Thomas Friedman
Encyclopedia
Thomas Lauren Friedman is an American journalist, columnist and author. He writes a twice-weekly column for The New York Times
. He has written extensively on foreign affairs
including global trade, the Middle East, and environmental issues and has won the Pulitzer Prize
three times.
, Minnesota
— a suburb of Minneapolis
— on July 20, 1953. He is the son of Harold and Margaret Friedman. Harold Friedman, who was vice president of a ball-bearing company, United Bearing, died of a heart attack in 1973, when Tom was nineteen years old. Margaret Friedman, who served in the U.S. Navy
in World War II and studied home economics at the University of Wisconsin, was a housewife and a part-time bookkeeper. She also was a Senior Life Master Championship bridge player and died in 2008. Friedman has two older sisters, Shelly and Jane. From an early age, Friedman, whose father often brought him to the golf course for a round after work, wanted to be a professional golfer.
He attended Hebrew school five days a week until his Bar Mitzvah, then St. Louis Park High School where he wrote articles for his school's newspaper. He became enamored of Israel
after a visit there in December 1968, and he spent all three of his high school summers living on Kibbutz
Hahotrim
, near Haifa
. He has characterized his high school years as "one big celebration of Israel's victory in the Six-Day War
."
After graduation, Friedman studied at the University of Minnesota
for two years, but later transferred to Brandeis University
and graduated summa cum laude in 1975 with a degree in Mediterranean studies. He then attended St Antony's College
at the University of Oxford
on a Marshall scholarship
, earning an M.Phil.
in Middle Eastern studies
. He names Professor Albert Hourani
among his important academic influences.
Friedman's wife, Ann, is a graduate of Stanford University
and the London School of Economics
. They were married in London on Thanksgiving Day 1978. Her father, Matthew Bucksbaum, was the chairman of the board of General Growth Properties
, a real estate development group. As of 2007, Forbes
estimated the Bucksbaum family's assets at $4.1 billion, including about 18.6 million square meters of mall space, but the firm's value later plummeted. The family's trust declined in value from $3.6 billion to $25 million. On April 16, 2009, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, after failing to reach a deal with its creditors. The GGP collapse marked the largest real estate bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Ann and Thomas Friedman live in Bethesda, Maryland
, a suburb of Washington, D.C.
The July 2006 issue of Washingtonian
reported that they own "a palatial 11400 square feet (1,059.1 m²) house, currently valued at $9.3 million, on a 7½-acre parcel just blocks from I-495
and Bethesda Country Club." Friedman is paid $50,000 per speaking engagement.
He has two daughters: Orly Friedman (b. 1985) and Natalie Friedman (b. 1988).
Friedman joined The New York Times in 1981 and has won 3 Pulitzer Prizes since. Friedman has dedicated many of his published works to his daughters.
Friedman joined the London bureau of United Press International
after completing his master's degree. He was dispatched a year later to Beirut
, where he stayed until 1981. He lived in Beirut
from June 1979 to May 1981 while covering the civil war there. He was then hired by The New York Times as a reporter, and was redispatched to Beirut at the start of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon
. Friedman's coverage of the war, particularly the Sabra and Shatila massacre
, won him the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting
. Friedman, along side David K. Shipler
, also won the George Polk Award for Foreign Reporting.
Friedman played a lot of sports, becoming serious about tennis and golf. He caddied at a local country club; in 1970 he caddied for the legendary Chi Chi Rodriguez when the US Open came to town.
In June 1984, Friedman was transferred to Jerusalem, where he served as the Times’ Jerusalem Bureau Chief until February 1988. He received a second Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the First Palestinian Intifada
. Afterwards he wrote a book, From Beirut to Jerusalem
, describing his experiences in the Middle East.
Friedman covered Secretary of State James Baker
during the administration of United States President George H. W. Bush
. Following the election of Bill Clinton
in 1992, he became the White House correspondent for the Times. In 1994, he began to write more about foreign policy
and economics
, and moved to the op-ed
page of The New York Times the following year as a foreign affairs columnist. In 2002, Friedman won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary
"for his clarity of vision, based on extensive reporting, in commenting on the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat."
In February 2002, Friedman met Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and personally encouraged him to make his comprehensive attempt to end the Arab-Israeli conflict by normalizing Arab relations with Israel in exchange for the return of refugees
alongside an end to the Israel territorial occupations
. Abdullah proposed the Arab Peace Initiative
at the Beirut Summit that March, which Friedman has strongly supported since.
Friedman is the recipient of the 2004 Overseas Press Club
Award for lifetime achievement, and has been named to the Order of the British Empire
by Queen Elizabeth II
.
In May 2011, it was reported in The New York Times
that President Obama "has sounded out" Friedman concerning Middle East issues.
three times:
In addition, in 2005 he was elected as a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board.
. In 2004, a visit to Bangalore
, India, and Dalian
, China, gave Friedman new insights into the continuing trends of globalization and the forces behind the process, leading him to write a follow-up analysis, The World Is Flat
.
One of Friedman's theses states that individual countries must sacrifice some degree of economic sovereignty to global institutions (such as capital markets and multinational corporation
s), a situation he has termed the "golden straitjacket".
While Friedman is an advocate of globalization, he also points out (in The Lexus and the Olive Tree) the need for a country to preserve its local traditions, a process he termed 'glocalization', although the term was already in use by most social anthropology theorists.
In today's global situation, Thomas Friedman is concerned about the United States' lack of independence when it comes to energy. He states, “First rule of oil - addicts never tell the truth to their pushers. We are the addicts, the oil producers are the pushers - we’ve never had an honest conversation with the Saudis.” Friedman expresses a strong stance on America's need to become more energy independent and to lead in technologies concerning environmental compatibility. He believes this will cause the authoritarian rulers in the Middle East to be coerced out of power — as their petrodollar reserves are depleted — by a growing population of young people. He also believes this is the best way to spread stability and modernization in an autocratic and theocratic region. Friedman argues also that energy independence will strengthen America's economy by basing its energy infrastructure on domestic products (such as biodiesel
), and will ease the world tensions caused by burgeoning energy demand, exacerbated by emerging economies such as those of India and China.
Opponents of free trade charge that Friedman does not consider the purchasing power of domestic labor as a key driver in economic output. However, Friedman argues that when low-skill and low-wage jobs are exported to foreign countries, more advanced and higher-skilled jobs will be freed up and made available for those displaced by the outsourcing. He theorizes that as long as those whose jobs are outsourced continue to further their education and specialize in their field, they will find better-paying and higher-skilled jobs.
