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Turkey Upsets the West's Cozy 'War on Terror'

Posted Oct 23, 07 3:09 PM CDT in World 

(Newser) – Why is Turkey's possible incursion into northern Iraq so unsettling for the West? For Slavoj Zizek, writing in the Guardian today, it's not just that it might upset Iraqi stability—things are pretty bad already—but that it disturbs our notion of who is allowed to make war to prevent "terrorist activities." In short, "we" are.

The philosopher contends the West believes it is not making war, but rather defending universal human rights, when it invades sovereign nations. But to see another country do the same is unbearable. "It is as if an intruder has gate-crashed the closed circle of 'we'," Zizek writes. If anything, the Turkish threat can help us to understand just how closed and circumscribed that "we" truly is.

Source Guardian (UK)

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Turkish soldiers patrol the area near the Turkey-Iraq border, in the province of Sirnak, Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007 Arab nations joined the U.S. and Europe in urging Turkey's government not to attack suspected...   (Associated Press)
Turkish people wave national flags as they protest against the separatist Kurdish rebel group, the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007. Turkey's foreign minister...   (Associated Press)
Turks waving national flags take part in a protest against the separatist Kurdish rebel group of PKK, the Kurdistan Workers Party, in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007. Turkey's Foreign Minister...   (Associated Press)
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