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that the U.S. is trying to put together? We should not forget that the U.S. itself is a leading terrorist state. What about the alliance between the U.S., Russia, China, Indonesia, Egypt, Algeria, all of whom are delighted to see an international system develop sponsored by the U.S. which will authorize them to carry out their own terrorist atrocities? Russia, for example, would be very happy to have U.S. backing for its murderous war in Chechnya. You have the same Afghanis fighting against Russia, also probably carryingout terrorist acts within Russia. As would perhaps India, in Kashmir. Indonesia would be delighted to have support for its massacres in Aceh. Algeria, as just announced on the broadcast we heard, would be delighted to have authorization to extend its own state terrorism. [ Editor’s note: The broadcast Chomsky is referring to was the news report that aired immediately before his and Barsamian’s live interview on KGNU ( Boulder, Colorado ).] The same with China, fighting against separatist forces in its western provinces, including “Afghanis” who China and Iran had organized to fight the war against the Russians, beginning maybe as early as 1978, some reports indicate. And that runs through the world.
    Not everyone will be admitted so easily into the coalition, however: we must, after all, maintain some standards. “The Bush administration warned [on October 6] that the leftist Sandinista party in Nicaragua, which hopes to return to power in elections next month, has maintained ties” with terrorist states and organizations, and therefore “cannot be counted on to support the international antiterrorism coalition the administration has been attempting to forge” (George Gedda, AP, October 6). “As we stated previously there is no middle ground between those who oppose terrorism and those who support it,” State Department spokeswoman Eliza Koch declared. Though the Sandinistas claim to have “abandoned the socialist policies and anti-American rhetoric of the past, Koch’s statement [of October 6] indicated the administration has doubts about the claims of moderation.” Washington’s doubts are understandable. After all, Nicaragua had so outrageouslyattacked the U.S. that Ronald Reagan was compelled to declare a “national emergency” on May 1, 1985, renewed annually, because “the policies and actions of the Government of Nicaragua constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.” He also announced an embargo against Nicaragua “in response to the emergency situation created by the Nicaraguan Government’s aggressive activities in Central America,” namely its resistance to U.S. attack; the World Court dismissed as groundless Washington’s claims of other activities. A year earlier, Reagan had designated May 1 as “Law Day,” a celebration of our “200-year-old partnership between law and liberty,” adding that without law there can be only “chaos and disorder.” The day before, he celebrated Law Day by announcing that the United States would disregard the proceedings of the World Court, which went on to condemn his administration for its “unlawful use of force” and violation of treaties in its attack against Nicaragua, instantly escalated in response to the Court order to terminate the crime of international terrorism. Outside the U.S., of course, May 1 is a day of solidarity with the struggles of American workers.
    It is, then, understandable that the U.S. should seek firm guarantees of good behavior before allowing a Sandinista-led Nicaragua to join the alliance of the just led by Washington, which is now welcoming others to join the war it has been waging against terrorism for 20 years: Russia, China, Indonesia, Turkey, and other worthy states, though of course not everyone.
    Or, take the “Northern Alliance” that the U.S. and Russiaare now jointly supporting. This is mostly a collection of warlords who