Parenti posting is cringe. If you're going to defend state capitalism, at least don't hang your hat on a lightweight polemicist whose books are chock full of historical errors. There are plenty of Russian historians out there who have engaged with the primary sources and are willing to make the same arguments about Stalin and Milosevic. It still doesn't convince me, but at least it's a respectable historical project.
Parenti posting is like a reddit neoliberal quoting Guns, Germs and Steel instead of the vast library of much better qualified academic ghouls who exist to justify pretty much every aspect of imperialism without the whole "ornithologist writing academic history" vibe.
This is the first I've heard of this debate with Hitchens. Did he do poorly? His arguments sound decent from this summary.
Also lmao at this sentence.
Parenti, an author and Pulitzer Prize nominee, has taken an unwaveringly liberal and generally negative, stance on US foreign policy over the past 25 years.
Parenti posting is cringe. If you're going to defend state capitalism, at least don't hang your hat on a lightweight polemicist whose books are chock full of historical errors. There are plenty of Russian historians out there who have engaged with the primary sources and are willing to make the same arguments about Stalin and Milosevic. It still doesn't convince me, but at least it's a respectable historical project.
Parenti posting is like a reddit neoliberal quoting Guns, Germs and Steel instead of the vast library of much better qualified academic ghouls who exist to justify pretty much every aspect of imperialism without the whole "ornithologist writing academic history" vibe.
counterpoint: parenti is cool and good actually.
You may think so, I haven't forgiven him for his performance in the Iraq war debate.
This is the first I've heard of this debate with Hitchens. Did he do poorly? His arguments sound decent from this summary.
Also lmao at this sentence.
Wrong
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This is the correct take.