed in the attack. The exact number of casualties in this attack has not been reported yet.

Yesterday, the Resistance forces fired two Kornet missiles at the Israeli military vehicles, in which four Zionist forces were seriously wounded and one was killed.

Israeli army wounds 35 in occupied West Bank

At least 35 Palestinians were wounded in confrontations with the Israeli army in various locations in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera reported.

According to Al-Jazeera's correspondent, the majority of people were hit by live ammunition and that most injuries occurred in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

“It was an exceptionally high number of injuries by live fire which shows us that the situation could be escalating rapidly,” the correspondent added.

Zionists bomb high-rise buildings as Gaza marks Eid al-Fitr

Israeli fighter jets have attacked high-rise buildings and other targets in the Gaza Strip as Palestinians in the besieged enclave woke up on Thursday to mark Eid al-Fitr under relentless aerial bombardment.

At least six Zionists have also been killed. The Israeli army said hundreds of rockets have been fired from Gaza towards various locations in Israel and they have added reinforcements near the enclave’s eastern lands.

There have also been more violent confrontations between Israelis and Palestinian citizens in several cities inside the occupied lands.

Zionist regime shuts Ben Gurion Airport to incoming flights

The Zionist regime's air officials said Thursday that incoming passenger flights would be diverted from Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv to Ramon Airport outside Eilat in the south.

Following Palestinian Resistance rocket attacks on Tel Aviv, the Zionist regime shut Ben Gurion Airport to incoming flights and diverted them from Ben Gurion Airport to Ramon Airport outside Eilat in the south.

It said guidelines were in place for passenger planes to land at Ramon Airport near the southern resort city of Eilat from early on Thursday.

Israeli army says attacked 600 targets in Gaza in 3 days

The Israeli army says it has attacked more than 600 targets in Gaza since the start of the recent fighting against the Palestinians.

According to Al-Jazeera, the Israeli army claimed that 13 missiles were fired from Gaza at Israel from 9 pm last night until this morning, with the Iron Dome intercepting several missiles; But the regime did not release information on the number of missiles that hit the target.

On the other hand, the Joint Operations Room of the Palestinian Resistance Groups announced that on the second day of the clashes with the Zionist enemy, it fired 300 missiles and rockets towards the occupied territories.

Zionist attack on Gaza leaves 72 martyred, incl. 17 children

The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced on Thursday that the number of martyrs in the Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip increased to 72.

The Ministry of Health announced on Thursday morning that the number of martyrs in the brutal Zionist attacks on the Gaza Strip had reached 72, including 17 children and 6 women.

The number of injured has also increased to 390, including 115 children and 50 women.

Palestinian Resistance fires 1,500 rockets at occupied lands

The Israeli army estimates that the number of rockets and missiles fired by resistance groups from the Gaza Strip in the last three days has reached 1,500.

A statement issued by the Israeli army claimed that the regime's fighter jets, helicopters and artillery had targeted more than 600 positions in the Gaza Strip over the past three days.

The Zionist regime claims that these targets belonged to the Islamic Jihad Movements and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance (Hamas).

According to the Times of Israel, the regime's army acknowledged that more than 1,500 rockets and missiles had been fired from the Gaza Strip towards the occupied territories, adding that at least five Zionists had been killed and more than 100 injured.

Zionist regime intensifies attacks on various areas of Gaza

Stating that the Zionist regime's attacks are focused on important infrastructure and roads in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian media reported the regime intensified its attack of various areas of Gaza.

News sources in the Gaza Strip say that the Zionist regime has been carrying out heavy airstrikes and artillery attacks in the north, center and south of the Gaza Strip since the early hours of Thursday morning.

The Palestinian Shehab News Agency reported that the building of the Islamic National Bank and other financial institutions in the Gaza Strip have been targeted by Zionist attacks.

"Israeli enemy planes are targeting various areas in the Gaza Strip, including Jabalia and Sheikh Zayed," Shehab correspondent reported from the Gaza Strip.

"Israeli planes are targeting the main roads connecting the provinces of the Gaza Strip," the news agency said, adding that the Sheikh Zayed region alone has been targeted by Zionists more than 30 times in recent minutes.

The Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas had set a deadline for the Zionist military to leave Al-Aqsa Mosque by 6 o'clock local time Monday and free the Palestinians who have been arrested.

Clashes between the Palestinian resistance and the Zionist regime began on Monday after the deadline expired.

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News Code 173391