He also views American immigration laws as too restrictive and damaging to economic output:
and the Middle East. He was awarded the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary
"for his clarity of vision, based on extensive reporting, in commenting on the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat". These columns were collected and published in the book Longitudes and Attitudes
. For a while, his reportings on post-9/11 topics led him to diverge from his prior interests in technological advances and globalization, until he began to research for The World Is Flat
.
After the 7 July 2005 London bombings
, Friedman called for the U.S. State Department to "shine a spotlight on hate speech wherever it appears," to create a quarterly "War of Ideas Report, which would focus on those religious leaders and writers who are inciting violence against others." Friedman said the governmental speech-monitoring should go beyond those who actually advocate violence, and include also those whom former State Department spokesperson Jamie Rubin
calls "excuse makers." In his July 25 column, Friedman wrote against the "excuses" made by terrorists or apologists who blame their actions on third-party influences or pressures.
In his September 30, 2007, column, Friedman declared that the era of "9/11 is over." Using the Giuliani
campaign as a contrast, Friedman stated that he would support a candidate who is in tune with the post-9/11 world.
, Friedman wrote the following in The New York Times:
These statements were criticized by British media analysts David Edwards
and David Cromwell
, who wrote "The thrill of this for Friedman lies in discussing the devastation of a nation as if he were a salesman offering a range of services."
, writing that the establishment of a democratic state in the Middle East would force other countries in the region to liberalize and modernize. In his February 9, 2003, column for The Wall Street, Friedman also pointed to the lack of compliance with the United Nations Security Council Resolution
regarding Iraq
's weapons of mass destruction
:
In an interview with Charlie Rose
in 2003, Friedman said:
Similarly, in NPR's Talk of the Nation
, September 23, 2003:
Since the invasion, Friedman has expressed alarm over the post-invasion conduct of the war by the George W. Bush
administration. Nevertheless, until his piece dated August 4, 2006 (see below), his columns remained hopeful to the possibility of a positive conclusion to the Iraq conflict (although his optimism appeared to steadily diminish as the conflict continued). Friedman chided George W. Bush and Tony Blair for "hyping" the evidence, and stated plainly that converting Iraq to democracy "would be a huge undertaking, though, and maybe impossible, given Iraq's fractious history".
In January 2004, he participated in a forum on Slate.com called "Liberal Hawks Reconsider the Iraq War", in which he dismisses the justification for war based on Iraq's lack of compliance with the U.N. Resolutions:
Friedman wrote that regime change was the proper justification for the war:
In his September 29, 2005, column in The New York Times, Friedman entertained the idea of supporting the Kurds and Shias in a civil war against the Sunnis:
In his August 4, 2006, column for The New York Times, Friedman stated that the effort to transform Iraq by military invasion had failed, and that it was time for the United States to admit failure and disengage:
As of August 16, 2007, Friedman supports setting a date for withdrawal of U.S. troops.
Iran's Great Weakness May Be Its Oil, by Thomas Friedman, challenges and debates conflicts about oil. Friedman states,"The best tool we have for curbing Iran's influence is not containment or engagement, but getting the price of oil down in the long term with conservation and an alternative-energy strategy. Let's exploit Iran's oil addiction by ending ours".
by your side, not Big Bird
" and would require "a Dick Cheney standing over his right shoulder, quietly pounding a baseball bat into his palm."
In Hot, Flat, and Crowded
, he says that "any car company that gets taxpayer money must demonstrate a plan for transforming every vehicle in its fleet to a hybrid-electric engine with flex-fuel capability, so its entire fleet can also run on next generation cellulosic ethanol
".
In a Fresh Dialogues interview, Friedman described his motivations for writing the book: “My concern is about America...Demand for clean energy, clean fuel and energy efficiency is clearly going to explode; it’s going to be the next great global industry. I know that as sure as I know that I’m sitting here at De Anza College talking to you. By being big in the next big thing, we’ll be seen by the rest of the world as working on the most important problem in the world.”
took Friedman to task publicly in The Times itself for accepting a $75,000 speaking engagement — which Hoyt notes is Friedman's standard public speaking fee — in violation of official Times' guidelines.
described his prose as being "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." Similarly, journalist Matt Taibbi
has said of Friedman's writing that, "Friedman came up with lines so hilarious you couldn't make them up even if you were trying – and when you tried to actually picture the 'illustrative' figures of speech he offered to explain himself, what you often ended up with was pure physical comedy of the Buster Keaton
/Three Stooges
school, with whole nations and peoples slipping and falling on the misplaced banana peels of his literary endeavors." During the 2011 U.S. debt ceiling crisis, Friedman described the Tea Party Movement
as the "Hezbollah faction" of the Republican Party.
has accused Friedman of making denigrating remarks about Arab
s and the Arab world, comparing his use of "Ahmed" as a short-hand for Palestinians in general to Jesse Jackson
's use of "Hymie" as a short-hand for Jews.
has accused Friedman of bias, citing that the columnist and his employer, The New York Times, refused to publish information regarding Arafat's offer to enter into negotiations with the Israeli leadership in 1984. Chomsky writes in his Necessary Illusions and Pirates and Emperors that Friedman knew about the offer, but instead reported that Israel couldn't find a negotiating partner.
Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein
have both accused Friedman of supporting and cheerleading American and Israeli actions, while berating others for "excusing" Islamist and Arab terrorism. They point to Friedman's article in the New York Times, when Friedman praises the bombing of Gaza civilians by arguing it "educates" the Gazans. Chomsky responds that "by similar logic, bin Laden's effort to 'educate' Americans on 9/11 was highly praiseworthy, as were the Nazi attacks on Lidice and Oradour, Putin's destruction of Grozny, and other notable educational exercises". More generally, Chomsky accuses Friedman of continually "banging the drum for war" and US-supported violence in various parts of the world.
Israeli politician and peace activist Uri Avnery
has questioned Friedman's argument that the best role for the Obama administration on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to refuse to intervene politically, forcing the two sides to resolve the issues internally.
Israeli Government Policies Led by Benjamin Netanyahu
Despite his status as a senior journalist whose views are read by the Israeli establishment, in recent months, Friedman came under growing criticism. This criticism is a response to columns in which he attacks Israel's policies under the Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu. The criticism relates to Friedman's substantive views as well as his writing style "Driving Drunk in Jerusalem" (March 2010), "B.E., Before Egypt. A.E., After Egypt" (February 2011) and "Postcard From Cairo, Part 2" (Feberuary 2011)
According to Friedman, Israel should make significant territorial concessions, withdraw from territories claimed by the Palestinians as theirs and cede these territories to the Palestinian Authority. Further, he states that such concessions are essential to U.S. national security interests. These views have been challenged by many in the Israeli media, culminating in an article published in the Israeli Ynet on February 14, 2011 authored by Martin Sherman who argues:
In general, Friedman favors a heavy U.S. intervention in the Mideast peace process, geared towards forcing the Israelis to withdraw from territories viewed by Israelis as necessary for the Israeli state's security. The criticism of Friedman's view is based, among other factors, on recent publications of leaked documents WikiLeaks
, as stated in Sherman's article:
"this absurd theory, that Washington can only galvanize a front against a common threat by undermining its allies, was vividly underscored by the WikiLeaks exposé, which showed that despite the absence of Palestinian statehood, Arab regimes had little inhibitions about pressing the Obama administration to "cut off the head of the (Iranian) snake" before it was too late.
