At 3:33, having prefaced his remarks by saying his friends in Argentina were careful to point out theirs was a democracy and not to be confused with other countries in South America, Diamond says “The military government [of Argentina] stayed in power for 17 years, smashed world records for sadism…”
Let’s just unpack that shall we?
What could have possibly happened around that time frame (1970s) in Argentina? Did the whole nation fall apart all by itself? Good golly just look at all those coups d’état:
So first we learn that Argentina had a history of coups d’état in the 20th century. How many coups d’état did the U.S. have in the 20th century? Ought we count the Kennedy Assassination? Even if you answer “yes” the answer is one, not six. Hmm. Perhaps the comparison of Argentina’s timeline to our own timeline is not a perfect overlap but maybe there’s a teachable moment of three. Moving on then…
Could there have been U.S. involvement in the any of these coups in Argentina?
In 2005, Diamond was ranked ninth on a poll by Prospect and Foreign Policy of the world’s top 100 public intellectuals.
(oh dear oh dear, top 100 eh?) … I take issue with the facts he elides–or perhaps were elided for him by the makers of this Big Think/YouTube video–seem to be important and worthy of putting in context, given his discussion.
And… was it only Argentina to have suffered (and may yet still) the attentions of the U.S. CIA? No, it was not:
… and so on. Between Wikipedia’s and Howard Zinn’s cataloguing of CIA “involvement” in “regime change” in other countries:
… I’d say that context counts for an awful lot, Mr. Diamond.
Can we please now talk about what nations are bringing their own forces to bear on the current regime we have in the White House right now? Can we get the man to opine on U.S. immediate history in retrospect and prospect regarding
?
Is this the part where the rest of the world chorus sings “Turnabout Is Fair Play”?
