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{{short description|American journalist and author (born 1953)}} | |||
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{{other people||Tom Friedman (disambiguation)}} | |||
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{{Use American English|date=January 2023}} | |||
'''Thomas Loren Friedman, ''' ] (born ], ]) is an American ], ], ] and three-time winner of the ], currently working as an ] contributor for '']''. His columns, concentrating mainly on ], appear on Wednesdays and Fridays. | |||
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}} | |||
Friedman is known for supporting a compromise peace between ] and the ]s, modernization of the ], ] and ], while sometimes remarking on their potential pitfalls to the United States economy and society. His books address various aspects of international politics and major shifts in the future ], from a centrist, ] perspective on the political spectrum. Friedman is the recipient of the 2004 ] Award for lifetime achievement and has been named ] by ]. | |||
{{Infobox person | |||
| name = Thomas Friedman | |||
| image = Thomas Friedman 2005 (5).jpg | |||
| caption = Friedman in 2005 | |||
| birth_name = Thomas Loren Friedman | |||
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1953|07|20|}} | |||
| birth_place = ], ] | |||
| death_date = | |||
| death_place = | |||
| education = ] (])<br />] (]) | |||
| occupation = Author<br/>Columnist | |||
| networth = | |||
| spouse = ]<ref name=ann/> | |||
| children = 2 | |||
| website = {{URL|http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/}} | |||
| relatives = ] (father-in-law) | |||
}} | |||
'''Thomas Loren Friedman''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|f|r|iː|d|m|ən}} {{respell|FREED|mən}}; born July 20, 1953) is an American ] and author. He is a three-time ] winner who is a weekly ] for '']''. He has written extensively on ], ], the ], ], and ]s. | |||
Friedman began his career as a reporter and won two Pulitzer Prizes in the 1980s for his coverage on conflict in Lebanon and politics in Israel, followed by a further prize in 2002 for commentary on the ]. | |||
==Early life== | |||
Friedman was born in ], ], a suburb of ]. As a child, he attended a ] ] where a young ] was a counselor. In high school, he wrote for his school's newspaper,<ref></ref> including one article in which he interviewed ], future ], then an Israeli general. | |||
==Early life and education== | |||
Friedman received a ] in Mediterranean Studies from ] in 1975. He then attended ] at the ] on a ], receiving an ] in Middle Eastern Studies. He names Professor ] among his important academic influences. | |||
] 2013]] | |||
Friedman was born on July 20, 1953, in ],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/about-the-author |title=About the Author | Thomas L. Friedman |access-date=September 19, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502195146/http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/about-the-author |archive-date=May 2, 2016 }}</ref> the son of Margaret Blanche (née Phillips) and Harold Abe Friedman.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VC2S-FF3 |title=Person Details for Thomas Loren Friedman, "Minnesota Birth Index, 1935-2002" — FamilySearch.org |website=] |access-date=January 25, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305001626/https://familysearch.org/ark%3A/61903/1%3A1%3AVC2S-FF3 |archive-date=March 5, 2016 }}</ref> Harold, who was vice president of a ] company, United Bearing, died of a ] in 1973 when Tom was nineteen years old. Margaret, who served in the ] during ] and studied ] at the ], was a ] and a ] ]. Margaret was also a Senior Life Master ] player, and died in 2008. Friedman has two older sisters, Shelly and Jane. From an early age, Friedman, whose father often took him to the ] course for a round after work, wanted to be a professional golfer. He played a lot of sports, and became serious about ] and golf. He ] at a local country club and in 1970 caddied for professional golfer ] when the ] ].<ref name="wired flat">{{cite news | url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.05/friedman.html | title=Why the World Is Flat | website=Wired.com | date=May 2005 | access-date=February 6, 2012 | archive-date=February 12, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140212203153/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.05/friedman.html | url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
Friedman is ].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/opinion/friedman-newt-mitt-bibi-and-vladimir.html?_r=3&hp |title=Newt, Mitt, Bibi and Vladimir |website=] |date=December 14, 2011 |access-date=March 26, 2012 |first=Thomas L. |last=Friedman |archive-date=May 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200508010430/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/opinion/friedman-newt-mitt-bibi-and-vladimir.html?_r=3&hp |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-02-21 |title="I Am Jewish" {{!}} Facing History & Ourselves |url=https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/i-am-jewish |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=www.facinghistory.org |language=en}}</ref> He attended ] school five days a week until his ],<ref>''From Beirut to Jerusalem''. 1990, page 4</ref> then ], where he wrote articles for his ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.slpschools.org/sh/Echo/First%20One/Frame%20Set/Front%20Page1.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050428164819/http://www.slpschools.org/sh/Echo/First%20One/Frame%20Set/Front%20Page1.html|url-status=dead|title=''The Echo''|archive-date=April 28, 2005}}</ref> He became enamored with ] after a visit there in December 1968, and he spent all three of his high school summers living on ] ], near ].<ref name=bei>''From Beirut to Jerusalem''. 1990, page 5</ref> He has characterized his high school years as "one big celebration of Israel's victory in the ]."<ref name=bei /> | |||
==Career== | |||
Upon graduating, Friedman joined the ] bureau of ]. He was dispatched a year later to ], where he stayed until 1981. He was then hired by ''The New York Times'', and was soon redispatched to Beirut at the start of the ]. Friedman's coverage of the war, particularly the ], won him the ]. | |||
Friedman studied at the ] for two years, but later ] to ] and graduated '']'' in 1975 with a degree in Mediterranean studies. Friedman also pursued Arabic studies at ], where he graduated in 1974 from its Arabic language unit (ALU).<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.aucegypt.edu/academics/casa/notable-alumni|title=Notable Alumni | The American University in Cairo|website=www.aucegypt.edu|access-date=April 20, 2020|archive-date=April 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200429044931/https://www.aucegypt.edu/academics/casa/notable-alumni|url-status=live}}</ref> Friedman later taught a class in ] at Brandeis in 2006, and was a ] there in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://my.brandeis.edu/news/item?news_item_id=9179 |title=Brandeis University :: News |website=My.brandeis.edu |access-date=March 26, 2012 |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719103849/http://my.brandeis.edu/news/item?news_item_id=9179 |url-status=live }}</ref> After graduating from Brandeis, he attended ] at the ] as a ], earning an ] in ]. | |||
He was assigned to ] from 1984 to 1988, and received a second Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the ]. Afterwards he wrote a book, '']'', describing his experiences in the Middle East. | |||
==Journalism career== | |||
Friedman covered ] ] during the administration of ] ]. Following the election of ] in 1992, he became the ''Times'''s ]. In 1994, he began to write about the intersection of ] and ], and in 1995 he moved to the ] page of the ''Times'' as a foreign affairs columnist. | |||
] in London in September 2014]] | |||
Friedman joined the London bureau of ] after completing his master's degree. He was dispatched a year later to ], where he lived from June 1979 to May 1981 while covering the ]. He was hired by ''The New York Times'' as a reporter in 1981 and re-dispatched to Beirut at the start of the ]. His coverage of the war, particularly the ],<ref>{{cite news |last=Friedman |first=Thomas L. |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9504E4D81138F935A1575AC0A964948260 |title=article by Thomas Friedman on Beirut massacre |newspaper=] |date=September 26, 1982 |access-date=May 15, 2010 |archive-date=December 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031514/https://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/26/world/the-beirut-massacre-the-four-days.html |url-status=live }}</ref> won him the ] (shared with Loren Jenkins of '']'').<ref name=pulitzer /> Alongside ], he also won the ] for foreign reporting.<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 27, 1983 |title=Winners of Polk Award For Journalism Named |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/27/nyregion/winners-of-polk-award-for-journalism-named.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref> | |||