In addition, Friedman's writing style came under fire in particularly after using the terms "drunk", "out of touch" and "in-bred" to describe the Israeli government.
cited 14 examples of Friedman's declaring the next "few months" or "six months" as a decisive or critical period, dating from in November 2003, describing it as "a long series of similar do-or-die dates that never seem to get any closer."
The blogger Atrios
coined the neologism "Friedman Unit
" to refer to this unit of time in relation to Iraq, noting its use as a supposedly critical window of opportunity.
In a live television interview aired June 11, 2006, on CNN
, Howard Kurtz
asked Friedman himself about the concept: "Now, I want to understand how a columnist's mind works when you take positions, because you were chided recently for writing several times in different occasions 'the next six months are crucial in Iraq.'" Friedman responded, "The fact is that the outcome there is unclear, and I reflected that in my column. And I will continue to reflect." Responding to prodding from Stephen Colbert
, Friedman said in 2007, "We've run out of six months. It's really time to set a deadline."
, saying that it was "led by a reasonably enlightened group of people." China's leaders, he reported, are "boosting gasoline prices" and "overtaking us in electric cars, solar power, energy efficiency, batteries, nuclear power and wind power." When asked if he had "China envy" during a Fresh Dialogues interview, Friedman replied, "You detect the envy of someone who wants his own government to act democratically with the same effectiveness that China can do autocratically." LIkewise, in a 2011 interview with the BBC
Friedman says that he wants his children to live in a world where "there's a strong America counterbalancing a strong and thriving China, and not one where you have a strong and rising China and an America that is uncertain, weak and unable to project power economically and militarily it historically did."
" technology and coal mining as emblematic of Friedman's less than "green" commitment to renewable energy. While Friedman supports the elimination of coal-based power, he believes improving coal technology is necessary in the short term.
Friedman has also been criticized personally as a hypocrite whose 11400 square feet (1,059.1 m²) house is inconsistent with concerns about energy efficiency and global warming.
devoted a chapter of her 2001 book All You Can Eat, analyzing and comparing the writing and argument styles of Friedman and Dinesh D'Souza
. She expresses the opinion that they are apologists of Globalization
. In 2006 Friedman remarked on television that he had written a column in support of the Central American Free Trade Agreement knowing only that the words "free trade" appeared in the name; Noam Chomsky
cited this as evidence that Friedman's reputation as an insightful journalist is undeserved.
from its publication in April 2005 until May 2007. Since July 2006, the book has sold more than two million copies.
from several locations around the world. In Straddling the Fence (2003), he visited the West Bank
and spoke to Israelis and Palestinians about the Israeli West Bank barrier
and its impact on their lives. Also in 2003, Thomas L. Friedman Reporting: Searching for the Roots of 9/11
aired on the Discovery Times Channel. This program investigated the reason for Muslim hatred of the United States, and how the Sept. 11th attacks in New York, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon were viewed in the Muslim world.
In The Other Side of Outsourcing (2004), he visited a call centre in Bangalore
, interviewing the young Indians working there, and then travelled to an impoverished rural part of India, where he debated the pros and cons of globalization with locals (this trip spawned his eventual best-selling book The World is Flat).
In Does Europe Hate Us? (2005), Friedman travelled through Britain, France and Germany, talking with academics, journalists, Marshall and Rhodes scholars, young Muslims and others about the nature of the strained relationship between Europe and the United States.
Addicted to Oil (2006) premiered at the Silverdocs Documentary Festival at 5:30 PM on June 16, 2006, and aired on June 24, 2006, on the Discovery Times Channel. In it he examined the geopolitical, economic, and environmental consequences of petroleum use and ways that green technologies such as alternative fuels and energy efficiency
and conservation can reduce oil dependence.
In Green: The New, Red, White and Blue (2007), Friedman elaborates on the green technologies and efforts touched on in Addicted to Oil and in doing so, attempts to redefine green energy as geostrategic, geoeconomic, capitalistic and patriotic. He explores efforts by companies and individuals to reduce their carbon footprint and save money with conservation, efficiency, and technologies such as solar, wind, biomass, nuclear, and clean coal.
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. He has written extensively on foreign affairs
Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
including global trade, the Middle East, and environmental issues and has won the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
three times.
Personal life
Thomas Friedman was born in St. Louis ParkSt. Louis Park, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 44,126 people, 20,782 households, and 10,557 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,122.5 persons per square mile . There were 21,140 housing units at an average density of 1,975.0 per square mile...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
— a suburb of Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
— on July 20, 1953. He is the son of Harold and Margaret Friedman. Harold Friedman, who was vice president of a ball-bearing company, United Bearing, died of a heart attack in 1973, when Tom was nineteen years old. Margaret Friedman, who served in the U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
in World War II and studied home economics at the University of Wisconsin, was a housewife and a part-time bookkeeper. She also was a Senior Life Master Championship bridge player and died in 2008. Friedman has two older sisters, Shelly and Jane. From an early age, Friedman, whose father often brought him to the golf course for a round after work, wanted to be a professional golfer.
He attended Hebrew school five days a week until his Bar Mitzvah, then St. Louis Park High School where he wrote articles for his school's newspaper. He became enamored of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
after a visit there in December 1968, and he spent all three of his high school summers living on Kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
Hahotrim
HaHotrim
HaHotrim is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located near Tirat Carmel, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 516....
, near Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
. He has characterized his high school years as "one big celebration of Israel's victory in the Six-Day War
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
."
After graduation, Friedman studied at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
for two years, but later transferred to Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
and graduated summa cum laude in 1975 with a degree in Mediterranean studies. He then attended St Antony's College
St Antony's College, Oxford
St Antony's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England.St Antony's is the most international of the seven all-graduate colleges of the University of Oxford, specialising in international relations, economics, politics, and history of particular parts of the...
at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
on a Marshall scholarship
Marshall Scholarship
The Marshall Scholarship, a postgraduate scholarships available to Americans, was created by the Parliament of the United Kingdom when the Marshall Aid Commemoration Act was passed in 1953. The scholarships serve as a living gift to the United States of America in recognition of the post-World War...
