Unplugged Mike

Friday, October 24, 2003

I made the New York Times! This letter appeared in the October 22nd issue. It is in response to a Paul Krugman piece written about the antisemitic comments of Mahathir Mohamed, the can't-retire-too-soon Prime Minister of Malaysia. I felt, as I think many did, that Krugman placed blame in the wrong place and misread the situation. The link for the letter will probably be good only for about a week.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/22/opinion/L22SEMI.html

To the Editor:

Much as I would like to believe, as Paul Krugman suggests ("Listening to Mahathir," column, Oct. 21), that Mahathir Mohamad's anti-Semitic speech was merely a result of President Bush's foreign policy, I believe that the blame lies elsewhere.

The standing ovation the Malaysian prime minister received and the subsequent defense of his remarks by almost all the participants at the meeting of Muslim leaders suggests that rather than feeding his Muslim public "rhetorical red meat," the Malaysian leader was simply restating anti-Semitic beliefs that are unfortunately popular throughout the Muslim world, even in so-called moderate states like Malaysia.

MICHAEL BRENNER
New York, Oct. 21, 2003

Krugman's original may be found here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/21/opinion/21KRUG.html