In June 1984, Friedman was transferred to ], where he served as the ''New York Times'' Jerusalem Bureau Chief until February 1988. That year he received a second Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, which cited his coverage of the ].<ref name=pulitzer>{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/International-Reporting|title=International Reporting: Past winners & finalists by category|website=The Pulitzer Prizes|access-date=March 25, 2012|archive-date=December 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151224123142/http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/International-Reporting|url-status=live}}</ref> He wrote a book, '']'', describing his experiences in the Middle East,<ref>{{cite web |title=Thomas L. Friedman – Bio |url=http://www.usc.edu/dept/pubrel/specialevents/gc2011/bios/bioFriedman.php?iframe |publisher=University of Southern California |access-date=August 5, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527171242/http://www.usc.edu/dept/pubrel/specialevents/gc2011//bios/bioFriedman.php?iframe |archive-date=May 27, 2011 }}</ref> which won the 1989 U.S. ].<ref name=nba1989>{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1989 |title=National Book Awards – 1989 |publisher=] |access-date=March 25, 2012 |archive-date=January 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131145521/https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1989/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
==Opinion and stances== | |||
===Globalization=== | |||
{{see|The World Is Flat}} | |||
Friedman first discussed his views of globalization in the 1999 book, '']''. In 2004, a visit to Bangalore and Beijing gave Friedman new insights into the continuing shifts in the global structure of wealth and prosperity, tilted towards populations from emerging markets that recently joined the global arena. This led him to write a follow-up synopsis and analysis on globalization, '']''. | |||
Friedman covered ] ] during the administration of President ]. Following the election of ] in 1992, Friedman became the ] for the ''New York Times''. In 1994, he began to write more about ] and ], and moved to the ] page of ''The New York Times'' the following year as a foreign affairs columnist. In 2002, Friedman won the ] for his "clarity of vision, based on extensive reporting, in commenting on the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2002 |title=Thomas Friedman of The New York Times |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/thomas-friedman |website=The Pulitzer Prizes}}</ref> | |||
One of Friedman's theses is that individual nations must sacrifice some degree of economic sovereignty to global institutions (such as ] and ]s) in order to achieve Western-style economic prosperity. He termed these restrictions the "Golden Straitjacket." | |||
In February 2002, Friedman met ] ] and encouraged him to make a comprehensive attempt to end the ] by normalizing Arab relations with Israel in exchange for the ] alongside an end to the ]. Abdullah proposed the ] at the ] that March, which Friedman has since strongly supported.<ref name=what>{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/833589.html |title=What Arab initiative?|author=Akiva Eldar|website=Haaretz.com}}</ref> | |||
While Friedman is an advocate of globalization, he has also points out (in ''The Lexus and the Olive Tree'') the need for a country to preserve its local traditions even as it globalizes, a process he termed "glocalization". | |||
Friedman received the 2004 ] Award for lifetime achievement and the same year was named to the ] by ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/events/the-world-is-fast-by-thomas-l-friedman/|title="The world is fast" by Thomas L. Friedman|website=Oxford Martin School|access-date=June 8, 2020|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031516/https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/events/the-world-is-fast-by-thomas-l-friedman/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Columnist Biography: Thomas L. Friedman|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/ref/opinion/FRIEDMAN-BIO.html?8qa|access-date=August 27, 2020|website=The New York Times|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031526/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/ref/opinion/FRIEDMAN-BIO.html?8qa|url-status=live}}</ref> In May 2011, '']'' reported that President ] "has sounded out" Friedman concerning Middle East issues.<ref>{{cite news|last=Landler|first=Mark|title=Obama Seeks Reset in Arab World|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/us/politics/12prexy.html?_r=1&sq=zakaria&st=nyt&scp=1&pagewanted=print|access-date=May 25, 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 11, 2011|archive-date=January 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107045357/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/us/politics/12prexy.html?_r=1|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
Friedman has been praised for his 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 petrodollars deplete, by a growing and albeit distressed youth population. He believes this is the key to spreading stability and modernization in an autocratic and theocratic region. Friedman also argues that energy independence will strengthen America's economy by basing its energy infrastructure on domestic products, and ease the world tensions caused by burgeoning energy demand, exacerbated by emerging markets such as India and China. | |||
==Views== | |||
Friedman's position on globalization through ] has been criticized as being based on faith, rather than fact or data research. He has been quoted for saying "I wrote a column supporting ]. I didn't even know what was in it. I just knew two words: free trade."<ref>{{cite news | author = ] | url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/11/EDGOBIQ0QU1.DTL | title = Where Economics Meets Religious Fundamentalism | work = ] | publisher = ] | page = B6 | date = ]-] | accessdate = 2006-08-18}}</ref> | |||
{{external media| float = right| video1 = , ]}} | |||
Friedman has been criticized for his staunch advocacy of the ],<ref>{{cite web|title=Iraq 10 Years Later: The Deadly Consequences of Spin|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/iraq-war-spin-bush-david-corn/|access-date=April 25, 2019|website=Motherjones.com|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031513/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/iraq-war-spin-bush-david-corn/|url-status=live}}</ref> as well as unregulated trade,<ref>{{cite web|date=February 18, 2014|title=What Does Tom Friedman Know About TPP?|url=https://fair.org/home/what-does-tom-friedman-know-about-tpp/|access-date=April 25, 2019|website=Fair.org|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031532/https://fair.org/home/what-does-tom-friedman-know-about-tpp/|url-status=live}}</ref> and his early support of Saudi Royal Prince ].<ref>{{cite web|last=Larison|first=Daniel|date=September 5, 2018|title=Treat MbS as the War Criminal He Is|url=https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/treat-mbs-as-the-war-criminal-he-is/|access-date=April 25, 2019|website=The American Conservative|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031537/https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/treat-mbs-as-the-war-criminal-he-is/|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
=== Aadhaar === | |||
A criticism of Friedman is that he does not consider the purchasing power of domestic labor as a key driver in economic output. Especially in regard to the fact that exporters to the United States depend on the standard of living that has been provided by the domestic American manufacturing base. However, Friedman argues that by exporting low-skill and low-wage jobs 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. | |||
Friedman has publicly expressed his support for the biometrics based ] program of ]. When asked about the privacy concerns raised by the UID program in India he said:<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/facebook-is-tracking-you-more-than-anything-not-aadhaar-thomas-friedman/articleshow/62750180.cms|title=Facebook is tracking you more than anything, not Aadhaar: Thomas Friedman|last=Gupte|first=Masoom|date=February 2, 2018|newspaper=]|access-date=February 2, 2018|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031609/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/facebook-is-tracking-you-more-than-anything-not-aadhaar-thomas-friedman/articleshow/62750180.cms|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
{{blockquote|I am a huge enthusiast of the UID platform. I feel that is going to be a platform for innovation. Societies require these platforms where people are integrated with a trusted ID. I think concerns about privacy are bogus. The platform doesn't store anything about you except your biometrics. It's not tracking you. Facebook is tracking you much more today. If you are worried about privacy, then you shouldn't be using Google, Facebook, Twitter, any of these things. They are tracking you so much more than the Indian government is tracking you. What's worse is that they are selling it for profit. So, I think the privacy concern is bogus.}} | |||
===Globalization=== | |||
{{further|The Lexus and the Olive Tree|The World Is Flat|Longitudes and Attitudes}} | |||
] at the ] in Davos, January 17, 2017]] | |||
Friedman first discussed his views on ] in the book ''The Lexus and the Olive Tree'' (1999). In 2004, visits to ], India, and ], China, led Friedman to write a follow-up analysis, '']'' (2005). Friedman believes that individual countries must sacrifice some degree of economic sovereignty to global institutions (such as ]s and ]s), a situation he has termed the "golden straitjacket".<ref>{{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Thomas L.|title=The Lexus and the Olive Tree|url=https://archive.org/details/lexusolivetre00frie|url-access=registration|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|date=1999|pages=|isbn=9780374192037}}</ref> | |||
