Thomas Friedman, "Close to the Edge": "'You Can’t Just Vote Your Vagina"

In her latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Bill’s Turn at Bat" (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2013/08/maureen-dowd-bills-turn-at-bat-you-cant.html), Maureen Dowd mentions that Democratic New York mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio has the backing of Susan Sarandon, who "decided not to support [Christine] Quinn because 'you can’t just vote your vagina.'"

As regards New York, I agree with Susan.

However, in Egypt, where some 90 percent of Egyptian women have had their clitorises removed, I think women should be "voting their vaginas."

Regrettably, however, Egyptians in their first free elections in 2012, which brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power, were busy "voting their religion." A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center in December 2010 (http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/) determined:

"At least three-quarters of Muslims in Egypt . . . say they would favor making each of the following the law in their countries: stoning people who commit adultery, whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery and the death penalty for those who leave the Muslim religion."

According to the Pew poll, 95% of Egyptian Muslims also believe it is "good" that Islam plays a large role in politics.

By now it is fairly clear that the consequences of "voting your religion" can be somewhat less than sanguine.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/21/opinion/friedman-close-to-the-edge.html
Who is responsible for the current chaos in Egypt? Yesterday, one of President Obama's five best overseas friends (see: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-269076-obama-names-turkeys-erdogan-among-top-five-international-friends.html) weighed in on the topic and blamed the Jews for toppling Morsi. As noted by The Jerusalem Post (http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Erdogan-Israel-orchestrated-Morsi-overthrow-Egypt-unrest-323679):

"Erdogan’s comments come just a few weeks after he blamed the unrest in his own country on an 'interest rate lobby,' widely believed to be a metaphor for Western Jewish businessmen."

Obama sure as heck knows how to pick his overseas friends: Erdogan, Putin, Chavez . . .

Which brings me to Thomas Friedman's latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Close to the Edge" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/21/opinion/friedman-close-to-the-edge.html), in which this self-proclaimed prophet, who has a solution for everything (even baldness), declares:

"Of all the troubling images from Cairo these days, none could be worse than the pictures of the many civilian casualties. But nearly as disturbing was footage from last week showing an Egyptian police vehicle toppling off the 6th of October Bridge, which spans the Nile in central Cairo. News accounts differed over whether the vehicle was pushed over by protesters or, in a panic, the driver burst through the bridge railing and plunged into the river. Either way, the bridge was badly damaged, the car was lost, the fate of its passengers unknown."

Peculiar how Friedman doesn't mention the pictures of the more than 60 churches in Egypt recently torched by the Muslim Brotherhood (see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/ravaged-churches-reveal-sectarian-split-feeding-egypts-violence/2013/08/20/59902866-09bc-11e3-9941-6711ed662e71_story.html) as equally disturbing.

Friedman, however, is once again ready with advice for Egyptian General Sisi:

"I understand why so many Egyptians turned against the Brotherhood. It was stealing their revolution for its own stale agenda. But the best way to justify ousting the Brotherhood was for the military to put in place a government that really would get Egypt started on the long march to modernization, entrepreneurship, literacy for women and consensual and inclusive politics — inclusive even of Islamists — not another march in place under generals.

. . . .

So, once again, Egyptians and their friends abroad are being polarized between the same two bad options. The hour is late. General Sisi has got to pull back and empower the cabinet he appointed to produce a third way — an authentically modernizing, inclusive government. That is what the 2011 revolution was about. If he diverts Egypt from that goal, the way the Brotherhood did, if his only ambition is to be another Nasser and not a Mandela, Egypt is headed for a steep plunge, just like that police vehicle tumbling into the Nile."

Ah yes, "pull back and empower . . . an authentically modernizing, inclusive government."

I have even better advice: Let's send Tom to Cairo on a multi-year mission away from his Maryland mansion and have him explain to Sissi how to do it in a country with dwindling foreign reserves, soaring unemployment, a devastated tourist industry, chaos caused by Islamic militants in Sinai, a weakening currency, poverty, illiteracy, discrimination against women, murderous oppression of its Christian Coptic minority, and a population that is growing far beyond the country's means.

Go for it, Tom! General Sissi impatiently awaits your arrival! I'll even help sponsor a one-way ticket!

Thomas Friedman's "No Boots on the Ground in Libya": And What About Afghanistan?

