Michel Chossudovsky

Michel Chossudovsky (born 1946) is a Canadian economist.

He is professor of economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa. Chossudovsky has been a visiting professor internationally, and has been an advisor to governments of developing countries. In 1999, Chossudovsky joined the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research as an adviser.^[1] He is the author of The Globalization of Poverty and The New World Order (2003) and America's "War on Terrorism" (2005) and Towards a World War III Scenario: The Dangers of Nuclear War (2011).^[1][2][3]

Biography

Chossudovsky is the son of the career United Nations diplomat and academic Evgeny Chossudovsky (1914–2006).^[4] Raised in Geneva, he is a graduate of the University of Manchester, and obtained a PhD at the University of North Carolina.

Chossudovsky joined the University of Ottawa in 1968.^[5] He was a visiting professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile during the 1970-1973 government of Salvador Allende, and it was the effects of General Augusto Pinochet's post-coup policies which first sparked an interest in "economic repression".^[5] Pinochet's government among other measures quadrupled the price of bread, and Chossudovsky set out to examine the social effects, concluding that the government was engaging not merely in conventional political repression, but also in "economic repression". Chossudovsky subsequently examined these types of economic policies in a wide range of countries, often associated with International Monetary Fund and/or World Bank programs. One of Chossudovsky's policy conclusions was the corrosive effect of tax havens, which he argued in a world of increasingly mobile capital had facilitated the "criminalization" of the global economy through movements of large amounts of drug money and other illegal finance: "This critical drain of billions of dollars in capital flight dramatically reduces state tax revenues, paralyses social programs, drives up budget deficits and spurs the accumulation of large public debts."^[5]

In 2011 Chossudovsky founded the Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG), located in Montreal, Canada, becoming its editor and director. It is "committed to curbing the tide of globalisation and disarming the new world order".^[6] CRG maintains websites in several languages, including the English-language GlobalResearch.ca, which are critical of United States foreign policy and NATO as well as the official explanation of the September 11 attacks in 2001 and the war on terror. They are also concerned with media disinformation, poverty and social inequality, the global economic crisis, and politics and religion.

More recently, Chossudovsky has reported that the Ghouta chemical attacks in Syria are a "false flag"; that the USA is fighting for Al Qaeda in Syria; and that Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden are American false-flag operations.^[7][8]

Criticism

A 2005 article in The Jewish Tribune has criticized GlobalResearch.ca as "rife with anti-Jewish conspiracy theory and Holocaust denial." B'nai Brith Canada had complained that there were comments on a forum moderated by Chossudovsky that questioned how many Jews died in the Holocaust. Chossudovsky responded that there was a disclaimer that the website was not to be held responsible for the views expressed in the forum, and he had the comment removed. He also said that he was of Jewish heritage and would be one of the last people to condone antisemitic views.^[9] The same article also reported that B'nai Brith Canada wrote a letter to the University of Ottawa asking for the university "to conduct its own investigation of this propagandist site."^[9]

In a 2006 op-ed by Terry O'Neill in the conservative Canadian news magazine, Western Standard, Chossudovsky was included on the list of "Canada's nuttiest professors, those whose absurdity stands head and shoulders above their colleagues."^[10] Listed alongside Chossudovsky were Sunera Thobani, Shannon Bell, John McMurtry, Shadia Drury, Taiaiake Alfred, Leo Panitch, Kathleen Mahoney, Thomas Homer-Dixon, Sophie Quigley, and Joel Bakan. Specifically, the op-ed referred to GlobalResearch.ca as "anti-U.S. and anti-globalization"^[10] and criticized Chussodovsky's thesis and views — namely: that the U.S. had knowledge of the September 11 attacks before they happened; that Washington had weapons that could influence climate change; and lastly, that the large banking institutions are the cause of the collapse of smaller economies — as "wild-eyed conspiracy theories".^[10]

Bibliography

• With Fred Caloren and Paul Gingrich, Is the Canadian Economy Closing Down? (Montreal: Black Rose, 1978) ISBN 0-919618-80-4
• Towards Capitalist Restoration? Chinese Socialism After Mao (New York: St Martin's, 1986 and London: Macmillan, 1986) ISBN 0-333-38441-5
• The Globalization of Poverty: Impacts of IMF and World Bank Reforms, (Penang: Third World Network, 1997) and (London: Zed, 1997) ISBN 81-85569-34-7 and ISBN 1-85649-402-0
• Exporting Apartheid to Sub-Saharan Africa (New Delhi: Madhyam, 1997) ISBN 81-86816-06-2
• 'Washington's New World Order Weapons Can Trigger Climate Change', (November 26, 2000)
• Guerres et Mondialisation: A Qui Profite Le 11 Septembre? (Serpent a Plume, 2002) ISBN 2-84261-387-2
• The Globalization of Poverty and the New World Order (Oro, Ontario: Global Outlook, 2003) ISBN 0-9731109-1-0 – Excerpt.
• America's "War on Terrorism" (Pincourt, Quebec: Global Research, 2005) ISBN 0-9737147-1-9

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Michel Chossudovsky

• Chossudovsky's articles at Centre for Research on Globalization
• A list of audio interviews: (French Connection Audio Archive)
• War and Globalization presentation. (Google Video)