In 2000, Friedman championed Free Trade with The People's Republic of China, claiming that Free Trade would make China more democratic.<ref>Friedman, Thomas. "Trade bill will expand democracy in China. Eugene Register Guard. May 17, 2000.</ref> He has also expressed concern about the United States' lack of ]. He has stated, "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."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2010/12/03/us-has-lost-its-leverage-in-the-world-friedman.html|title=US Has 'Lost Its Leverage' in the World: Friedman|website=]|access-date=September 16, 2017|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031555/https://www.cnbc.com/id/40489880|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
In 2007, Friedman viewed ] as too restrictive and damaging to U.S. 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."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/23/opinion/23friedman.html?_r=1 |title=Laughing and Crying |website=] |date=May 27, 2007 |access-date=November 17, 2010 |first=Thomas L. |last=Friedman |archive-date=December 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031555/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/23/opinion/23friedman.html?_r=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
After visiting the ] in San Diego, California in early April 2019, Friedman wrote, "The whole day left me more certain than ever that we have a real immigration crisis and that the solution is a high wall with a big gate — but a smart gate."<ref name="TFriedmanNYTApril2019">{{cite web |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/opinion/trump-immigration-border-wall.html |title= Trump Is Wasting Our Immigration Crisis: The system needs to be fixed, but "the wall" is only part of the solution |author= Thomas L. Friedman |date= April 23, 2019 |work= ] |access-date= April 25, 2019 |archive-date= December 23, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031557/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/opinion/trump-immigration-border-wall.html |url-status= live }}</ref><ref name="RScarryExaminerApril2019">{{cite web |url= https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/thomas-friedman-joins-america-endorses-trumps-immigration-positions |title= Thomas Friedman joins America, endorses Trump's immigration positions |author= Eddie Scarry |date= April 25, 2019 |work= ] |quote= Give New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman credit for his admission, rare among the national news media, that President Trump's immigration positions are logical, humane, and morally right. |access-date= April 25, 2019 }}</ref> | |||
===Terrorism=== | ===Terrorism=== | ||
After the ], Friedman's writing focused more on the threat of ] and the Middle East. He was awarded the 2002 ] "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 '']''. For a while, his |
After the ] in 2001, Friedman's writing focused more on the threat of ] and the Middle East. He was awarded the 2002 ] "for his clarity of vision, based on extensive reporting, in commenting on the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat".<ref name=":0" /> These columns were collected and published in the book '']''.{{citation needed|date=March 2014}} For a while, his reporting on post-9/11 topics led him to diverge from his prior interests in technological advances and globalization, until he began to research ''The World Is Flat''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/magazine/its-a-flat-world-after-all.html|title=It's a Flat World, After All|last=Friedman|first=Thomas L.|date=April 3, 2005|newspaper=]|access-date=April 17, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031607/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/magazine/its-a-flat-world-after-all.html|url-status=live}}</ref> | ||
After the ], Friedman called for the ] to "shine a spotlight on ] wherever it appears", and to create a quarterly "War of Ideas Report, which would focus on those religious leaders and writers who are inciting violence against others".<ref name="hatemongers">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/22/opinion/giving-the-hatemongers-no-place-to-hide.html | newspaper=] | title=Giving the Hatemongers No Place to Hide | first=Thomas L. | last=Friedman | date=July 22, 2005 | access-date=July 5, 2015 | archive-date=December 23, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031623/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/22/opinion/giving-the-hatemongers-no-place-to-hide.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Friedman said the governmental speech-monitoring should go beyond those who actually advocate violence, and include also those whom former State Department spokesperson ] calls "excuse makers".<ref name="hatemongers"/> In his July 22 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."<ref name="hatemongers"/> As part of their response to this column, the editors at ] encouraged their readers to contact Friedman and inform him that "opponents of the Iraq War do not deserve to be on a government blacklist-even if they oppose the war because they believe it encourages terrorism".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://fair.org/take-action/action-alerts/a-new-blacklist-for-quotexcuse-makersquot/ | work=] | title=A New Blacklist for 'Excuse Makers' | date=July 27, 2005 | access-date=July 5, 2015 | archive-date=December 23, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031615/https://fair.org/take-action/action-alerts/a-new-blacklist-for-quotexcuse-makersquot/ | url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
After the ], Friedman called for the ] to begin producing a "War of Ideas Report" that would identify religious leaders and writers who advocate violence, as well as anyone who suggests that "imperialism, zionism, colonialism or Iraq" explains why the terrorists acted. "These excuse makers are just one notch less despicable than the terrorists and also deserve to be exposed," he said in his ], ] column. Critics at ] point to this as part of a wider trend to marginalise and censor critics of U.S. foreign policy.<ref></ref> | |||
===War |
===Kosovo War=== | ||
During the ], Friedman wrote the following in ''The New York Times'' on April 23, 1999: "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 ]? We can do 1389 too." Friedman urged the US to destroy "in Belgrade: every power grid, water pipe, bridge road", annex Albania and Macedonia as "U.S. protectorates", "occupy the Balkans for years", and "ive war a chance."<ref>{{cite news|author=Thomas Friedman|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/23/opinion/foreign-affairs-stop-the-music.html|title=Stop the Music|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 23, 1999|access-date=February 13, 2017|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031604/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/23/opinion/foreign-affairs-stop-the-music.html|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
] (FAIR) labeled Friedman's remarks "war-mongering" and "crude race-hatred and war-crime agitation".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2941 |title=CPJ Declares Open Season on Thomas Friedman|website= Fair.org}}</ref> Steve Chapman, critical of the response taken by NATO, referred to Friedman as "the most fervent supporter of the air war" and ironically asked in the '']'': "Why stop at 1389? Why not revive the idea, proposed but never adopted in Vietnam, of bombing the enemy all the way back to the Stone Age?"<ref>{{cite news |author=Steve Chapman |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/04/29/a-war-against-all-of-the-serbs/ |title=A War Against All Of The Serbs |newspaper=] |date=April 29, 1999 |access-date=May 1, 2013 |archive-date=November 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103113452/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1999-04-29/news/9904290059_1_nato-serbian-civilians |url-status=live }}</ref> ] asserted in 2007 that "a tone of sadism could be discerned" in Friedman's article.<ref>{{cite news | first=Norman | last=Solomon | url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/thomas-friedman-hooked-on_b_63368 | title=Thomas Friedman: Hooked on War | work=] | date=September 6, 2007 | access-date=April 26, 2020 | archive-date=December 23, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031610/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/thomas-friedman-hooked-on_b_63368 | url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
Friedman supported the ], believing 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 New York Times'', Friedman also pointed to the lack of compliance with the ] regarding ]'s ]: | |||
===Iraq=== | |||
<blockquote> | |||
Friedman supported the ], writing that the establishment of a democratic state in the Middle East would force other countries in the region to liberalize and modernize.{{citation needed|date=March 2014}} In his February 9, 2003, column for '']'', Friedman also pointed to the lack of compliance with the ] regarding ]'s ]: | |||
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. | |||