, earning an M.Phil.
Master of Philosophy
The Master of Philosophy is a postgraduate research degree.An M.Phil. is a lesser degree than a Doctor of Philosophy , but in many cases it is considered to be a more senior degree than a taught Master's degree, as it is often a thesis-only degree. In some instances, an M.Phil...
in Middle Eastern studies
Middle Eastern studies
Middle Eastern studies is a name given to a number of academic programs associated with the study of the history, culture, politics, economies, and geography of the Middle East, an area that is generally interpreted to cover a range of nations extending from North Africa in the west to the Chinese...
. He names Professor Albert Hourani
Albert Hourani
-Life and career:Hourani was born in Manchester, England, the son of Soumaya Rassi and Fadlo Issa Hourani, immigrants from Marjeyoun in what is now South Lebanon. His brothers were George Hourani and Cecil Hourani. His family had converted from Greek Orthodoxy...
among his important academic influences.
Friedman's wife, Ann, is a graduate of Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
and the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
. They were married in London on Thanksgiving Day 1978. Her father, Matthew Bucksbaum, was the chairman of the board of General Growth Properties
General Growth Properties
General Growth Properties, Inc. is a publicly traded real estate investment trust in the United States. It is based in Chicago, Illinois at 110 North Wacker Drive, a historic building designed by architectural firm Graham, Anderson, Probst & White...
, a real estate development group. As of 2007, Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
estimated the Bucksbaum family's assets at $4.1 billion, including about 18.6 million square meters of mall space, but the firm's value later plummeted. The family's trust declined in value from $3.6 billion to $25 million. On April 16, 2009, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, after failing to reach a deal with its creditors. The GGP collapse marked the largest real estate bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Ann and Thomas Friedman live in Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda is a census designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House , which in turn took its name from Jerusalem's Pool of Bethesda...
, a suburb of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
The July 2006 issue of Washingtonian
Washingtonian (magazine)
Washingtonian is a monthly magazine distributed in the Washington, DC area since 1965. The magazine describes itself as "the magazine Washington lives by." The magazine's core focuses are local feature journalism, guide book-style articles, and real estate advice.-Editorial Content:Washingtonian...
reported that they own "a palatial 11400 square feet (1,059.1 m²) house, currently valued at $9.3 million, on a 7½-acre parcel just blocks from I-495
Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)
Interstate 495 is a Interstate Highway that surrounds the United States' capital of Washington, D.C., and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. I-495 is widely known as the Capital Beltway or simply the Beltway, especially when the context of Washington, D.C., is clear...
and Bethesda Country Club." Friedman is paid $50,000 per speaking engagement.
He has two daughters: Orly Friedman (b. 1985) and Natalie Friedman (b. 1988).
Friedman joined The New York Times in 1981 and has won 3 Pulitzer Prizes since. Friedman has dedicated many of his published works to his daughters.
Career
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
after completing his master's degree. He was dispatched a year later to Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, where he stayed until 1981. He lived in Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
from June 1979 to May 1981 while covering the civil war there. He was then hired by The New York Times as a reporter, and was redispatched to Beirut at the start of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon
1982 Lebanon War
The 1982 Lebanon War , , called Operation Peace for Galilee by Israel, and later known in Israel as the Lebanon War and First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon...
. Friedman's coverage of the war, particularly the Sabra and Shatila massacre
Sabra and Shatila massacre
The Sabra and Shatila massacre took place in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon between September 16 and September 18, 1982, during the Lebanese civil war. Palestinian and Lebanese civilians were massacred in the camps by Christian Lebanese Phalangists while the camp...
, won him the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting
Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting
This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on international affairs, including United Nations correspondence. In its first six years , it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting - International...
. Friedman, along side David K. Shipler
David K. Shipler
David K. Shipler is an American author who won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1987 for Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land...
, also won the George Polk Award for Foreign Reporting.
Friedman played a lot of sports, becoming serious about tennis and golf. He caddied at a local country club; in 1970 he caddied for the legendary Chi Chi Rodriguez when the US Open came to town.
In June 1984, Friedman was transferred to Jerusalem, where he served as the Times’ Jerusalem Bureau Chief until February 1988. He received a second Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the First Palestinian Intifada
First Intifada
The First Intifada was a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. The uprising began in the Jabalia refugee camp and quickly spread throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem....
. Afterwards he wrote a book, From Beirut to Jerusalem
From Beirut to Jerusalem
From Beirut to Jerusalem is a book written by Thomas L. Friedman chronicling his days as a reporter in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War and his journey in 1984 from Beirut to Jerusalem to cover unfolding events. The current updated version, published in 1995, includes a new chapter...
, describing his experiences in the Middle East.
Friedman covered Secretary of State James Baker
James Baker
James Addison Baker, III is an American attorney, politician and political advisor.Baker served as the Chief of Staff in President Ronald Reagan's first administration and in the final year of the administration of President George H. W. Bush...
during the administration of United States President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
. Following the election of Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
in 1992, he became the White House correspondent for the Times. In 1994, he began to write more about foreign policy
Foreign policy
A country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries...
and economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, and moved to the op-ed
Op-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
page of The New York Times the following year as a foreign affairs columnist. In 2002, Friedman won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary
Pulitzer Prize for Commentary
The Pulitzer Prize for Commentary has been awarded since 1970. The Pulitzer Committee issues an official citation explaining the reasons for the award.-List of winners and their official citations:...
"for his clarity of vision, based on extensive reporting, in commenting on the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat."
In February 2002, Friedman met Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and personally encouraged him to make his comprehensive attempt to end the Arab-Israeli conflict by normalizing Arab relations with Israel in exchange for the return of refugees
Right of return
The term right of return refers to a principle of international law, codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, giving any person the right to return to, and re-enter, his or her country of origin...
alongside an end to the Israel territorial occupations
Occupied territories
Occupied territory is territory under military occupation. Occupation is a term of art in international law; in accordance with Article 42 of the Laws and Customs of War on Land ; October 18, 1907, territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army...
. Abdullah proposed the Arab Peace Initiative
Arab Peace Initiative
The Beirut Summit was a meeting of the Arab League in Beirut, Lebanon in March 2002 to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The meeting became especially noteworthy for the adoption, by the Arab states attending, of a proposal offering a comprehensive peace between the Arab countries and...
at the Beirut Summit that March, which Friedman has strongly supported since.
Friedman is the recipient of the 2004 Overseas Press Club
Overseas Press Club
The Overseas Press Club of America was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member...
Award for lifetime achievement, and has been named to the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
by Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
.
