[Cicero]

Being weak after being powerful is a terrible thing. It can make you stupid.

I hope the Eurosnobs read this rather candid opinion.

I think Tom Friedman suffered a crisis of confidence after 9/11, because it was like a vast abyss opening at his feet and revealing how shallow and silly his earlier writing on the Middle East was.

Ever since he has avoided talking about olive trees and Lexuses and how a few internet cafes will soon bring the Arabs into the modern world.

Friedman was more responsible than any other commentator for justifying clinton's war against Yugoslavia. So he still has a lot to repent. But who knows, maybe he will quit his job and go elsewhere to write his columns, since Howell Raines will never permit him to depart for long from the party line. A. M. Rosenthal showed that.

[edwin hubble]

Thanks for that insight.

Something interesting is going on with this op-ed piece.
It may be that Friedman sees the inevitable.

...seeing that the huge majority of Europe is coming to our side (all but Germany, France, Belgium and Lux.)
And the inexorable movement toward take out Saddam.

OK. He is a bright guy. Yes.
Maybe he is 'getting it' now.
His comments showing such unbridled contempt for 'old Europe' could have come from any thread on this forum.

He mocks the Europeans for rejecting our genetically modified grains out of misplaced fear and contempt for the U.S. while smoking obviously cancerous cigarettes.