{{blockquote|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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/reform/cluster1/2003/0209india.htm |title=Vote France Off the Island |website=Globalpolicy.org |date=February 9, 2003 |access-date=May 15, 2010 |archive-date=December 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031609/https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/200/41165.html |url-status=live }}</ref>}} | |||
<ref></ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
Nevertheless, he found the incoherence of the American position to be an asset, arguing that "the axis-of-evil idea isn't thought through -- but that's what I like about it. (...) There is a lot about the Bush team's foreign policy I don't like, but their willingness to restore our deterrence, and to be as crazy as some of our enemies, is one thing they have right. It is the only way we're going to get our turkey back.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Greenwald |first1=Glenn |title=The Tom Friedman of 2002 has not gone anywhere |url=https://www.salon.com/2007/11/18/friedman_2/ |work=Salon |date=November 18, 2007 |language=en}}</ref> | |||
Since the invasion, Friedman has expressed alarm over the post-invasion conduct of the war by the ] 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). | |||
In January 2004, he participated in a forum on ] called "] Reconsider the Iraq War", in which he dismisses the justification for war based on Iraq's lack of compliance with the U.N. Resolutions: | After the invasion, Friedman expressed alarm over the post-invasion conduct of the war by the ] 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 '']'' called "] Reconsider the Iraq War", in which he dismisses the justification for war based on Iraq's lack of compliance with the U.N. Resolutions: | ||
{{blockquote|The right reason for this war … 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.<ref name="four reasons">{{cite journal| url=http://www.slate.com/id/2093620/entry/2093763/| title=Liberal Hawks Reconsider the Iraq War: Four Reasons To Invade Iraq| first=Thomas| last=Friedman| date=January 12, 2004| journal=Slate| access-date=December 7, 2006| archive-date=December 23, 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031611/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/features/2004/liberal_hawks_reconsider_the_iraq_war/four_reasons_to_invade_iraq.html| url-status=live}}</ref>}} | |||
In his September 29, 2005, column in ''The New York Times'', Friedman entertained the idea of supporting the ] and ] in a civil war against the ]: "If they won't come around, we should arm the Shiites and Kurds and leave the Sunnis of Iraq to reap the wind."<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051216010417/http://web.krg.org/articles/article_detail.asp?LangNr=12&RubricNr=94%2C106%2C109&ArticleNr=6377&LNNr=28&RNNr=70 |date=December 16, 2005 }} Sep 29. 2005</ref> | |||
<blockquote> | |||
The stated reason for the war was that Saddam Hussein had developed weapons of mass destruction that posed a long-term threat to America. I never bought this argument… | |||
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 ] 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".<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004120725/http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2884 |date=October 4, 2012 }} May 16, 2006</ref> The blogger ] coined the neologism "]" to refer to this unit of time in relation to Iraq, noting its use as a supposedly critical window of opportunity.<ref name="Black">{{cite web | first = Duncan | last = Black | url = https://www.eschatonblog.com/2006_05_21_atrios_archive.html#114826445526365297 | author-link = Atrios | title = The Six Monthers | publisher = Blogspot | date = May 21, 2006 | access-date = April 26, 2020 | archive-date = December 23, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031615/https://www.eschatonblog.com/2006_05_21_atrios_archive.html#114826445526365297 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>'']'' cited it as the "Best New Phrase" of 2006.{{cite news | url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/media-winners-of-2006-ho_n_37388 | title=Media Winners of 2006: Honorable Mentions (Rapid-Fire Round II) | work=] | date=January 2, 2007 | access-date=April 26, 2020 | archive-date=December 23, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031606/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/media-winners-of-2006-ho_n_37388 | url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
The WMD argument was hyped by George Bush and Tony Blair to try to turn a war of choice into a war of necessity. | |||
<ref></ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
In a live television interview aired June 11, 2006, on ], ] asked Friedman 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."<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005082152/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/11/rs.01.html |date=October 5, 2016 }} June 11, 2006</ref> Responding to prodding from ], Friedman said in 2007: "We've run out of six months. It's really time to set a deadline."<ref>{{cite web|last=Corley |first=Matt |url=http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/25/friedman-six-months-no-more/ |title=No more 'Friedmans' for Friedman. |website=ThinkProgress.org |date=September 25, 2007 |access-date=October 6, 2011}}</ref> | |||
Friedman wrote that regime change was the proper justification for the war: | |||
===Environment=== | |||
<blockquote> | |||
''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 ]. Let's exploit ] addiction by ending ours".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/02/thomas_friedman.html |title=Economist's View: Thomas Friedman: Iran's Great Weakness May Be Its Oil |website=Economistsview.typepad.com |date=February 3, 2007 |access-date=October 6, 2011}}</ref> In '']'', he says that "any car company that gets taxpayer money must demonstrate a plan for transforming every vehicle in its fleet to a ] with ] capability, so its entire fleet can also run on next generation ]".<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/opinion/12friedman.html?_r=1 | newspaper=The New York Times | title=How to Fix a Flat | first=Thomas L. | last=Friedman | date=November 12, 2008 | access-date=March 28, 2010}}</ref> | |||
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.<ref></ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
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 ] 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 ] 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."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freshdialogues.com/2009/09/18/tom-friedman-transcript-of-fresh-dialogues-interview/ |title=Fresh Dialogues interview with Alison van Diggelen, September 10, 2009 |website=Freshdialogues.com |date=September 18, 2009 |access-date=May 15, 2010}}</ref> Some of Friedman's environmental critics question his support of still-undeveloped ] technology ("clean coal") and coal mining as emblematic of Friedman's less than "green" commitment to renewable energy.<ref name="autogenerated1"> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160104204255/http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/opinion/10friedman.html?scp=2&sq=Friedman+green+lump&st=nyt |date=January 4, 2016 }} January 2007</ref> | |||
The ] ''Friedman'', meaning a period of six months, has been coined in mock tribute to Friedman, based on his repeated optimistic predictions that within six months from the time of his writing, the success or failure of the American project in Iraq would be known.<ref>,</ref> | |||
===Israel=== | |||
In a September 29, 2005 piece, Friedman stated that "we are entering the endgame". As a preliminary step towards a subsequent U.S. disengagement, Friedman proposed arming the Shiites and Kurds in order to counterbalance the Sunnis who, in his view, were obstructing a democratic, federalist Iraq: | |||
Friedman has been criticized by organizations such as ] for defending Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon as a form of "educating" Israel's opponents; according to FAIR, Friedman was explicitly endorsing terrorism by Israel against Lebanese and Palestinians.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fair.org/take-action/action-alerts/terrorism-on-the-new-york-times-op-ed-page/|title=Terrorism on the New York Times Op-Ed Page|date=January 14, 2009|website=Fair.org|access-date=April 18, 2013|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031639/https://fair.org/take-action/action-alerts/terrorism-on-the-new-york-times-op-ed-page/|url-status=live}}</ref> Journalist ] and professor ] also accused Friedman of endorsing and encouraging terrorism by Israeli forces.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.salon.com/2009/01/14/friedman_7/|title=Tom Friedman offers a perfect definition of "terrorism"|first=Glenn|last=Greenwald|author-link=Glenn Greenwald|website=Salon.com|date=January 14, 2009|access-date=April 18, 2013|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031626/https://www.salon.com/2009/01/14/friedman_7/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chomsky.info/articles/20090119.htm|title="Exterminate all the Brutes": Gaza 2009|website=Chomsky.info|access-date=November 24, 2009|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031625/https://chomsky.info/articles/|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
<blockquote> | |||
