Chomsky on Anarchism.pdf - Zine Library

OBJECTIVITY AND LIBERAL SCHOLARSHIP
A second alternative would be neutralization of Thailand and orher nations
in Southeast Asia. This also is irrational. For one thing. "the withdrawal of the
American military presence would not be matched by the removal of any
Communist fo rces"-there being no nonindigenous Communist forces-and
therefore we would gain nothing by this strategy. Furthermore. we could never
be certain that there would not be "infiltration of Communist insurgents in
the future." And finally, "the Thai leaders have decided to cooperate with the
United States," for reasons that are hardly obscure.
A third alternative would be [0 use our power in Thailand to "push political
and economic reforms." Bur this policy alternative would "do great damage
to American strategy in Thailand and other non-Communist nations."
And what is more, "extensive interference in the domestic affairs of other
nations, no maHer how well imentioned, is contrary to American uaditions,"
as our pOSl:War record in Thailand clearly demonstrates.43
Therefore, we must turn to the fo urth alternative, and maimain our present
policy. "This alternative is probably the most rational and realistic. The
military policy can be enhanced if it is realized that only American military
power is capable of preventing large-scale overt aggression in Southeast Asia,
and the proper role fo r the Thai armed fo rces is to be prepared to cope with
limited guerrilla warfare."
38 This exposition of United States policy in Thailand and the directions it
should take conforms rather well to the general lines of pragmatic liberalism as
drawn by Hilsman, among others. It also indicates clearly the hope that we
offer today to the countries on the fringes of Asia. Vietnam may be an aberration.
Our impact on Thailand, however, can hardly be attributed to [he politics
of inadvertence.
An imeresting sidelight is Darling's explanation in Thailand and the United
States of how, in an earlier period, "the Western concept of the rule of law" was
disseminated through American influence. "Evidence that some officials were
ob£aining an understanding of the rule of law was revealed" by the statement
of a Thai minister who poimed out that "it is essemial to the prosperity of a
nation that it should have fixed laws, and that nobles should be restrained from
oppressing the people, otherwise the laner were like chickens, who instead of
being kept for their eggs, were killed off." In its international behavior as well,
the Thai government came to understand the necessity fo r the rule of law: "A
growing respect for law was also revealed in the adherence of the Thai government
to the unequal restrictions contained in the treaties with the Western
nations in spite of the heavy burden they imposed on the finances of the kingdom."
This is all said without irony. In fact, the examples clarify nicely what
the "rule of law" means to weak nations, and to the exploited in any society.
Darling, Hilsman, and many others whom I have been discussing represent
the moderate liberal wing of scholarship on international affairs. It may be use-