Author: Peter Ludlow

That Friend You’re Not Supposed to Have

That Friend You’re Not Supposed to Have

Posted by | Jul 4, 2026 | |

When Noam Chomsky’s name appeared in the Epstein files, there was, not surprisingly, quite a bit of discussion. Much of that discussion came in the form of criticism of Chomsky for his friendship with Epstein. I’ll get to that criticism and whether it landed, but what was most interesting to me was that, woven into the criticism, was a certain perspective about the nature of friendship itself. And I have to confess that the perspective troubled me. It prompted me to write this essay, which isn’t really about Chomsky and Epstein. It’s about friendship — what it is, what...

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MADURO’S VENEZUELA

Posted by | Mar 29, 2019 | |

Maduro’s Venezuela Peter Ludlow Over the last few weeks I’ve been surprised and puzzled by some of the social media posts about the situation in Venezuela. People that I ordinarily take to be intelligent have been filling my newsfeed with posts suggesting that somehow Maduro is very popular with the Venezuelan people. What really puzzled me, though, were posts that suggested that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was a sell-out because she refused to support Maduro and wanted to not take sides. My view is that AOC is right here: We should not take sides. While I argue below that Maduro’s presidency is illegitimate, that he is corrupt, and that he is deeply unpopular with the Venezuelan people, that doesn’t mean the United States or Western powers should be involved. Given its history in the Americas, I don’t see that the US has any moral standing to get involved. But that doesn’t mean people should be supporting or cheering on Maduro. The man is an inept, corrupt, two-bit despot. Can I back that up? Hold my beer. Now, as people correctly point out, Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. So, a lot of these recent events perhaps ARE being driven by US and other Western corporate interests. There is no denying that. But it does not follow that we should support Maduro. To the contrary, the socialist left...

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