If come around, a decent outcome in Iraq is still possible, and we should stay to help build it. If they won’t, then we are wasting our time. We should arm the Shiites and Kurds and leave the Sunnis of Iraq to reap the wind.<ref></ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
Political reporter Belen Fernandez heavily critiques Friedman's commentary regarding Israel. Among other criticisms, Fernandez singles out Friedman's suggestion that Israeli forces were unaware that their allied Lebanese militias carried out the ] while under their guard, contradicting the assessments of other journalists and observers; his encouragement of strong-armed force by the Israeli army against Palestinians; and his opposition to ] only on the grounds that they are counter-productive, rather than because they violate ] or cause suffering for Palestinians. Fernandez suggests that Friedman is most worried about successfully maintaining Israel's Jewish ethnocracy and actively opposing a "one-man, one-vote" system of democracy.<ref>Fernandez, Belen. ''The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work''. Verso Books, 2011, p 99-107</ref> | |||
In his ], ] column for ''The New York Times'', Friedman finally 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: | |||
Friedman has also come under criticism from supporters of Israel. In an op-ed, Yitzhak Benhorin criticized Friedman's alleged suggestion that Israel relinquish territory it had occupied in the 1967 Middle Eastern War.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4028408,00.html|title=Go figure Tom Friedman|newspaper=Ynetnews|date=February 14, 2011|access-date=February 14, 2011|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031624/https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4028408,00.html|url-status=live|last1=Sherman|first1=Martin}}</ref> Friedman sparked criticism for writing that congressional ovations for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were "bought and paid for by the ]."<ref>Thomas L. Friedman: {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322100547/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/opinion/friedman-newt-mitt-bibi-and-vladimir.html?_r=1 |date=March 22, 2015 }} ''New York Times'' December 13, 2011.</ref> A letter from the ] objected that "Public opinion polls consistently show a high level of American ... support for and identification with Israel. This indicates that the people's elected representatives are fully reflecting the will of the voters."<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103070852/http://blogs.jpost.com/content/new-york-times-columnist-tom-friedman-crossed-line |date=November 3, 2013 }} ''Jerusalem Post,'' December 19, 2011.</ref> Friedman responded to criticism by writing: "In retrospect I probably should have used a more precise term like 'engineered' by the Israel lobby – a term that does not suggest grand conspiracy theories that I don't subscribe to."<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418202933/http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/12/20/3090840/friedman-sorry-for-bought-and-paid-for-jab-at-congress |date=April 18, 2012 }} JTA, December 20, 2011.</ref> | |||
<blockquote> | |||
hree years of efforts to democratize Iraq are not working. … Whether for Bush reasons or Arab reasons, it is not happening.<ref></ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
Friedman hailed the Trump-brokered ] between ] and the ] as "exactly what Trump said it was in his tweet: a 'HUGE breakthrough.{{'"}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/512125-trump-seeks-to-build-campaign-momentum-with-middle-east-deal|title=Trump seeks to build campaign momentum with Middle East deal|first=Ian|last=Swanson|date=August 16, 2020|website=The Hill|access-date=September 9, 2020|archive-date=November 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115060306/https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/512125-trump-seeks-to-build-campaign-momentum-with-middle-east-deal|url-status=live}}</ref> In July 2023, as the Netanyahu’s government proposed new laws leading to judicial reform intended to limit the powers of Israel’s ], Friedman wrote an opinion piece supporting the Biden government’s changing diplomatic approach toward Israel.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/opinion/netanyahu-israel-judiciary.html |title=The U.S. Reassessment of Netanyahu's Government Has Begun| last=Friedman |first=Thomas L.|website=] |date=2023-07-11 |access-date=2023-11-05 }}</ref> Following the outbreak of the ], Friedman urged Israel against military over-reach and further settlement expansions, saying to do so otherwise would risk destabilizing the region and the US-Israel alliance.<ref>{{cite news |author=Thomas Friedman |date=2023-10-27 |title=Israel: From the Six-Day War to the Six-Front War |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/25/opinion/israel-gaza-palestine-war.html |work=New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Thomas Friedman |date=2023-10-19 |title=Israel Is About to Make a Terrible Mistake |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/19/opinion/biden-speech-israel-gaza.html |work=New York Times}}</ref> | |||
==Personal life== | |||
In November 1978, Friedman married economist Ann Bucksbaum, a native of ] and a ] graduate of ].<ref></ref> The Bucksbaum family is reportedly one of the wealthiest in America: Ann's father, Matthew Bucksbaum, is chairman of the board for ], a real estate development group he and his late brother founded in 1954. The Bucksbaums helped pioneer the development of ] in the United States.<ref></ref> '']'' estimates the family's assets at 2.7 billion dollars, including some 200 million square feet of mall space.<ref>, </ref> | |||
===China=== | |||
Ann and Thomas Friedman live in ], a suburb of ] The July 2006 issue of '']'' magazine reports that they own "a palatial 11,400-square-foot house, now valued at $9.3 million, on a 7½-acre parcel just blocks from I-495 and Bethesda Country Club." The Friedmans have two daughters: Orly Friedman (b. 1985) and Natalie Friedman (b. 1988). Both were born in Israel while Friedman served as a correspondent for ''The New York Times''<ref>, </ref>, and Friedman has dedicated many of his works to his daughters. | |||
In September 2009, Friedman wrote an article praising China's ] ], saying that China's leaders are "boosting gasoline prices" and "overtaking us in electric cars, solar power, energy efficiency, batteries, nuclear power and wind power."<ref name="12:10 EDT">{{cite magazine|author=EDT |url=http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Tom-Friedman-hails-China_s-one-party-autocracy-8229077-59075192.html |title=New York Times columnist Tom Friedman hails China's one-party autocracy |magazine=Washington Examiner |date=September 13, 2009 |access-date=May 15, 2010 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> The article was in turn subject to critical analysis: ] who wrote, "Friedman's apparent wish for a 'benign' dictator is utopian, inasmuch as it ignores Lord Acton's warning that 'absolute power corrupts absolutely.'"<ref>{{cite web|author=Matt Lewis|url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/01/20/tom-friedman-praises-chinas-one-party-autocracy-again/|title=Tom Friedman, in Praising China's 'One-Party Autocracy,' Just Doesn't Get It|publisher=Politics Daily|date=January 20, 2011|access-date=October 26, 2012|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031627/https://www.huffpost.com/|url-status=live}}</ref> and ] who quotes Friedman's one-party autocracy assertions<ref>{{cite web|author=William Easterly|url=http://williameasterly.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/benevolent-autocrats-easterly-2nd-draft.pdf|title=Benevolent Autocrats|publisher=William Easterly|date=May 2011|pages=2|access-date=October 26, 2012|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031613/https://williameasterly.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/benevolent-autocrats-easterly-2nd-draft.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> as part of his academic paper in which he concluded that, "Formal theory and evidence provides little or no basis on which to believe the benevolent autocrat story" and that, "economists should retain their traditional skepticism for stories that have little good theory or empirics to support them."<ref>{{cite web|author=William Easterly|url=http://williameasterly.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/benevolent-autocrats-easterly-2nd-draft.pdf|title=Benevolent Autocrats|publisher=William Easterly|date=May 2011|pages=44|access-date=October 26, 2012|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031624/https://williameasterly.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/benevolent-autocrats-easterly-2nd-draft.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> However, in a July 2012 article in the NYT,<ref name="12:10 EDT"/> he also wrote that the current Chinese leadership has not used its surging economic growth to also introduce gradual political reform and that, "Corruption is as bad as ever, institutionalized transparency and rule of law remain weak and consensual politics nonexistent."<ref>{{cite news|author=Thomas Friedman|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/opinion/friedman-what-the-locusts-ate.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=0|title=What the Locusts Ate|date=June 5, 2012|access-date=October 26, 2012|newspaper=]|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031629/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/opinion/friedman-what-the-locusts-ate.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=0|url-status=live}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.freshdialogues.com/2009/09/16/tom-friedman-china-envy-explained/ |title=Fresh Dialogues Interview with Alison van Diggelen |website=Freshdialogues.com |date=September 16, 2009 |access-date=May 15, 2010 |archive-date=December 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031633/https://www.freshdialogues.com/2009/09/16/tom-friedman-china-envy-explained/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Likewise, in a 2011 interview with the ] 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."<ref>{{YouTube|ws3Yr6JjZyk|BBC Two: The Chinese Are Coming: Episode 2: The Americas (Part 4 of 4), quote can be heard from 11:50 to 12:15 }}{{dead link|date=October 2011}}</ref> | |||
