Tom Friedman lost me in the first paragraph of this column.
Let me count the ways: "India is the world's biggest democracy, the world's largest Hindu nation and the world's second-largest Muslim nation..." While it may be true that India is a democracy, it is ALSO true that the ruling party has been criticized by many groups as fascist. Certainly a google search for "hindu fascist" came up with a number of results, all of which I don't have time to read (some work must be done). Here's one from "The Hindu", India's national newspaper.
"So France could tweak America's beak, do business with Iraq and enjoy America's military protection." Pointing the finger at France for doing business with Iraq is a load of hogwash if you ask me, considering American company Halliburton, formerly employing Dick Cheney, did PLENTY of business with Iraq over the same time period. In fact a LOT of companies from the US did business with Iraq; so much so that the US government culled their names from Iraq's report to the UN lest we embarass ourselves even more. Maybe France is wrong to do business with Iraq, but the US is hardly in a position to point fingers.
"But France, as they say in kindergarten, does not play well with others." Neither does China, Russia or Germany when it comes to Iraq. And neither does the US when it comes to a number of things important to our allies: we have broken our word on the International Criminal Court, the ABM, and Kyoto, and drastically cut funds for the UN Population fund and reinstituted the gag rule on abortion counseling. The Administration insists that the world accept US policies, but does everything possible to get out of complying with our own obligations to the world. This is no way to build allies. Friedman doesn't mention this.
"Oh, France's prime minister was on the road last week. He was out drumming up business for French companies in the world's biggest emerging computer society. He was in India." Yup. And we're in Iraq, making sure we get our oil.
Let me count the ways: "India is the world's biggest democracy, the world's largest Hindu nation and the world's second-largest Muslim nation..." While it may be true that India is a democracy, it is ALSO true that the ruling party has been criticized by many groups as fascist. Certainly a google search for "hindu fascist" came up with a number of results, all of which I don't have time to read (some work must be done). Here's one from "The Hindu", India's national newspaper.
"So France could tweak America's beak, do business with Iraq and enjoy America's military protection." Pointing the finger at France for doing business with Iraq is a load of hogwash if you ask me, considering American company Halliburton, formerly employing Dick Cheney, did PLENTY of business with Iraq over the same time period. In fact a LOT of companies from the US did business with Iraq; so much so that the US government culled their names from Iraq's report to the UN lest we embarass ourselves even more. Maybe France is wrong to do business with Iraq, but the US is hardly in a position to point fingers.
"But France, as they say in kindergarten, does not play well with others." Neither does China, Russia or Germany when it comes to Iraq. And neither does the US when it comes to a number of things important to our allies: we have broken our word on the International Criminal Court, the ABM, and Kyoto, and drastically cut funds for the UN Population fund and reinstituted the gag rule on abortion counseling. The Administration insists that the world accept US policies, but does everything possible to get out of complying with our own obligations to the world. This is no way to build allies. Friedman doesn't mention this.
"Oh, France's prime minister was on the road last week. He was out drumming up business for French companies in the world's biggest emerging computer society. He was in India." Yup. And we're in Iraq, making sure we get our oil.
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