In May 2011, it was reported in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
that President Obama "has sounded out" Friedman concerning Middle East issues.
Pulitzers
Friedman has won the Pulitzer PrizePulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
three times:
- 1983: for his coverage of the war in Lebanon. A distinguished example of international reporting;
- 1988: for coverage of Israel: a distinguished example of reporting on international affairs;
- 2002: for his commentary illuminating the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat.
In addition, in 2005 he was elected as a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board.
Globalization
Friedman first discussed his views on globalization in the 2000 book The Lexus and the Olive TreeThe Lexus and the Olive Tree
The Lexus and the Olive Tree is a 1999 book by Thomas L. Friedman that posits that the world is currently undergoing two struggles: the drive for prosperity and development, symbolized by the Lexus, and the desire to retain identity and traditions, symbolized by the olive tree...
. In 2004, a visit to Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, India, and Dalian
Dalian
Dalian is a major city and seaport in the south of Liaoning province, Northeast China. It faces Shandong to the south, the Yellow Sea to the east and the Bohai Sea to the west and south. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, Dalian is the southernmost city of Northeast China and China's...
, China, gave Friedman new insights into the continuing trends of globalization and the forces behind the process, leading him to write a follow-up analysis, The World Is Flat
The World Is Flat
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century is an international bestselling book by Thomas Friedman that analyzes globalization, primarily in the early 21st century. The title is a metaphor for viewing the world as a level playing field in terms of commerce, where all competitors...
.
One of Friedman's theses states that individual countries must sacrifice some degree of economic sovereignty to global institutions (such as capital markets and multinational corporation
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
s), a situation he has termed the "golden straitjacket".
While Friedman is an advocate of globalization, he also points out (in The Lexus and the Olive Tree) the need for a country to preserve its local traditions, a process he termed 'glocalization', although the term was already in use by most social anthropology theorists.
In today's global situation, Thomas Friedman is concerned about the United States' lack of independence when it comes to energy. He states, “First rule of oil - addicts never tell the truth to their pushers. We are the addicts, the oil producers are the pushers - we’ve never had an honest conversation with the Saudis.” Friedman expresses a strong stance on America's need to become more energy independent and to lead in technologies concerning environmental compatibility. He believes this will cause the authoritarian rulers in the Middle East to be coerced out of power — as their petrodollar reserves are depleted — by a growing population of young people. He also believes this is the best way to spread stability and modernization in an autocratic and theocratic region. Friedman argues also that energy independence will strengthen America's economy by basing its energy infrastructure on domestic products (such as biodiesel
Biodiesel
Biodiesel refers to a vegetable oil- or animal fat-based diesel fuel consisting of long-chain alkyl esters. Biodiesel is typically made by chemically reacting lipids with an alcohol....
), and will ease the world tensions caused by burgeoning energy demand, exacerbated by emerging economies such as those of India and China.
Opponents of free trade charge that Friedman does not consider the purchasing power of domestic labor as a key driver in economic output. However, Friedman argues that when low-skill and low-wage jobs are exported to foreign countries, more advanced and higher-skilled jobs will be freed up and made available for those displaced by the outsourcing. He theorizes that as long as those whose jobs are outsourced continue to further their education and specialize in their field, they will find better-paying and higher-skilled jobs.
He also views American immigration laws as too restrictive and damaging to economic output:
"It is pure idiocy that Congress will not open our borders – as wide as possible – to attract and keep the world's first-round intellectual draft choices in an age when everyone increasingly has the same innovation tools and the key differentiator is human talent."
Terrorism
After September 11, 2001, Friedman's writing focused more on the threat of terrorismTerrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
and the Middle East. He was awarded the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary
Pulitzer Prize for Commentary
The Pulitzer Prize for Commentary has been awarded since 1970. The Pulitzer Committee issues an official citation explaining the reasons for the award.-List of winners and their official citations:...
"for his clarity of vision, based on extensive reporting, in commenting on the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat". These columns were collected and published in the book Longitudes and Attitudes
Longitudes and Attitudes
Longitudes and Attitudes is the third book by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. Published in 2002, it consists of articles relating to 9/11 and a brief journal of Friedman's experience around that time....
. For a while, his reportings on post-9/11 topics led him to diverge from his prior interests in technological advances and globalization, until he began to research for The World Is Flat
The World Is Flat
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century is an international bestselling book by Thomas Friedman that analyzes globalization, primarily in the early 21st century. The title is a metaphor for viewing the world as a level playing field in terms of commerce, where all competitors...
.
After the 7 July 2005 London bombings
7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
, Friedman called for the U.S. State Department to "shine a spotlight on hate speech wherever it appears," to create a quarterly "War of Ideas Report, which would focus on those religious leaders and writers who are inciting violence against others." Friedman said the governmental speech-monitoring should go beyond those who actually advocate violence, and include also those whom former State Department spokesperson Jamie Rubin
James Rubin
James Philip "Jamie" Rubin is a former diplomat and journalist. He is currently an executive editor at Bloomberg News. Having served in the State Department during the administration of President Bill Clinton, he became a Sky News television news journalist and commentator...
calls "excuse makers." In his July 25 column, Friedman wrote against the "excuses" made by terrorists or apologists who blame their actions on third-party influences or pressures.
After every major terrorist incident, the excuse makers come out to tell us...why the terrorists acted. These excuse makers are just one notch less despicable than the terrorists and also deserve to be exposed. When you live in an open society like London, where anyone with a grievance can publish an article, run for office or start a political movement, the notion that blowing up a busload of innocent civilians in response to Iraq is somehow "understandable" is outrageous. "It erases the distinction between legitimate dissent and terrorism" Mr. Rubin said, "and an open society needs to maintain a clear wall between them."
In his September 30, 2007, column, Friedman declared that the era of "9/11 is over." Using the Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
campaign as a contrast, Friedman stated that he would support a candidate who is in tune with the post-9/11 world.
We can’t afford to keep being this stupid! We have got to get our groove back. We need a president who will unite us around a common purpose, not a common enemy. Al Qaeda is about 9/11. We are about 9/12, we are about the Fourth of July — which is why I hope that anyone who runs on the 9/11 platform gets trounced.
Kosovo War
During the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was NATO's military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The strikes lasted from March 24, 1999 to June 10, 1999...
, Friedman wrote the following in The New York Times:
"Like it or not, we are at war with the Serbian nation (the Serbs certainly think so), and the stakes have to be very clear: Every week you ravage Kosovo is another decade we will set your country back by pulverizing you. You want 1950? We can do 1950. You want 1389Battle of KosovoThe Battle of Kosovo took place on St. Vitus' Day, June 15, 1389, between the army led by Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, and the invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the leadership of Sultan Murad I...