In an op-ed in today's New York Times entitled "Looking for Luck in Libya" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/opinion/30friedman.html?_r=1), Tom Friedman writes concerning Libya:

"Those boots cannot be ours. We absolutely cannot afford it — whether in terms of money, manpower, energy or attention."

I agree. Well said!

And perhaps he would now care to explain America's ongoing presence on the ground in Afghanistan.

Thomas Friedman's "This Is Just the Start": Bringing New Meaning to the Word "Sycophancy"

A condensed version of the following blog entry, which was submitted as an online comment in response to Thomas Friedman's op-ed, "This Is Just the Start", was censored by The New York Times:

In an op-ed in today's New York Times entitled "This Is Just the Start" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/opinion/02friedman.html?hp), Thomas Friedman places the "Obama Factor" at the top of his list of “not-so-obvious forces” that fed the mass revolt in the Muslim Middle East. He says that he is convinced that "more than a few" young Arabs compared Obama with themselves:

"Hmmm, let’s see. He’s young. I’m young. He’s dark-skinned. I’m dark-skinned. His middle name is Hussein. My name is Hussein."

Great thinking, Tom. It would appear, however, that there are more than a few comparisons that Mr. Friedman omitted:

"Hmmm, let's see. He's a millionaire. I'm not. He owns a three-story mansion on a plot which includes land purchased from Tony Rezko. I don't. He writes books about himself. I don't. He bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. I didn't. He greeted Qaddafi of Libya with a big smile and a warm handshake. I didn't. He refused to support the dissidents when they took to the streets of Tehran in 2009. I have more courage than he does. He was among the last leaders in the world to call for the ouster of Qaddafi. On which side of the street is he anyway?"

Yes, Tom, Obama has granted you private audiences, but get real.

Friedman's "Up With Egypt": What Tom Forgot to Tell You . . .

. . . and what The New York Times refused to post in response to Friedman:

In an op-ed in today's New York Times entitled "Up With Egypt" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/opinion/09friedman.html), Thomas Friedman, writing from Cairo, attempts to make the case that the protests in Egypt derive from poverty, and that this poverty results "from a system in which a few people have gotten fantastically rich, in giant villas, and everyone else has stagnated." Friedman proceeds to compare the calm in China with the current chaos in Egypt:

"China deprives its people of political rights, but at least it gives them a rising standard of living. Egypt deprived its people of political rights and gave them a declining standard of living.

That is why this revolt is primarily about a people fed up with being left behind in a world where they can so clearly see how far others have vaulted ahead. "

What Tom forgets to mention (numbers from the CIA World Factbook):

China's population growth rate:
0.494% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 153

Egypt's population growth rate:
1.997% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 58

"Small" difference, huh, Tom? With or without Mubarak, there is no way for Egypt to emerge from its crushing poverty until the birth rate in that country comes down.

"B.E., Before Egypt. A.E., After Egypt.": Tom Friedman Takes a Vacation from Middle East Reality

Writing from Ramallah, Thomas Friedman majestically declares in a New York Times op-ed entitled "B.E., Before Egypt. A.E., After Egypt." (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/opinion/02friedman.html):

"Today, I believe President Obama should put his own peace plan on the table, bridging the Israeli and Palestinian positions, and demand that the two sides negotiate on it without any preconditions."

Sadly, timing is everything in the Middle East, and Friedman's proposition ignores facts on the ground.

If we are talking about a peace between the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank and Israel, Friedman fails to acknowledge that President Abbas was elected to serve until January 2009, but unilaterally extended his term for another year and continues in office without an election. Abbas is carefully scrutinizing events in Egypt and Jordan, and nervously watching for signs of unrest in Ramallah, Jenin, Hebron and Nablus. Embarrassed by the publication by Al Jezeera of Palestinian Authority concessions, Abbas is currently in no position to negotiate with Israel, notwithstanding economic growth and stability in the West Bank.

If we are talking about a peace between Hamas in Gaza and Israel, Hamas's charter continues to call for the murder of all Jews (not just Israelis) and rejects any negotiated solution with Israel. On Monday night, aware that the world has suddenly recognized that Israel is not the source of instability in Egypt, Hamas sought to create "linkage" by firing Grad missiles and mortar shells at Israeli civilian targets and hoping for a reprisal. Israel, however, was not sucked into this attempt to escalate tensions.

In short, this is a very stylish piece of writing from Mr. Friedman, but it fails to entertain realities. Peace between Israel and the Palestinians will come, but everything has its time.

