Thomas Friedman, "Like Father, Like Son": More Gratuitous Advice

Thomas Friedman knows how to fix the entire world, and after beating up on Israel for the past year, he has finally turned his attentions to Syria. In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Like Father, Like Son" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/opinion/friedman-like-father-like-son.html?ref=opinion), Friedman would have us know that in order to cause Assad to cede power to a national unity government, he must lose the support of China, Iran and Russia:

"There, the U.N., the European Union and Arab and Muslim countries need to keep calling out Moscow, Beijing and Iran for supporting Assad’s mass killing of unarmed civilians."

In addition, Friedman informs us:

"The still-fractious Syrian opposition has to find a way to unify itself and also reach out to the Alawites, as well as Syria’s Christian and Sunni merchants, and guarantee that their interests will be secure in a new Syria so they give up on Assad. Without that, nothing good will come of any of this. The more the Syrian opposition demonstrates to itself, to all Syrians and to the world that it is about creating a pluralistic Syria — where everyone is treated as an equal citizen — the weaker Assad will be and the more likely that a post-Assad Syria will have chance at stability and decency."

Geez, why didn't I think of this -- a pluralistic, love-your-neighbor Syria? All that's needed in order to rein in the chaos in Syria is for China, Iran and Russia to care what the rest of the world thinks, and for the Syrian opposition to reach out to Assad's supporters from his Alawite clan.

Charming thought, Tom, but China is consumed with securing oil for its economic future from Iran, Russia's Putin is busy reenacting the Cold War, and Iran only cares about building its first atomic bomb in order to wipe Israel off the face of the map.

Syria's opposition needs to reach out with a Coke and a smile to the country's Alawite minority? Yeah, right. Syria's Muslim Brotherhood hasn't forgotten what happened in Hama 30 years ago, and will not forget what is currently occurring in Homs. In this corner of the world, the name of the game is revenge, and Israel is already preparing to open its Golan Heights border with Syria in order to accept a flood of Alawite refugees seeking to escape retribution (see: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-chief-israel-ready-to-absorb-some-syria-refugees-once-assad-falls-1.406487).

Friedman actually gets paid for this tripe? Tell me I'm not dreaming.