? We can do 1389 too."
These statements were criticized by British media analysts David Edwards
David Edwards (journalist)
David Edwards is a British political writer who specializes in the analysis of corporate media. He is co-editor of the Media Lens website....
and David Cromwell
David Cromwell
David Cromwell is a Scottish oceanographer, writer and activist. He is the author of Private Planet and of numerous articles published in several newspapers and magazines. Cromwell is currently a monthly ZNet commentator and co-editor of Media Lens.Cromwell spent most of his formative years in...
, who wrote "The thrill of this for Friedman lies in discussing the devastation of a nation as if he were a salesman offering a range of services."
War in Iraq
Friedman supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
, writing that the establishment of a democratic state in the Middle East would force other countries in the region to liberalize and modernize. In his February 9, 2003, column for The Wall Street, Friedman also pointed to the lack of compliance with the United Nations Security Council Resolution
United Nations Security Council Resolution
A United Nations Security Council resolution is a UN resolution adopted by the fifteen members of the Security Council; the UN body charged with "primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security"....
regarding Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
's weapons of mass destruction
Weapons of mass destruction
A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general...
:
The French position is utterly incoherent. The inspections have not worked yet, says Mr. de Villepin, because Saddam has not fully cooperated, and, therefore, we should triple the number of inspectors. But the inspections have failed not because of a shortage of inspectors. They have failed because of a shortage of compliance on Saddam's part, as the French know. The way you get that compliance out of a thug like Saddam is not by tripling the inspectors, but by tripling the threat that if he does not comply he will be faced with a U.N.-approved war.
In an interview with Charlie Rose
Charlie Rose
Charles Peete "Charlie" Rose, Jr. is an American television talk show host and journalist. Since 1991 he has hosted Charlie Rose, an interview show distributed nationally by PBS since 1993...
in 2003, Friedman said:
What they needed to see was American boys and girls going house to house, from Basra to Baghdad, um and basically saying, "Which part of this sentence don't you understand?"
You don't think, you know, we care about our open society, you think this bubble fantasy, we're just gonna to let it grow?
Well, Suck. On. This.
..We could have hit Saudi ArabiaSaudi ArabiaThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. It was part of that bubble. Could have hit PakistanPakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. We hit Iraq because we could. That's the real truth...
Similarly, in NPR's Talk of the Nation
Talk of the Nation
Talk of the Nation is a talk radio program based in the United States, produced by National Public Radio, and is broadcast nationally from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Its focus is current events and controversial issues....
, September 23, 2003:
.. and sometimes it takes a 2-by-4 across the side of the head to get that message.
Since the invasion, Friedman has expressed alarm over the post-invasion conduct of the war by the George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
administration. Nevertheless, until his piece dated August 4, 2006 (see below), his columns remained hopeful to the possibility of a positive conclusion to the Iraq conflict (although his optimism appeared to steadily diminish as the conflict continued). Friedman chided George W. Bush and Tony Blair for "hyping" the evidence, and stated plainly that converting Iraq to democracy "would be a huge undertaking, though, and maybe impossible, given Iraq's fractious history".
In January 2004, he participated in a forum on Slate.com called "Liberal Hawks Reconsider the Iraq War", in which he dismisses the justification for war based on Iraq's lack of compliance with the U.N. Resolutions:
The stated reason for the war was that Saddam HusseinSaddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
had developed weapons of mass destruction that posed a long-term threat to America. I never bought this argument...
Friedman wrote that regime change was the proper justification for the war:
The right reason for this war, as I argued before it started, was to oust Saddam's regime and partner with the Iraqi people to try to implement the Arab Human Development report's prescriptions in the heart of the Arab world. That report said the Arab world is falling off the globe because of a lack of freedom, women's empowerment, and modern education. The right reason for this war was to partner with Arab moderates in a long-term strategy of dehumiliation and redignification.
In his September 29, 2005, column in The New York Times, Friedman entertained the idea of supporting the Kurds and Shias in a civil war against the Sunnis:
If they the Sunnis won't come around, we should arm the Shiites and Kurds and leave the Sunnis of Iraq to reap the wind.
In his August 4, 2006, column for The New York Times, Friedman stated that the effort to transform Iraq by military invasion had failed, and that it was time for the United States to admit failure and disengage:
Whether for Bush reasons or Arab reasons, democracy is not emerging in Iraq, and we can't throw more good lives after good lives.
As of August 16, 2007, Friedman supports setting a date for withdrawal of U.S. troops.
Iran's Great Weakness May Be Its Oil, by Thomas Friedman, challenges and debates conflicts about oil. Friedman states,"The best tool we have for curbing Iran's influence is not containment or engagement, but getting the price of oil down in the long term with conservation and an alternative-energy strategy. Let's exploit Iran's oil addiction by ending ours".
Iran
In November 2008, Friedman advised Barack Obama that in order to deal with Iran we would need "Tony SopranoTony Soprano
Anthony John "Tony" Soprano, Sr. is an Italian-American fictional character and the protagonist on the HBO television drama series The Sopranos, on which he is portrayed by James Gandolfini. The character was conceived by The Sopranos creator and show runner David Chase, who was also largely...
by your side, not Big Bird
Big Bird
Big Bird is a protagonist of the children's television show Sesame Street. Big Bird, like many of the other Sesame Street characters, is a Muppet character. He is sometimes referred to simply as "Bird" by his friends....
" and would require "a Dick Cheney standing over his right shoulder, quietly pounding a baseball bat into his palm."
Climate Change
Friedman talks about the end of the "Cold War Era" and the beginning of the "Energy-Climate Era".In Hot, Flat, and Crowded
Hot, Flat, and Crowded
Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—And How It Can Renew America is a book by New York Times Foreign Affairs columnist Thomas Friedman, proposing that the solutions to global warming and the best method to regain the United States' economic and political stature in the world is...
, he says that "any car company that gets taxpayer money must demonstrate a plan for transforming every vehicle in its fleet to a hybrid-electric engine with flex-fuel capability, so its entire fleet can also run on next generation cellulosic ethanol
Cellulosic ethanol
Cellulosic ethanol is a biofuel produced from wood, grasses, or the non-edible parts of plants.It is a type of biofuel produced from lignocellulose, a structural material that comprises much of the mass of plants. Lignocellulose is composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin...
".
In a Fresh Dialogues interview, Friedman described his motivations for writing the book: “My concern is about America...Demand for clean energy, clean fuel and energy efficiency is clearly going to explode; it’s going to be the next great global industry. I know that as sure as I know that I’m sitting here at De Anza College talking to you. By being big in the next big thing, we’ll be seen by the rest of the world as working on the most important problem in the world.”
