Whaddaya Know: Friedman Says It's Not All Bush's Fault

NY Times - Thomas Friedman/NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[governsleastgovernsbest]

by Mark Finkelstein

October 11, 2006 - 06:42

Not the smallest bird doesn't fall but liberal pundits blame it on George W. Bush. A refreshing change of pace this morning, then, in the person of Thomas Friedman, who writes that the major responsibility for avoiding future international catastrophe lays not at the feet of the current occupant of the White House, but in Moscow and Beijing.

In the subscription-required The Bus Is Waiting, Friedman propounds the theory that the nuclearized N. North Korea and Iran will inevitably lead to a string of countries across Asia and the Middle East developing atomic weapons of their own.

To prevent this, Friedman asserts that it is necessary for:

"China and Russia [to] get their act together and understand that the post-post-cold-war world is a much bigger threat to their prosperity than a post-cold-war world in which U.S. power is pre-eminent. You read me right — the post-cold-war world can be preserved only if Russia and China get over their ambivalence about U.S. power.

"If China told North Korea that unless it dismantled its nuclear program and put its facilities under U.N. inspection, Beijing would cut off its energy and food, Kim Jong-il would relent. He is not suicidal.

"And if China and Russia told Iran that they would join in the toughest possible U.N. economic sanctions on Tehran if it persisted in its nuclear program, the ayatollahs would also back down. Because then the Europeans would have the spine to join in sanctions and Tehran would face a united front."

This is pretty heady stuff. Friedman is effectively demanding that Russia and China accept American pre-eminence ["hegemony" for those of you in the liberal establishment]. And in return, all Friedman demands of DC is some hard-nosed realpolitik. He essentially suggests that the US give up on spreading democracy via regime change, and focus instead on behavior change by the leaders of rogue states.

Friedman concludes by saying that - in the name of a relatively peaceful world - China and Russia need to stop being "free riders on our bus." Interesting formula for an MSM so typically quick to point the finger homeward for all the world's ills.

[chilepepper]

I think it is unfair to put Friedman on the same bus as "the MSM". If you know anything about Friedman, you'll know that he is definitely *not* "mainstream".

I watched a BBC interview where Friedman intellectually shredded the very Marxist BBC interviewer - the interviewer ended up looking like a pompous fool as Friedman put on a spirited defense of capitalism and unraveled each and every Marxist cliche the BBC guy came up with...

[Mia T]

Let down the curtain: the farce is done. (Rabelais)


BEYOND NORTH KOREA
CLINTON DELUSIONS, DECEPTIONS + THE BOMB
(THE DEMOCRATS ARE GONNA GET US KILLED)


ALERT! SECURITY MOMS
THE LEFT IS GONNA GET US KILLED PART 6


'KILL BILL'
THE CLINTON-FOLEY NEXUS: A THEORY


VIRTUAL KILL
THE CHRIS WALLACE-BILL CLINTON INTERVIEW DECONSTRUCTED

[governsleastgovernsbest]

I agree that Friedman's no Rich/Dowd/Krugman, etc. But in many ways he is the MSM's favorite foreign policy expert.

[Thunder90]

Russia/Soviet/Coldwar2 PING!!!

To be added or removed from this list, please FReepmail me. Also, a ping to Jeffhead on China related things...

[Jeff Head]

He writes this as if China and Russia are wringing their hands wondering what to do about this bombastic and unruly bastard child they fathered.

Nothing could be further form the truth. N. Korea is being used as a surrogate to prod us...seeing how far we will allow ourselves to be pushed...and gathering vital political and military intelligence in the p[rocess.

Iran, N. Korea, Red China, Venezuela, and Russian actions in this regard are all linked...and they are not for our good. That is what we need to wake up to and respond to IMHO.

Otherwise, we risk something like the Dragon's Fury

[AmericaUnite]

Thanks for reading the Slimes and finding this.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

You're welcome. As part of my dedication to the cause, I actually broke down and subscribed to 'Times Select' so I could read and report back on Dowd, Krugman, Friedman & Co.

[Lancey Howard]

I bet the Democrats' house organ is not at all pleased with its columnist, Thomas Friedman, this morning. They gotta be smoldering over there in the editors lounge! Choking on their croissants! Sheesh, if they aren't careful the next thing they know some rogue reporter might write about how Clinton/Albright's malfeasance and failed appeasement strategy led to the present North Korean debacle.

Nahhhh.... Never happen.