Friedman's work is popular in China. His book ''The World is Flat'' was a bestseller in the country, although criticism of China in the book was removed when it was published in the country.<ref name="economist">{{cite news|title=The role of Thomas Friedman|url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/analects/2013/05/chinese-dream-0|newspaper=The Economist|date=May 6, 2013|access-date=July 13, 2017|archive-date=October 28, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028145059/https://www.economist.com/blogs/analects/2013/05/chinese-dream-0|url-status=live}}</ref> A translated version of his article from ''The New York Times'', "China Needs Its Own Dream", has been credited with popularizing the phrase "]" in China, a term that was later adopted as a slogan by ].<ref name="economist"/> Friedman, in the magazine '']'', has attributed the phrase to Peggy Liu and her environmental NGO JUCCCE.<ref name=FP>{{cite news|last=Fish|first=Isaac Stone|title=Thomas Friedman: I only deserve partial credit for coining the 'Chinese dream'|url=http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/05/03/thomas_friedman_i_only_deserve_partial_credit_for_coining_the_chinese_dream|newspaper=Foreign Policy|date=May 3, 2013|access-date=May 30, 2013|archive-date=June 7, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607020405/http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/05/03/thomas_friedman_i_only_deserve_partial_credit_for_coining_the_chinese_dream|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
Friedman is an avid fan of ].{{citeneeded}} | |||
In September 2020, Friedman told CNBC that "Trump is not the American president America deserves, in my opinion. But he definitely is the American president China deserved. We needed to have a president who was going to call the game with China. And Trump has done it, with I would say more grit and toughness than any of his predecessors. I give him credit for that."<ref>{{cite news |title=Trump is the U.S. president that China deserves, says New York Times' Thomas Friedman |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/01/new-york-times-columnist-thomas-friedman-donald-trump-is-us-president-china-deserves.html |work=CNBC |date=September 1, 2020}}</ref> In November the same year, Friedman observed that Xi Jinping had brought about "an end to four decades of steady integration of China’s economy with the West".<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/01/opinion/china-united-states-trade-economy.html |title=How China Lost America |author=Thomas Friedman |date=2022-11-01 |work=New York Times }}</ref> | |||
==Published works== | |||
] | |||
Friedman's books have seen considerable commercial success. His latest book, ''The World Is Flat'', has been on the ] since its publication in April 2005. Since July 2006, the book has sold more than two million copies. | |||
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===Iran=== | ||
As the ] reached between Iran and a group of world powers (the ]). In Friedman's interview, he mentioned that "Our view of the Middle East is deeply colored by Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey and they all have their own interest. 15 of the 19 hijackers on 911 were from Saudi Arabia, none from Iran! Iranians had a spontaneous demonstration to support Americans on 911." He added, "What strikes you most about Iran (vs. Saudi Arabia) is that Iran has real politics... A country of 85 million people, a great civilization, many educated men and women, if they want to get a bomb they will get it. They have demonstrated they could do it under the most severe sanctions... Show me where Iranians have acted reckless . These are survivors."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hulu.com/watch/823275|title=Charlie Rose|access-date=January 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054340/http://www.hulu.com/watch/823275|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
* '']: A Brief History Of The Twenty-first Century'' (2005) ISBN 0-374-29288-4 | |||
* '']: Exploring the World After September 11'' (2002) ISBN 0-374-19066-6 | |||
* '']'' (1999) ISBN 0-374-18552-2 | |||
* '']'' (1989) ISBN 0-374-15894-0, (updated 1990) ISBN 0-385-41372-6 | |||
On February 2, 2024, Friedman penned a allegorical op-ed entitled, "Understanding the Middle East Through the Animal Kingdom", in which he posited Iran as a metaphorical "parasitoid wasp" with proxies in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria, as caterpillars. Friedman claimed "We have no counterstrategy that safely and efficiently kills the wasp without setting fire to the whole jungle", suggesting that America militarily destroy the entire Middle East to annihilate Iran and its allies. He concluded that he could "contemplate" the Middle East by watching Animal Planet.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Thomas Friedman |date=2024-02-02 |title=Understanding the Middle East Through the Animal Kingdom |url=https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/01/30/opinion/thepoint/friedman-middle-east-animals?.html |work=New York Times}}</ref> The New Arab reported that it has been criticized for racism and ].<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 February 2024 |title=Thomas Friedman's 'Middle East Animal Kingdom' article in New York Times enrages Arabs, supporters of Palestine over 'racism' |url=https://www.newarab.com/news/thomas-friedman-nyt-middle-east-animal-kingdom-enrages-arabs |website=The New Arab}}</ref> | |||
==Documentaries== | |||
Friedman has also hosted several documentaries for the ] from various locations around the world. In "Straddling the Fence" (2003), he visited the ] and spoke to Israelis and Palestinians about the ] 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 center in ], interviewing the young Indians working there, and then traveled to an impoverished rural part of ], where he debated the pros and cons of globalization with locals (this trip spawned his eventual bestselling book "The World is Flat"). In "Does Europe Hate Us?" (2005), he traveled through ], ] and ], 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. Friedman's most recent documentary, "Addicted to Oil" premiered at the Silverdocs Film Festival at 5:30 PM on ], ], and aired on ]], at 10 p.m. ET on the Discovery Times Channel. In it he examines 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. | |||
===Radical centrism=== | |||
== External links == | |||
In the 2010s, Friedman wrote several columns supporting the politics of ]. In one he stated that, if the "radical center wants to be empowered, it can't just whine. It needs its own ] movement".<ref>Friedman, Thomas L. (March 20, 2010). "". ''The New York Times''. Retrieved February 25, 2013.</ref> In another column Friedman promoted ], an organization trying to field a radical-centrist candidate for the ]. That column decried "the two-party duopoly that has dominated American political life".<ref>Friedman, Thomas (July 23, 2011). " {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141005042006/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/opinion/sunday/24friedman.html?_r=0 |date=October 5, 2014 }}". ''The New York Times''. Retrieved February 23, 2013.</ref> Friedman's radical-centrist columns received a considerable amount of criticism, particularly from liberals.<ref>Marx, Greg (July 25, 2011). " {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160622053405/https://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/tom_friedmans_radical_wrongnes.php?page=all |date=June 22, 2016 }}". ''Columbia Journalism Review''. Retrieved February 28, 2013.</ref> | |||
*, the official Web site | |||
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== |
==Personal life== | ||