[This from the Jerusalem Post: "MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor) criticized the US on Wednesday, saying 'the Americans brought disaster to the Middle East by calling for [Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak to leave his country.' Ben-Eliezer told Army Radio that 'We must reach an agreement with the Palestinians quickly, before the masters from Washington force a solution on us [in the issue].'" (http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=206329)]

Nicholas Kristof's "A Hedge Fund Republic?": Let's Raffle Off Tom Friedman's Home

In an op-ed entitled "A Hedge Fund Republic?" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/opinion/18kristof.html?hp) in today's New York Times, Nicholas Kristof complains that the U.S. has become more rapacious than a banana republic and is now mostly owned by the richest one percent of the nation's populace. Kristof's epistle follows on the heels of Frank Rich's Sunday NYT op-ed, "Who Will Stand Up to the Superrich?" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/opinion/14rich.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss), in which Rich also deplores fiscal inequity in America.

Not to worry! JG, Caesarea has the solution!

As a first step to end this horrifying inequality, I propose that we raffle off the estate (as seen from above) of fellow NYT columnist Tom Friedman to the homeless. Personally, I think it will do any homeless person proud!

Are you homeless and wish to participate in the raffle? Obviously, I first need Tom's approval, but meanwhile you can send me your CV together with an essay of 500 words or less explaining why transfer of title over this estate to you will best remedy the disparity between rich and poor in the United States.

Where will Tom go? No problem. JG, Caesarea is sending him to live half the year with Nicholas Kristof, who shouldn't be troubled, given the time he spends traveling around the third world. The other half of the year will be spent by Friedman with Rich.

Given their compatible politics and similar social views, I am certain Friedman, Kristof and Rich will live happily ever after.

Or not.

"Too Good to Check": Tom Friedman, Apologist for Obama

In an op-ed in today's New York Times entitled "Too Good to Check" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/opinion/17friedman.html?hp), Tom Friedman excoriates the right for "a story circulated around the Web on the eve of President Obama’s trip that it would cost U.S. taxpayers $200 million a day — about $2 billion for the entire trip."

Okay, I agree the entire trip cost less than $2 billion. In fact, my estimate in a prior blog entry, "Obama, Asia and "Animal House" Diplomacy" (http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2010/11/obama-asia-and-animal-house-diplomacy.html), was that the 10-day trip would cost tens of millions of dollars, which I continue to believe is accurate.

But neither a leftist or a rightist, I would ask Friedman how much this trip did in fact cost U.S. taxpayers. Naturally, Friedman does not provide the answer.

I would also ask Friedman to specify the benefits of this Asian jaunt. Friedman is again silent.

And I would ask Friedman whether this "Road Trip" was but an attempt to flee the disastrous midterm elections, which were undeniably a national referendum on Obama's first two years in office. No comment from Friedman.

Thanks, Tom, for this profound partisan analysis.

Tom Friedman's "Who’s Up for Building Bridges?": Another Bridge to Nowhere

In an op-ed in today's New York Times entitled "Season of Renewal", Thomas Friedman tells us it takes more than Republican negativism to thrive in the 21st century. My online response:

Friedman writes: "Obama-ism posits that we are now in a hypercompetitive global economy, where the country that thrives will be the one that brings together the most educated, creative and diverse work force with the best infrastructure — bandwidth, ports, airports, high-speed rail and good governance."

Poppycock. This is Tom Friedman putting words in Obama's mouth.

Obama-ism is escalating a disastrous war in Afghanistan, where a tin-pot dictator spits on U.S. efforts to free his country from the Taliban. Obama-ism is allowing hedge funds to continue to bleed the U.S. white. Obama-ism is telling the tyannical Islamic Republic of Iran, that whereas before I stated "Nothing is off the table", now you can go ahead and build your atomic bomb, which will set off a Middle East arms race with your Sunni Arab neighbors, as I pursue, sometime in the distant future, watered down sanctions. Obama-ism is creating a budget deficit that will destroy the value of the dollar, saddle future generations of Americans with hyperinflation and debt, and prevent any possibility of infrastructure renewal.

Who's Up for Building Bridges? Sarah Palin also favored a bridge to nowhere. Before building bridges, how about first a little common sense? Friedman tells us, "Obama is at least trying". Gratifying, but "at least trying" is hardly the basis for "building America’s bridge to the 21st century".