Tom Friedman seems to have noticed that the Arab Spring doesn't look like isn't going to lead to democracy afterall.
Readers may find it worthwhile to read his latest piece in the New York Times:Look in Your Mirror .
In it he even apppears to criticize the Obama Administration
As Friedman says:
" I don’t like to see anyone’s faith insulted, but we need to make two things very clear — more clear than President Obama’s team has made them. One is that an insult — even one as stupid and ugly as the anti-Islam video on YouTube that started all of this — does not entitle people to go out and attack embassies and kill innocent diplomats [emphasis added]
"And, second, before demanding an apology from our president, the young Egyptians, Tunisians, Libyans, Yemenis, Pakistanis, Afghans and Sudanese who have been taking to the streets might want to look in the mirror - or just turn on their own televisions. They might want to look at the chauvinistic bile that is pumped out by some of their own media insulting Shiites, Jews, Christians, Sufis and anyone else who is not a Sunni, or fundamentalist, Muslim.
"Let's cut the nonsense that this is just our problem and the only issue is how we clean up our act. Our president and major newspapers consistently condemn hate speech against other religions. How about yours?
In this past Sunday's column, Friedman takes a direct hit at Netanyahu, saying:
Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of Israel has been loudly demanding that America publicly draw a “red line” in respect to Iran’s nuclear program that would delineate exactly when the U.S. would launch a strike against Tehran. Bibi is Winston Churchill when it comes to demanding that the U.S. draw red lines, but he is a local party boss when America asks him to draw a “green line” delineating where Jewish settlements in the West Bank will stop and a Palestinian state might start. Oh, no! Can’t do that, Bibi tells American officials. “I would lose my coalition.” So America is supposed to risk a war with Iran, but Bibi won’t risk anything to advance a deal with the Palestinians that might create a little more global legitimacy and sympathy for Israel, and America, in the event of a war with Iran. Thanks a lot.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/opinion/sunday/friedman-hard-lines-red-lines-and-green-lines.html