Friedman's wife, Ann (née Bucksbaum) is a teacher and a native of ].<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031511/https://plaza.las.iastate.edu/directory/ann-bucksbaum-friedman/ |date=December 23, 2020}} Retrieved September 24, 2017</ref> A graduate of ] and the ],<ref name="archive.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.las.iastate.edu/kiosk/2892.shtml|title=Plaza of Heroines - Ann Bucksbaum Friedman|date=October 18, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081018111132/http://www.las.iastate.edu/kiosk/2892.shtml|access-date=April 25, 2019|archive-date=October 18, 2008}}</ref> she is the daughter of real estate developer ],<ref name=ann>{{cite news |last= O'Connell |first= Jonathan |date=January 25, 2017 |title= Philanthropist Ann Friedman picked to turn D.C.'s Franklin School into 'Planet Word.'|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/digger/wp/2017/01/25/philanthropist-ann-friedman-picked-to-turn-d-c-s-franklin-school-into-planet-word/ |newspaper=] |location=Washington DC |access-date=January 25, 2018 }}</ref> whom Friedman describes as his "best friend".<ref name="Washingtonian">{{cite news |last1=Graff |first1=Garrett |title=Thomas Friedman is On Top of the World |url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2006/07/01/thomas-friedman-is-on-top-of-the-world/ |agency=Washingtonian Magazine |date=July 1, 2006 |access-date=January 4, 2020 |archive-date=December 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031510/https://www.washingtonian.com/2006/07/01/thomas-friedman-is-on-top-of-the-world/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151104150905/http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/thomas-friedman-is-on-top-of-the-world/|date=November 4, 2015 }} July 1, 2006</ref> They were married in London on Thanksgiving Day 1978 and live in an 11,400-square-foot mansion in ].<ref name="vanity">{{cite news|date=November 2008|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2008/11/thomas-friedmans-world-is-flat-broke|title=Thomas Friedman's World Is Flat Broke|work=]|access-date=April 15, 2020|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031526/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/11/thomas-friedmans-world-is-flat-broke|url-status=live}}</ref> They have two daughters, Orly (born 1985) and Natalie (born 1988).<ref name="archive.org"/> | |||
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* "Thomas Friedman" | |||
* "Billionare Scion Tom Friedman" | |||
*] on his book : '']''. | |||
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* criticism By ''Edward S. Herman'', Z Magazine, November 2003 | |||
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* A critique of Thomas Friedman's writing style by ] | |||
* A critique of "The World is Flat" by ] | |||
* - A rhetoric analysis of Friedman's prose | |||
* by Nancy Spannaus ] | |||
* The New York Times synopsis of the Discovery Channel documentary of the same name. | |||
* Video of Thomas Friedman speaking at the World Bank Group's 2006 Private Sector Development Forum on | |||
* A review of Friedman's punditry with respect to Iraq by FAIR | |||
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Friedman supported ] for President of the United States in the ],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/13/opinion/the-gop-partys-over.html|title=Opinion - The (G.O.P.) Party's Over|first=Thomas L.|last=Friedman|date=July 13, 2016|access-date=April 25, 2019|website=]}}</ref> and supported ] in the ].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/opinion/michael-bloomberg.html|title=Why I Like Mike: The Democratic Party, looking to bring down Trump, should look at the recent Israeli elections|author=Thomas Friedman|date=November 12, 2019|newspaper=New York Times|access-date=November 21, 2019|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031630/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/opinion/michael-bloomberg.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mediaite.com/politics/nyt-columnist-endorses-bloomberg-disclosure-he-donates-to-my-wifes-museum/|title=NY Times Columnist Endorses Bloomberg (Disclosure: He Donates to My Wife's Museum|author=Charlie Nash|date=November 13, 2019|publisher=Mediaite|access-date=November 21, 2019|archive-date=December 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223031630/https://www.mediaite.com/politics/nyt-columnist-endorses-bloomberg-disclosure-he-donates-to-my-wifes-museum/|url-status=live}}</ref> He supported ] in the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/09/25/thomas_friedman_im_terrified_covering_americas_potential_second_civil_war_i_shudder_at_four_more_years.html|title=Thomas Friedman: I'm Terrified Covering America's Potential Second Civil War, I Shudder At Four More Years|last=Friedman|date=September 25, 2020|access-date=September 28, 2020|website=RealClearPolitics}}</ref> Friedman is on the board of directors for ], a Washington, D.C., based private museum dedicated to language.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/the-latest-word-on-planet-word-downtown-dcs-museum-for-language-is-set-to-open-in-may/2019/11/06/48a64328-f1f0-11e9-8693-f487e46784aa_story.html|title=The latest word on Planet Word: Downtown D.C.'s language museum is set to open in May|newspaper=]}}</ref> | |||
===References=== | |||
<references/> | |||
==Awards== | |||
Friedman has won three ]s: | |||
* 1983: for his coverage of the war in Lebanon. A distinguished example of international reporting<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602141839/http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/thomas-l-friedman-and-loren-jenkins |date=June 2, 2016 }}, 2016</ref> | |||
* 1988: for coverage of Israel: a distinguished example of reporting on international affairs<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602184239/http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/thomas-l-friedman |date=June 2, 2016 }}, Pulitzer Prize site, 2016</ref> | |||
* 2002: for his commentary illuminating the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602142845/http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/thomas-friedman |date=June 2, 2016 }}, Pulitzer Prize site, 2016</ref> | |||
==Published works== | |||
* '']'' (1989; expanded edition 1990) – winner of the ] in its first edition<ref name=nba1989/> | |||
* '']'' (1999; revised edition 2000) | |||
* '']'' (2002; reprinted 2003 as ''Longitudes and Attitudes: The World in the Age of Terrorism'') | |||
* '']'' (2005; expanded edition 2006; revised edition 2007) | |||
* '']'' (2008) | |||
* '']'' (Co-written with ] 2011) | |||
* '']'' (November 2016)<ref name="NYT_review">{{citation |title=The Message of Thomas Friedman's New Book: It's Going to Be O.K. |url=http://nyti.ms/2f1MVXj |access-date=January 15, 2017 |date=November 22, 2016 |author=John Micklethwait |newspaper=The New York Times }}</ref> | |||
==See also== | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
==References== | |||
{{Reflist}} | |||
==External links== | |||
{{Commons category}} | |||
{{Wikiquote}} | |||
* {{official website |www.thomaslfriedman.com }} | |||
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Latest revision as of 01:27, 12 November 2024
American journalist and author (born 1953) For other people with the same name, see Tom Friedman (disambiguation).
Thomas Friedman | |
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Friedman in 2005 | |
Born | Thomas Loren Friedman (1953-07-20) July 20, 1953 (age 71) Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
Education | Brandeis University (BA) St Antony's College, Oxford (MPhil) |
Occupation(s) | Author Columnist |
Spouse | Ann Bucksbaum |
Children | 2 |
Relatives | Matthew Bucksbaum (father-in-law) |
Website | www |
Thomas Loren Friedman (/ˈfriːdmən/ FREED-mən; born July 20, 1953) is an American political commentator and author. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner who is a weekly columnist for The New York Times. He has written extensively on foreign affairs, global trade, the Middle East, globalization, and environmental issues.
Friedman began his career as a reporter and won two Pulitzer Prizes in the 1980s for his coverage on conflict in Lebanon and politics in Israel, followed by a further prize in 2002 for commentary on the war on terror.
Early life and education
Friedman was born on July 20, 1953, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Margaret Blanche (née Phillips) and Harold Abe Friedman. Harold, 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, who served in the United States Navy during World War II and studied Home Economics at the University of Wisconsin, was a homemaker and a part-time bookkeeper. Margaret was also a Senior Life Master duplicate bridge player, and died in 2008. Friedman has two older sisters, Shelly and Jane. From an early age, Friedman, whose father often took him to the golf course for a round after work, wanted to be a professional golfer. He played a lot of sports, and became serious about tennis and golf. He caddied at a local country club and in 1970 caddied for professional golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez when the US Open came to town.
Friedman is Jewish. 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 with 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."
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. Friedman also pursued Arabic studies at The American University in Cairo, where he graduated in 1974 from its Arabic language unit (ALU). Friedman later taught a class in economics at Brandeis in 2006, and was a commencement speaker there in 2007. After graduating from Brandeis, he attended St Antony's College at the University of Oxford as a Marshall Scholar, earning an M.Phil. in Middle Eastern studies.
Journalism career
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 lived from June 1979 to May 1981 while covering the Lebanon Civil War. He was hired by The New York Times as a reporter in 1981 and re-dispatched to Beirut at the start of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. His coverage of the war, particularly the Sabra and Shatila massacre, won him the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting (shared with Loren Jenkins of The Washington Post). Alongside David K. Shipler, he also won the George Polk Award for foreign reporting.
