Thomas Friedman, "It’s All About May 25": From the North Pole to Kiev, Tom Has Answers

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

- "Won't Get Fooled Again," The Who

Do you remember how Thomas Friedman gushed over nascent Egyptian democracy and the Arab Spring from Cairo's Tahrir Square? Well, fresh from a submarine trip to the North Pole, Tom is back with more drivel enlightenment from the Ukraine. In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "It’s All About May 25" (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/opinion/friedman-its-all-about-may-25.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0), Friedman strolls around Kiev's Independence Square and declares (my emphasis in red):

"It would have been nice if we could have forged a compromise with President Vladimir Putin of Russia that would have allowed Ukraine to gradually join the European Union and not threaten him.

. . . .

Our job is to back Putin off so the elections can happen."

Excuse me, but who is this "we" to whom Friedman so blithely refers? Is it Barack Obama, who so blithely promised "flexibility" during his second term to Vladimir Putin?

Elections will back Putin into a corner? Yeah, right.

Friedman's conclusion:

"In sum, it was courageous Ukrainians who gave birth to their own clean democracy movement, because they were fed up. But Putin can’t live with a successful, Westward-looking democracy here, and young Ukrainians can’t live without it. So, for it to thrive, we have to make sure Putin doesn’t kill it in the crib, and they have to make sure their old-line politicians don’t kill it before it learns to walk."

Ah yes, "courageous Ukrainians," "clean democracy movement," "young Ukrainians" who "can't live" without "Westward-looking democracy." Kind of makes you want to vomit.

Does anyone, other than Friedman, place value on this stream of "thought" (after all, if he thinks it, surely it must be important)? Unfortunately, the answer is yes: Obama still reads this windbag.