Michael Ignatieff

Michael Ignatieff described himself in a 2007 biographical note as a "a Canadian scholar, writer, journalist and lifelong Liberal." He is the former Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.

Biographical profile

A biographical note states that Ignatieff was "born and raised in Toronto, the son of a Russian émigré father and a Canadian mother, and received his undergraduate degree in history at the University of Toronto. He continued his studies at Oxford University and then at Harvard University, where he received his PhD in History in 1976."

Ignatieff was elected as the Member of the Canadian Parliament for the seta of Etobicoke-Lakeshore in January 2006. He is married to Suszanna Zsohar, and has two children.

According to Harvard University, Ignatieff "joined the [Carr] Center in September 2000 as a Visiting Professor, and became both Director and Carr Professor for Human Rights Practice in February, 2001."

Ignatieff's Rise

Edward S. Herman noted in 2006 that "Michael Ignatieff is a skilled trimmer, who has adjusted his principles and thoughts to the demands of the U.S. and Canadian power elite, and advanced accordingly—from academia to preferred commentator on human rights and other political issues in the U.S. mainstream media, and on to becoming a member of the Canadian parliament." He also adds that "One would have thought it might be problematical for a professor of human rights to vigorously support two wars (Kosovo, Iraq) carried out in violation of the UN Charter and hence “supreme crimes” in the view of the judges at Nuremberg." (Herman ranks Ignatieff among what he refers to as The New Humanitarians)

In December 2005, a profile on Ignatieff noted that earlier that year he had written in an article in the British newspaper the Observer that in the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iraq that "The Bush Administration has managed the nearly impossible: to turn democracy into a disreputable slogan."

"Ignatieff, meanwhile, has helped turn human rights into a ‘disreputable slogan’, posing as their standard-bearer while condoning imperialism and equivocating on torture," New Internationalist wrote. "His politics amount to a slippery slope, with nuanced arguments at the top and the horror chambers of Abu Ghraib below. Ignatieff, born and raised in Canada, has an impressive CV. The Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University, he has also been a professor at Oxford, a prize-winning author of fiction and non-fiction, a prolific print journalist and a BBC broadcaster – a well-established pop intellectual."

Bomb Syria

Michael Ignatieff wrote an op-ed in the Financial Times calling for Western intervention in Syria. Ignatieff proposes "quarantine", sanctions, and bombing. Remarkably, Ignatieff cites his "feelings" as one of the justifications for bombing.

Affiliations

• Institute for War and Peace Reporting – Advisory Board
• List of Members of House of Commons Elected 2006 (Canada)
• Center for International Development: Faculty Associates and Researchers
• International Alert – Former Director
• Independent International Commission on Kosovo – Former Member
• Global Responsibility to Protect – Editorial Board
• Orwell Prize – Winner of the 2001

Resources and articles

External links

• Edward S. Herman, "Faith-based Analysis: Michael Ignatieff on Israeli Self-Defense and Serb Ethnic Cleansing", Counterpunch, August 22 , 2006.
• Stephen Gowans, "Ignatieff’s mea culpa", What's Left, August 5, 2007.
• Dru Oja Jay, "Intellectual Author: Michael Ignatieff's potent mix of imperialism and human rights", The Dominion, March 11, 2009.
• Derrick O'Keefe, Michael Ignatieff: Intellectual hypocrisy, Al Jazeera, 30 December 2011.
• Derrick O'Keefe, Michael Ignatieff: The Lesser Evil?, Verso, May 2011 (ISBN:1844676153)