U.S. Linguist Noam Chomsky Compares Colin Powell to Von Ribbentrop and the U.S. to Nazi Germany

Following are excerpts from a show featuring American linguist Noam Chomsky, which aired on Press TV and was posted on the Internet on January 29, 2013.

Interviewer: How important was the principle of "starting a war of aggression," as we talked about earlier, or a "crime against peace," in the proceedings at Nuremberg that led to the hanging on many Nazis? Can the International Criminal Court prosecute these crimes?

Noam Chomsky: Yes, it was a major factor in the hanging of Nazi war criminals. In fact, if you look closely, it seems more pertinent to the present. So von Ribbentrop, the Foreign Minister – one of the charges against him was that he supported a preemptive war against Norway. The Nazis knew that the British were thinking of invading from Norway, so they preempted it and established a quisling government there. That was one of the crimes against von Ribbentrop.

How about Colin Powell? He justified a preemptive war against no threat. So if von Ribbentrop was hanged...You know...Okay, fill it out.

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There was one interesting response [to the targeted killing of Osama Bin Laden] from a well-known, left liberal, young political analyst, Matthew Yglesias, who said this was extremely naïve, because the whole purpose of international law is to legitimize the use of force by the Western Powers – meaning the United States. Well, he is not wrong. It's nice to have somebody say the words. But what he is saying is: "Look, forget all the rhetoric. This is pure farce. We are just like the Nazis. We do what we like."

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