tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40452242011-04-21T21:18:21.912-07:00Doubting ThomasDedicated to pointing out the inconstitencies and biases that mar the work of Thomas Friedman.Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comBlogger321100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-1101033270566734822004-11-21T02:19:00.000-08:002004-11-21T02:34:30.566-08:00Where Credit is Due.
I can't complain about today's column by Thomas, "Postcards From Iraq". At least he trusts the men (and women) on the ground.Readers regularly ask me when I will throw in the towel on Iraq. I will be guided by the U.S. Army and Marine grunts on the ground. They see Iraq close up. Most of those you talk to are so uncynical - so convinced that we are doing good and doing right,Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-1071251992368439322003-12-12T09:59:00.000-08:002003-12-12T10:03:51.873-08:00Here's Tommy
In yesterday's column Friedman asserts:
As long as Iraq loomed as a major threat, one could hear three arguments in Israel. One said no withdrawal from the West Bank and Jordan River was possible because Israel needed a security buffer. Another said withdrawal was essential to maintain Israel as a Jewish democracy. Because if Israel kept control of the occupied territories, there Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-1071027500763357452003-12-09T19:38:00.000-08:002003-12-09T19:42:06.936-08:00A Charming Friedman Story
Thanks to LGF there's an article in Jewsweek telling how short tempered Thomas Friedman is. He doesn't take questions too well.
The recent Geneva Peace Accord exists in some sort of alternate dimension: Representatives from two sides in a conflict hack out an agreement without actually representing either side, or coming to agreement on many of the more pressing issues;Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-1069092198828788742003-11-17T10:03:00.000-08:002003-11-17T10:03:51.966-08:00Fanatic is Correct
Thomas Friedman in his paean to Yossi Beilin seems to have forgotten that a definition of a fanatic is one who, when he sees that his way has failed redoubles his efforts. While I agree that Beilin is a fanatic, he's hardly a "moderate." He couldn't win a seat in Labor's Knesset delegation. He couldn't even get in on the Meretz list. That's about as far left as you can get Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-1068746824343881112003-11-13T10:07:00.000-08:002003-11-13T17:01:38.216-08:00When Columns Collide
Just a few days ago Friedman was writing about the humiliation that the Arab world suffers and used it to excuse violence against the Israel and the United States. Now Thomas comes forward with a novel idea (wait a second didn't we already see this before?) that Israel and Saudi Arabia should make peace.
The parallels are remarkable. There's the house of Sharon in Israel. Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-1068745491312642412003-11-13T09:44:00.000-08:002003-11-13T10:08:03.670-08:00Humiliation as an Excuse
Little Green Footballs and Roger L. Simon have already taken Thomas Friedman to task for his recent column "The Humiliation Factor." There are other points worth making.
For one thing Friedman writes:
One reason Yasir Arafat rejected the Clinton plan for a Palestinian state was that he and many followers didn't want a state handed to them by the U.S. or Israel. That Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-1068144299578536592003-11-06T10:44:00.000-08:002003-11-06T10:45:17.860-08:00Washing Rental Cars
One of Friedman's themes (advertising slogans) is that no one washes a rental car. The point is that he doesn't believe that Iraqis will start taking control of their lives unti they feel that the country is theirs. In today's column, "Iraqis at the Wheel," he blasts the Bush administration for not doing more to give Iraqis a stake in their future:
I repeat, yet again, Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-1068006813838019992003-11-04T20:33:00.000-08:002003-11-05T20:46:05.903-08:00Thomas Friedman - Ad Man
I think I've finally hit upon what annoys me most about Thomas Friedman. It's clear that he's a very smart man. He's capable of making shrewd observations. But he seems incapable of serious analysis. Instead he looks for a cute slogan and pass it off as a deep thought. In his most recent column "The End of the West?" his slogan is provided by former Swedish Prime Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-1066657669429539102003-10-20T06:47:00.000-07:002003-10-20T06:56:06.423-07:00Thomas Twofer
Last Wednesday's column "On Listening" was directed largely at the Bush administration. Despite the fact that the Bush administration seems to be adjusting to changing realities in Iraq (see Charles Krauthammer), Friedman charges the administration with being close minded to those who would criticize it. (This is a hypocritical charge from Friedman. Of all NY Times op-ed writers,Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-1065724429204150102003-10-09T11:33:00.000-07:002003-10-09T11:37:21.830-07:00Bad Friedman
Often, even when he's wrong on some point, Friedman sometimes gets something right. Other than his tone, which is not abrasive as usual, there's little to recommend today's column "Long Spoon Diplomacy." I can agree with his premise that Iraq is important. But then he argues:
There is an old proverb that says, "If you're going to sup with the devil, use a long spoon." Does the Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-1065084916637946652003-10-02T01:02:00.000-07:002003-10-02T10:02:55.986-07:00Classic Friedman
Today's Thomas Friedman column, "Passions and Interests" is a classic. And I don't mean that in a good way. It is filled with all the worst cliches about the Middle East. Friedman makes absolutely no effort to analyze the situation in the Middle East. he just tosses out a series of myths, misconceptions and prejudices. For example:
Most Israelis now believe that Palestinians Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-1063534714245080462003-09-14T03:18:00.000-07:002003-09-16T10:49:10.093-07:00Tom's on a Roll
After a long drought, Mr. Friedman has given me reason to comment on 3 consecutive columns. After the insensitivity of Thursday's column, Friedman has descended even further in today's "One Wall, One Man, One Vote." Here's the first paragraph:
If there is one iron law that has shaped the history of Arab-Israeli relations, it's the law of unintended consequences. For instance, Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-1063302357919824052003-09-11T09:59:00.000-07:002003-09-11T10:55:19.953-07:00Half a great column
Thomas Friedman wrote half a great column today. He called it "Breaking Death's Grip." And the great part of the column included this:
Israelis' ability to adapt to, and defy, these bombings demonstrates the amazing strength of this society. When bus bombings first started, for a week after an explosion few people would ride the buses. Now they're right back on them after anSoccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-1063097132809802082003-09-09T01:45:00.000-07:002003-09-09T21:09:52.483-07:00A Wail of a bad term
OK, maybe I'm overstating it a bit, but the title of Thomas Friedman's most recent column, "The Wailing Wall" is really offensive. Maybe it's not so offensive as Hillel Halkin claims here. But the content of the column is.
This week the peace processors' dream date, Mahmoud Abbas resigned as Prime Minister. Big surprise. And Yasser Arafat brazenly appoints a successor to Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-1060197066718946522003-08-06T12:11:00.000-07:002003-08-06T12:11:06.720-07:00Where Credit is Due
I have to give Thomas Friedman credit. His column today, Shaking Up the Neighbors, was sharp and to the point. It was a tough critique of the Arab world. The beginning is the best:
Shortly after the 25-member Governing Council was appointed in Iraq, the head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, questioned the U.S.-appointed Council's legitimacy. "If this Council was elected," Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-957597952003-06-17T10:22:00.000-07:002003-06-17T11:06:33.000-07:00Whose Reality?
Thomas Friedman once again treats us to one of his pithy formulations in "The Reality Principle"
By now Israel should have killed off the entire Hamas leadership twice. Unless what is happening is something else, something I call Palestinian math: Israel kills one Hamas operative and three others volunteer to take his place, in which case what Israel is doing is actually Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-950238172003-05-28T22:21:00.000-07:002003-05-28T22:23:57.000-07:00Passion for PLO
In a typically arrogant column, "Passion for Peace," Thomas Friedman tells us what needs to be done to achieve peace in the Middle East.
Don't get me wrong — ultimately it is up to Israelis, Palestinians and Iraqis to liberate themselves. They have to want it. But at this stage, we have to use our power to help create the context for them to do it. And that is hard. It means Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-940410172003-05-09T01:30:00.000-07:002003-05-09T01:30:00.566-07:00Does he realize what he's saying?
I don't think that Oslophile, Thomas Friedman, understood what he wrote in his most recent column:
It isn't often you get to see a live political science experiment, but that is what we're about to witness in Iraq as the first interim Iraqi government is formed from the different factional leaders in the country. What American advisers and this Iraqi interim Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-935401802003-04-30T09:47:00.000-07:002003-04-30T09:47:50.030-07:00The meaning of Friedman
Friedman's column from Sunday April 27, 2003 "The Meaning of a Skull" is pretty good. In it, he argues effectively that America's war against Saddam was justified even if no weapons of mass destruction are found.
Whether you were for or against this war, whether you preferred that the war be done with the U.N.'s approval or without it, you have to feel good that right hasSoccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-921628082003-04-07T11:02:00.000-07:002003-04-07T11:02:46.326-07:00Thomas Friedman call your Shrink
As I've often noticed, Friedman has an obsession with Israeli "settlements." They, and not money, are the root of all evil for our intrepid columnist. So in Sunday's column he finds lessons for America to learn from Israel's occupation of Judea and Samaria.