Controversies and criticisms
A number of critics have taken issue with Friedman's views, as well as aspects of his writing style. Various commentators have accused Friedman both of anti-Israel and pro-Israel bias; others have criticized his support for the Iraq War and views on globalization. New York Times public editor Clark HoytClark Hoyt
- Personal life and Professional career :Clark Hoyt is an American journalist who was the public editor of the New York Times, serving as the "readers' representative." He was the newspaper's third public editor, or ombudsman, after Daniel Okrent and Byron Calame...
took Friedman to task publicly in The Times itself for accepting a $75,000 speaking engagement — which Hoyt notes is Friedman's standard public speaking fee — in violation of official Times' guidelines.
Writing style
Some critics have derided Friedman's idiosyncratic prose style, with its tendency to use mixed metaphors and analogies. Walter Russell MeadWalter Russell Mead
Walter Russell Mead is James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College and Editor-at-Large of The American Interest magazine, and is recognized as one of the country's leading students of American foreign policy . Until 2010, Mead was the Henry A. Kissinger Senior...
described his prose as being "an occasionally flat Midwestern demotic punctuated by gee-whiz exclamations about just how doggone irresistible globalization is – lacks the steely elegance of a Lippmann
Walter Lippmann
Walter Lippmann was an American intellectual, writer, reporter, and political commentator famous for being among the first to introduce the concept of Cold War...
, the unobtrusive serviceability of a Scotty Reston or the restless fireworks of a Maureen Dowd
Maureen Dowd
Maureen Bridgid Dowd is a Washington D.C.-based columnist for The New York Times and best-selling author. During the 1970s and the early 1980s, she worked for Time magazine and the Washington Star, where she covered news as well as sports and wrote feature articles...
and is best taken in small doses." Similarly, journalist Matt Taibbi
Matt Taibbi
Matthew C. "Matt" Taibbi is an American author and journalist reporting on politics, media, finance, and sports for Rolling Stone and Men's Journal, often in a polemical style. He has also edited and written for The eXile, the New York Press, and The Beast.- Early years :Taibbi grew up in the...
has said of Friedman's writing that, "Friedman came up with lines so hilarious you couldn't make them up even if you were trying – and when you tried to actually picture the 'illustrative' figures of speech he offered to explain himself, what you often ended up with was pure physical comedy of the Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
/Three Stooges
Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe,...
school, with whole nations and peoples slipping and falling on the misplaced banana peels of his literary endeavors." During the 2011 U.S. debt ceiling crisis, Friedman described the Tea Party Movement
Tea Party movement
The Tea Party movement is an American populist political movement that is generally recognized as conservative and libertarian, and has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009...
as the "Hezbollah faction" of the Republican Party.
Middle East
Economist Edward HermanEdward S. Herman
Edward S. Herman is an American economist and media analyst with a specialty in corporate and regulatory issues as well as political economy and the media. He is Professor Emeritus of Finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He also teaches at Annenberg School for...
has accused Friedman of making denigrating remarks about Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
s and the Arab world, comparing his use of "Ahmed" as a short-hand for Palestinians in general to Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
's use of "Hymie" as a short-hand for Jews.
Israel
Noam ChomskyNoam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
has accused Friedman of bias, citing that the columnist and his employer, The New York Times, refused to publish information regarding Arafat's offer to enter into negotiations with the Israeli leadership in 1984. Chomsky writes in his Necessary Illusions and Pirates and Emperors that Friedman knew about the offer, but instead reported that Israel couldn't find a negotiating partner.
Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein
Norman Finkelstein
Norman Gary Finkelstein is an American political scientist, activist and author. His primary fields of research are the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the politics of the Holocaust. He is a graduate of Binghamton University and received his Ph.D in Political Science from Princeton University...
have both accused Friedman of supporting and cheerleading American and Israeli actions, while berating others for "excusing" Islamist and Arab terrorism. They point to Friedman's article in the New York Times, when Friedman praises the bombing of Gaza civilians by arguing it "educates" the Gazans. Chomsky responds that "by similar logic, bin Laden's effort to 'educate' Americans on 9/11 was highly praiseworthy, as were the Nazi attacks on Lidice and Oradour, Putin's destruction of Grozny, and other notable educational exercises". More generally, Chomsky accuses Friedman of continually "banging the drum for war" and US-supported violence in various parts of the world.
Israeli politician and peace activist Uri Avnery
Uri Avnery
Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement.A member of the Irgun as a teenager, Avnery sat in the Knesset from 1965–74 and 1979–81...
has questioned Friedman's argument that the best role for the Obama administration on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to refuse to intervene politically, forcing the two sides to resolve the issues internally.
Israeli Government Policies Led by Benjamin NetanyahuBenjamin NetanyahuBenjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
Despite his status as a senior journalist whose views are read by the Israeli establishment, in recent months, Friedman came under growing criticism. This criticism is a response to columns in which he attacks Israel's policies under the Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu. The criticism relates to Friedman's substantive views as well as his writing style "Driving Drunk in Jerusalem" (March 2010), "B.E., Before Egypt. A.E., After Egypt" (February 2011) and "Postcard From Cairo, Part 2" (Feberuary 2011)
According to Friedman, Israel should make significant territorial concessions, withdraw from territories claimed by the Palestinians as theirs and cede these territories to the Palestinian Authority. Further, he states that such concessions are essential to U.S. national security interests. These views have been challenged by many in the Israeli media, culminating in an article published in the Israeli Ynet on February 14, 2011 authored by Martin Sherman who argues:
In general, Friedman favors a heavy U.S. intervention in the Mideast peace process, geared towards forcing the Israelis to withdraw from territories viewed by Israelis as necessary for the Israeli state's security. The criticism of Friedman's view is based, among other factors, on recent publications of leaked documents WikiLeaks
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
, as stated in Sherman's article:
"this absurd theory, that Washington can only galvanize a front against a common threat by undermining its allies, was vividly underscored by the WikiLeaks exposé, which showed that despite the absence of Palestinian statehood, Arab regimes had little inhibitions about pressing the Obama administration to "cut off the head of the (Iranian) snake" before it was too late.
In addition, Friedman's writing style came under fire in particularly after using the terms "drunk", "out of touch" and "in-bred" to describe the Israeli government.
Iraq
Critics of Friedman's position on the Iraq War have noted his recurrent assertion that "the next six months" will prove critical in determining the outcome of the conflict. A May 2006 study by Fairness and Accuracy in ReportingFairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting is a progressive media criticism organization based in New York City, founded in 1986.FAIR describes itself on its website as "the national media watch group" and defines its mission as working to "invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity...
cited 14 examples of Friedman's declaring the next "few months" or "six months" as a decisive or critical period, dating from in November 2003, describing it as "a long series of similar do-or-die dates that never seem to get any closer."
