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Grappling With the Dangers of the New World Order October 22, 2002 By WALTER RUSSELL MEAD The best-known foreign affairs columnist since Walter Lippmann, Thomas L. Friedman of The New York Times has produced in "Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After Sept. 11" the kind of book that only famous columnists can publish: a collection of old columns and diary entries (that read more like columns than diary entries). Moreover, Mr. Friedman's prose style - an occasionally flat Midwestern demotic punctuated by gee-whiz exclamations about just how doggone irresistible globalization is - lacks the steely elegance of a Lippmann, the unobtrusive serviceability of a Scotty Reston or the restless fireworks of a Maureen Dowd and is best taken in small doses. What saves this book and makes it eminently worth reading is Mr. Friedman's sure grasp of so many of the main issues facing the United States in the wars with terror and Iraq. By no means an apologist for the Bush administration, Mr. Friedman nevertheless returns his readers over and over to a few simple truths that shape the choices facing the United States today. A deadly anti-American hatred, partly the result of blowback from the nation's own mistakes but more largely the product of homegrown Middle Eastern failures, has grown up in the Arab world to become a menace to the lives and safety of ordinary Americans. With moderate Arabs there can be conciliation and friendship; with our hard-core enemies there is only victory or defeat. Israel under Ehud Barak offered the Palestinians a 90 percent solution; the Palestinian response was intifada. Mr. Barak's proposals may not have been enough, but no serious Palestinian leader interested in peace would have refused to make a counteroffer. Israel's current war posture is the direct result of Yasir Arafat's failure. Methodically and convincingly, Mr. Friedman takes on the myths of the peace lobby. No, the United States cannot wait to deal with Saddam Hussein until there is a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. No, responding to Al Qaeda violence by concessions and a lower regional profile will not bring a spirit of reason and moderation to its counsels. Yes, the Bush administration is right to confront Mr. Hussein with a credible threat of war (though Mr. Friedman hopes that Mr. Hussein will ultimately accept intrusive inspections without war). No, despite some legitimate Palestinian grievances, there is no moral equivalence between the democratically elected Israeli government and the corrupt, autocratic and dysfunctional leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Yes, although the settler lobby's policies are profoundly destructive for Israelis and Palestinians alike, the root problem today is the incoherent intransigence of the Palestinian leadership rather than Israeli expansionism. Yes, although not all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic, a great deal of the one-sided, disproportionate and unbalanced Israel bashing in the Arab world, Europe and American academia is, alas, at least partly fueled by an irrational hostility toward Jews. Mr. Friedman is right about these critical matters and many others at a time when clarity and common sense are badly needed. More than the reporting - often brilliant - and more than the access to insiders, it is this ability to see a few big truths steadily and whole that makes him the most important columnist in America today. Perhaps the highlight of this book is Mr. Friedman's diary account of his travels in Saudi Arabia in an effort to understand why so many of the Sept. 11 hijackers came from that kingdom. His encounters with Saudis at all levels of society bring all his strengths into play and yield insight after insight into the dilemmas America faces in the Middle East. Sept. 11 and its aftermath have clearly darkened Mr. Friedman's view of the world. No longer so confident that irresistible globalization is bringing peace and security, he closes the book worrying that the choice that faces Americans is a war within civilizations - between, for example, liberal and fundamentalist Muslims - or an era of war between civilizations. He may well be right and, if so, top-notch columnists like Mr. Friedman are needed more than ever to understand the emerging conflicts and dangers that will help define this new and unsettling stage of world history. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/22/books/22MEAD.html?ex=1036291400&ei=1&en=1991197c5e4049fb HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! 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