Israel has been trying to get rid of Yasir Arafat for years, but it was a legitimate process, managed by Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-910402282003-03-19T21:19:00.000-08:002003-03-19T22:26:05.000-08:00Tony Blair for President, again
Once again Thomas Friedman expresses his preference for Tony Blair over George W. Bush in "Repairing the World." The central theme of Friedman's essay is expressed like this:
Contrast that with Mr. Bush. His White House declaration about resuming the peace process was delivered with all the enthusiasm of someone about to have his teeth drilled. On the environment,Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-898311742003-02-27T03:08:00.000-08:002003-02-27T03:08:56.793-08:00Rooting for Democracy
Thomas Friedman has it in for the world. Until now, no one has promoted democracy in the Arab world.
In fairness, though, before now the U.S. has never shown much interest in Arab democracy either. It treated the Arab states like big, dumb gas stations, and all the U.S. cared about was that they kept their pumps open and their prices low. Otherwise they could do whatever Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-890244032003-02-13T01:54:00.000-08:002003-02-13T01:54:15.826-08:00Thomas debates himself?!
It's nice to know that some people are doing my work for me. Check out the Brothers Judd Blogg for some incredible mental gymnastics on the part of Thomas Friedman. This had occurred to me but I might never have nailed it down. My own guess is that Friedman realized that a couple of his columns came accross as too pro-Bush, so he felt he ought to temper it a bit with aSoccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-879480612003-01-24T01:04:00.000-08:002003-01-24T01:04:28.730-08:00Giving into Tyrants
While the news media are playing up the objections to America's war effort against Iraq, it's worth noting what happens when virtuous nations fail to stand up to aggressive tyrants. Read Caroline Glick's latest column, "Rejecting false realities." Glick argues (correctly) that:
"For their part, the Palestinians themselves have stated repeatedly since the withdrawal that the Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-878504712003-01-22T09:50:00.000-08:002003-01-22T20:11:18.000-08:00I don't have many quibbles with today's column "Thinking About Iraq (I)". Friedman makes a case that regime change in Iraq will (hopefully) be the first step in democratizing the Arab world. I wait with bated breath for is followup next Sunday where he promises to explain why getting rid of Saddam is fraught with risk. It's interesting to contrast his approach with that of Fred Barnes of the Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-874860812003-01-15T10:11:00.000-08:002003-01-16T02:10:11.000-08:00Working backwards let's start with the end of today's column "The New Math." "But if there is no separation, by 2010 there will be more Palestinians than Jews living in Israel and the occupied territories. Then Israel will have three options: The Israelis will control this whole area by apartheid, or they will control it by expelling Palestinians, or they will grant Palestinians the right to voteSoccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-874004202003-01-13T20:42:00.000-08:002003-01-13T20:42:53.000-08:00Could Thomas Friedman have written this column by Jim Hoagland? I don't think so. This shows real thought; not just a reliance on pithy formulations.Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-873019992003-01-12T03:50:00.000-08:002003-01-12T04:06:59.000-08:00In today's column Friedman continues his exploration of Egyptian attitudes toward the United States and Israel. His argument boils down to this, even the most westernized Egyptians view the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the central reason for disdaining Israel and America so we ignore it at our peril. Not once in the article did he mention that Egypt is the recipient of $2 billion annually inSoccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-871588792003-01-09T02:13:00.000-08:002003-01-09T02:13:24.130-08:00The subtitle for Thomas Friedman's most recent book "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" is "Understanding Globalization." The implicit boast in the title is that Friedman understands the way the world works and he will explain it to us. The problem is in a short period of time he has been proven wrong on so many counts, it's absurd to trust his instincts on anything. Take "Altered States" for Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-871062242003-01-08T02:33:00.000-08:002003-01-15T10:12:21.000-08:00Today Thomas finds himself flacking for the Egyptians. Friedman's main point is that September 11 has caused the Arab world to start taking stock of itself. To support this position, Friedman mentions a recent article by Osama Al-Baz, a close advisor to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in which Al-Baz argues that antisemitism is a product of Europe and has no place in the Arab world. RecentlySoccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-869588762003-01-05T04:01:00.000-08:002003-01-08T10:16:58.000-08:00SUV Morality Today finds our intrepid columnist arguing in "A War for Oil?" that unless the United States installs a "progressive" regime in post-Saddam Iraq and gets Americans to drive fewer SUV's the war is immoral. In his conclusion "So, I have no problem with a war for oil — provided that it is to fuel the first progressive Arab regime, and not just our S.U.V.'s, and provided we behave in aSoccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4045224.post-864286802002-12-23T00:51:00.000-08:002002-12-23T01:06:54.000-08:00Last February Thomas Friedman revealed in a column that Crown Prince Abdullah had a peace plan for the Middle East. Full Israeli withdrawal for full Arab recognition of Israel. That was it in a nutshell. I thought, at the time, that it was simply Saudi propaganda. Recently searching for the article, I found it on the web at a site called the Saudi Arabian Information Resource. I guess that Soccer Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142724823098073038noreply@blogger.com