The blogger Atrios
Atrios
Duncan Bowen Black , better known by his pseudonym Atrios , is an American liberal blogger living in Philadelphia. His weblog Eschaton is one of the most popular political weblogs, receiving an average of over 100,000 hits every day...
coined the neologism "Friedman Unit
Friedman (unit)
The Friedman, or Friedman Unit , is a tongue-in-cheek neologism coined by blogger Atrios on May 21, 2006.A Friedman is a unit of time equal to six months in the future....
" to refer to this unit of time in relation to Iraq, noting its use as a supposedly critical window of opportunity.
In a live television interview aired June 11, 2006, on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, Howard Kurtz
Howard Kurtz
Howard "Howie" Alan Kurtz is an American journalist and author with a special focus on the media. He is host of CNN's Reliable Sources program, and Washington bureau chief for The Daily Beast. He is the former media writer for The Washington Post. He has written five books about the media...
asked Friedman himself about the concept: "Now, I want to understand how a columnist's mind works when you take positions, because you were chided recently for writing several times in different occasions 'the next six months are crucial in Iraq.'" Friedman responded, "The fact is that the outcome there is unclear, and I reflected that in my column. And I will continue to reflect." Responding to prodding from Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
, Friedman said in 2007, "We've run out of six months. It's really time to set a deadline."
China
In September 2009, Friedman wrote an article praising China's one-party autocracyAutocracy
An autocracy is a form of government in which one person is the supreme power within the state. It is derived from the Greek : and , and may be translated as "one who rules by himself". It is distinct from oligarchy and democracy...
, saying that it was "led by a reasonably enlightened group of people." China's leaders, he reported, are "boosting gasoline prices" and "overtaking us in electric cars, solar power, energy efficiency, batteries, nuclear power and wind power." When asked if he had "China envy" during a Fresh Dialogues interview, Friedman replied, "You detect the envy of someone who wants his own government to act democratically with the same effectiveness that China can do autocratically." LIkewise, in a 2011 interview with the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Friedman says that he wants his children to live in a world where "there's a strong America counterbalancing a strong and thriving China, and not one where you have a strong and rising China and an America that is uncertain, weak and unable to project power economically and militarily it historically did."
The environment
Some of Friedman's environmental critics question his support of still undeveloped "clean coalClean coal
Historically used to refer to technologies for reducing emissions of ash, sulfur, and heavy metals from coal combustion; the term is now commonly used to refer to carbon capture and storage technology...
" technology and coal mining as emblematic of Friedman's less than "green" commitment to renewable energy. While Friedman supports the elimination of coal-based power, he believes improving coal technology is necessary in the short term.
Friedman has also been criticized personally as a hypocrite whose 11400 square feet (1,059.1 m²) house is inconsistent with concerns about energy efficiency and global warming.
Globalization
Canadian author Linda McQuaigLinda McQuaig
Linda Joy McQuaig is a Canadian journalist, columnist and non-fiction author.-History:Long a business reporter at the Globe and Mail, she subsequently wrote a column for the National Post before moving to her current job at the Toronto Star...
devoted a chapter of her 2001 book All You Can Eat, analyzing and comparing the writing and argument styles of Friedman and Dinesh D'Souza
Dinesh D'Souza
Dinesh D'Souza is an author and public speaker and a former Robert and Karen Rishwain Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is currently the President of The King's College in New York City. D'Souza is a noted Christian apologist and conservative writer and speaker....
. She expresses the opinion that they are apologists of Globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
. In 2006 Friedman remarked on television that he had written a column in support of the Central American Free Trade Agreement knowing only that the words "free trade" appeared in the name; Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
cited this as evidence that Friedman's reputation as an insightful journalist is undeserved.
Published works
Friedman's books have seen considerable commercial success. His book The World Is Flat was on the New York Times Best Seller listNew York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
from its publication in April 2005 until May 2007. Since July 2006, the book has sold more than two million copies.
The Chapter 18 Project
Hot, Flat, and Crowded contains 17 chapters; Friedman has asked readers to submit ideas for the expanded edition's 18th chapter. He will use these ideas in a forthcoming expanded hardcover edition or the paperback edition. Users can submit their ideas and vote on others' ideas online.Documentaries
Friedman has hosted several documentaries for the Discovery ChannelDiscovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
from several locations around the world. In Straddling the Fence (2003), he visited the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
and spoke to Israelis and Palestinians about the Israeli West Bank barrier
Israeli West Bank barrier
The Israeli West Bank barrier is a separation barrier being constructed by the State of Israel along and within the West Bank. Upon completion, the barrier’s total length will be approximately...
and its impact on their lives. Also in 2003, Thomas L. Friedman Reporting: Searching for the Roots of 9/11
Searching for the Roots of 9/11
Searching for the Roots of 9/11 is a documentary which aired on the Discovery Channel in 2003. It is hosted by New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman- Content :...
aired on the Discovery Times Channel. This program investigated the reason for Muslim hatred of the United States, and how the Sept. 11th attacks in New York, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon were viewed in the Muslim world.
In The Other Side of Outsourcing (2004), he visited a call centre in Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, interviewing the young Indians working there, and then travelled to an impoverished rural part of India, where he debated the pros and cons of globalization with locals (this trip spawned his eventual best-selling book The World is Flat).
In Does Europe Hate Us? (2005), Friedman travelled through Britain, France and Germany, talking with academics, journalists, Marshall and Rhodes scholars, young Muslims and others about the nature of the strained relationship between Europe and the United States.
Addicted to Oil (2006) premiered at the Silverdocs Documentary Festival at 5:30 PM on June 16, 2006, and aired on June 24, 2006, on the Discovery Times Channel. In it he examined the geopolitical, economic, and environmental consequences of petroleum use and ways that green technologies such as alternative fuels and energy efficiency
Efficient energy use
Efficient energy use, sometimes simply called energy efficiency, is the goal of efforts to reduce the amount of energy required to provide products and services. For example, insulating a home allows a building to use less heating and cooling energy to achieve and maintain a comfortable temperature...
and conservation can reduce oil dependence.
In Green: The New, Red, White and Blue (2007), Friedman elaborates on the green technologies and efforts touched on in Addicted to Oil and in doing so, attempts to redefine green energy as geostrategic, geoeconomic, capitalistic and patriotic. He explores efforts by companies and individuals to reduce their carbon footprint and save money with conservation, efficiency, and technologies such as solar, wind, biomass, nuclear, and clean coal.