(David Aaronovitch is not a neoconservative, incidentally, and neither am I - though I don't regard this as the insult Cox intends it to be).
While a Levinasian squaring of the circle would allow that our ethical concern for the other is itself a mark of transcendence, for Leibowitz, a religious act, even if it may serve one's fellow man incidentally, can neither be motivated by such a goal, nor allow such goals to play a role in our understanding of it as a mitzvah, since this would render God the slave of human interests.
Phoney alliances are not allowed and neither, incidentally, is masturbation, on pain of having your hand rammed into an electric toaster, at breakfast, in front of everyone.
Neither, incidentally, are Cannes' disgraceful taxi drivers, who charged almost as much for a short station transfer up to Mougins as it would cost to buy a TGV ticket back to Paris.
In neither instance, incidentally, were they aware that they were dealing with someone who had the luxury of making a complaint known in a newspaper column.
Neither man, incidentally, is a registered lobbyist -- Daschle is a "Special Policy Adviser," and Dole is a "Special Counsel".
Other novels by Mr. Saramago, a Portuguese writer who is (neither incidentally nor constrictingly) a Communist, create a dehumanizing institution as their target.
Also, what are we to make of the appearance, weeks apart, of "Declaration of War" (January) and "This Means War" (February), neither of which, incidentally, is about war?
