28 October 2015

One book that it will be my pleasure not to read

This time it is just a bit more than a random quote from a nonsensical blurb. It is about a book of a relatively well know Assajew, who has already passed the red line between a well-meaning fellow traveler and an antisemitic kapo. I am talking about one Antony Loewenstein, whose latest opus is Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing Out of Catastrophe.


Here is (part of) what the book's blurb has to say:
Best-selling journalist Antony Loewenstein trav­els across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, the United States, Britain, Greece, and Australia to witness the reality of disaster capitalism. He discovers how companies such as G4S, Serco, and Halliburton cash in on or­ganized misery in a hidden world of privatized detention centers, militarized private security, aid profiteering, and destructive mining. Disaster has become big business. Talking to immigrants stuck in limbo in Britain or visiting immigration centers in America, Loewenstein maps the secret networks formed to help cor­porations bleed what profits they can from economic crisis.
Interesting, innit?

But this post is not exactly about the book itself, rather about a totally hilarious list of raving hosannas sung by... but why should I spoil your pleasure? Here they come:
“Chilling study, based on careful and courageous reporting, and illuminated with perceptive analysis, helps us understand all too well the saying that man is a wolf to man.” – Noam Chomsky

“A journey into a world of mutated economics and corrupt politics that we ignore at our peril.” – John Pilger

“The forces of disaster capitalism are increasingly on the defensive, but their attacks on the global commons have expanded in the years since I wrote The Shock Doctrine. I am very grateful that Antony Loewenstein has brought his meticulous reporting to this subject, and the result is a keenly observed and timely investigation into rampant resource plunder, privatized detention centers, and an array of other forms of corporate rapacity on four continents. This book will serve as a potent weapon for shock resistors around the world.” – Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything and The Shock Doctrine

“A devastating, incisive follow-up to Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine.” – Jeremy Scahill
Methinks that Baron Munchausen would have been happy to have the same list of references to a book of his stories...

Anyway, as a reference about Mr Loewenstein - a piece by Richard Millet, where he produces a (revolting) audio recording showing what kind of creep is Loewenstein. And here it comes in text form:
I asked it of Antony Loewenstein tonight at SOAS. Loewenstein ("As an atheist non-practising Jew") has co-edited a book advocating "One State".
Of course the 'One State' antisemites can never answer my question. Loewenstein at first tried to turn the tables on me by asking me a question. But I pressed him. Was it one million? Two million?
"Six million" came back the answer with a smirk. How utterly despicable - and from a man who then said - without a hint of irony - "I have spent my life fighting antisemitism"! (He also said that Iran is no threat to Israel!).
Yep.

0 comments: