Thomas Friedman, "The End, for Now": Another Titillating Brain Teaser

Thomas Friedman, still showing no signs of remorse following his travesty of an op-ed, "Newt, Mitt, Bibi and Vladimir" (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2011/12/thomas-friedman-newt-mitt-bibi-and.html), again titillates us with his inestimable wit in his latest New York Times opinion piece, "The End, for Now" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/21/opinion/friedman-the-end-for-now.html?ref=opinion). Waxing philosophic and bringing to bear all of his considerable Middle East acumen on the topic of what will next happen in Iraq, Friedman poses the following brain teaser:

"Can the Arab world develop pluralistic, consensual politics, with regular rotations in power, where people can live as citizens and not feel that their tribe, sect or party has to rule or die?"

In case there is anyone out there who doesn't already know, the answer is . . . a drumroll, please . . . "No."

[In an interview with the Gary Rosenblatt, editor and publisher of The Jewish Week (http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/breaking_news/times_friedman_regrets_israel_lobby_phrase_0), Friedman, referring to his declaration that Congress's standing ovation for Netanyahu "was bought and paid for by the Israel lobby," stated: “In retrospect I probably should have used a more precise term like ‘engineered’ by the Israel lobby — a term that does not suggest grand conspiracy theories that I don’t subscribe to.” However, as aptly observed by Jonathan Tobin of Commentary (http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/12/20/friedman-slur-israel-lobby/), "this weasel-worded attempt at walking back his brief foray into anti-Semitism shouldn’t convince anyone.”]