In June 1984, Friedman was transferred to Jerusalem, where he served as the New York Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief until February 1988. That year he received a second Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, which cited his coverage of the First Palestinian Intifada. He wrote a book, From Beirut to Jerusalem, describing his experiences in the Middle East, which won the 1989 U.S. National Book Award for Nonfiction.
Friedman covered Secretary of State James Baker during the administration of President George H. W. Bush. Following the election of Bill Clinton in 1992, Friedman became the White House correspondent for the New York 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 encouraged him to make a 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 since strongly supported.
Friedman received the 2004 Overseas Press Club Award for lifetime achievement and the same year was named to the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. In May 2011, The New York Times reported that President Barack Obama "has sounded out" Friedman concerning Middle East issues.
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In Depth interview with Friedman, May 1, 2005, C-SPAN |
Friedman has been criticized for his staunch advocacy of the Iraq War, as well as unregulated trade, and his early support of Saudi Royal Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Aadhaar
Friedman has publicly expressed his support for the biometrics based Unique Identification program of India. When asked about the privacy concerns raised by the UID program in India he said:
I am a huge enthusiast of the UID platform. I feel that is going to be a platform for innovation. Societies require these platforms where people are integrated with a trusted ID. I think concerns about privacy are bogus. The platform doesn't store anything about you except your biometrics. It's not tracking you. Facebook is tracking you much more today. If you are worried about privacy, then you shouldn't be using Google, Facebook, Twitter, any of these things. They are tracking you so much more than the Indian government is tracking you. What's worse is that they are selling it for profit. So, I think the privacy concern is bogus.
Globalization
Further information: The Lexus and the Olive Tree, The World Is Flat, and Longitudes and AttitudesFriedman first discussed his views on globalization in the book The Lexus and the Olive Tree (1999). In 2004, visits to Bangalore, India, and Dalian, China, led Friedman to write a follow-up analysis, The World Is Flat (2005). Friedman believes that individual countries must sacrifice some degree of economic sovereignty to global institutions (such as capital markets and multinational corporations), a situation he has termed the "golden straitjacket".
In 2000, Friedman championed Free Trade with The People's Republic of China, claiming that Free Trade would make China more democratic. He has also expressed concern about the United States' lack of energy independence. He has stated, "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."
In 2007, Friedman viewed American immigration laws as too restrictive and damaging to U.S. 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."
After visiting the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego, California in early April 2019, Friedman wrote, "The whole day left me more certain than ever that we have a real immigration crisis and that the solution is a high wall with a big gate — but a smart gate."
Terrorism
After the September 11 attacks in 2001, Friedman's writing focused more on the threat of terrorism 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 reporting on post-9/11 topics led him to diverge from his prior interests in technological advances and globalization, until he began to research The World Is Flat.
After the 7/7 London bombings, Friedman called for the U.S. State Department to "shine a spotlight on hate speech wherever it appears", and 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 22 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." As part of their response to this column, the editors at FAIR encouraged their readers to contact Friedman and inform him that "opponents of the Iraq War do not deserve to be on a government blacklist-even if they oppose the war because they believe it encourages terrorism".
Kosovo War
During the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, Friedman wrote the following in The New York Times on April 23, 1999: "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 1389? We can do 1389 too." Friedman urged the US to destroy "in Belgrade: every power grid, water pipe, bridge road", annex Albania and Macedonia as "U.S. protectorates", "occupy the Balkans for years", and "ive war a chance."
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) labeled Friedman's remarks "war-mongering" and "crude race-hatred and war-crime agitation". Steve Chapman, critical of the response taken by NATO, referred to Friedman as "the most fervent supporter of the air war" and ironically asked in the Chicago Tribune: "Why stop at 1389? Why not revive the idea, proposed but never adopted in Vietnam, of bombing the enemy all the way back to the Stone Age?" Norman Solomon asserted in 2007 that "a tone of sadism could be discerned" in Friedman's article.
Iraq
Friedman supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, 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 Journal, Friedman also pointed to the lack of compliance with the United Nations Security Council Resolution regarding Iraq's weapons of mass destruction:
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.
Nevertheless, he found the incoherence of the American position to be an asset, arguing that "the axis-of-evil idea isn't thought through -- but that's what I like about it. (...) There is a lot about the Bush team's foreign policy I don't like, but their willingness to restore our deterrence, and to be as crazy as some of our enemies, is one thing they have right. It is the only way we're going to get our turkey back.
After the invasion, Friedman 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 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 right reason for this war … 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 won't come around, we should arm the Shiites and Kurds and leave the Sunnis of Iraq to reap the wind."
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 Reporting 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 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."
Environment
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". 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." Some of Friedman's environmental critics question his support of still-undeveloped coal pollution mitigation technology ("clean coal") and coal mining as emblematic of Friedman's less than "green" commitment to renewable energy.
Israel
Friedman has been criticized by organizations such as Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting for defending Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon as a form of "educating" Israel's opponents; according to FAIR, Friedman was explicitly endorsing terrorism by Israel against Lebanese and Palestinians. Journalist Glenn Greenwald and professor Noam Chomsky also accused Friedman of endorsing and encouraging terrorism by Israeli forces.
Political reporter Belen Fernandez heavily critiques Friedman's commentary regarding Israel. Among other criticisms, Fernandez singles out Friedman's suggestion that Israeli forces were unaware that their allied Lebanese militias carried out the Sabra and Shatila massacre while under their guard, contradicting the assessments of other journalists and observers; his encouragement of strong-armed force by the Israeli army against Palestinians; and his opposition to settlements only on the grounds that they are counter-productive, rather than because they violate international law or cause suffering for Palestinians. Fernandez suggests that Friedman is most worried about successfully maintaining Israel's Jewish ethnocracy and actively opposing a "one-man, one-vote" system of democracy.
Friedman has also come under criticism from supporters of Israel. In an op-ed, Yitzhak Benhorin criticized Friedman's alleged suggestion that Israel relinquish territory it had occupied in the 1967 Middle Eastern War. Friedman sparked criticism for writing that congressional ovations for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were "bought and paid for by the Israel lobby." A letter from the American Jewish Committee objected that "Public opinion polls consistently show a high level of American ... support for and identification with Israel. This indicates that the people's elected representatives are fully reflecting the will of the voters." Friedman responded to criticism by writing: "In retrospect I probably should have used a more precise term like 'engineered' by the Israel lobby – a term that does not suggest grand conspiracy theories that I don't subscribe to."
Friedman hailed the Trump-brokered peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates as "exactly what Trump said it was in his tweet: a 'HUGE breakthrough.'" In July 2023, as the Netanyahu’s government proposed new laws leading to judicial reform intended to limit the powers of Israel’s Supreme Court, Friedman wrote an opinion piece supporting the Biden government’s changing diplomatic approach toward Israel. Following the outbreak of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, Friedman urged Israel against military over-reach and further settlement expansions, saying to do so otherwise would risk destabilizing the region and the US-Israel alliance.
China
In September 2009, Friedman wrote an article praising China's one-party autocracy, saying that China's leaders are "boosting gasoline prices" and "overtaking us in electric cars, solar power, energy efficiency, batteries, nuclear power and wind power." The article was in turn subject to critical analysis: Matt Lewis who wrote, "Friedman's apparent wish for a 'benign' dictator is utopian, inasmuch as it ignores Lord Acton's warning that 'absolute power corrupts absolutely.'" and William Easterly who quotes Friedman's one-party autocracy assertions as part of his academic paper in which he concluded that, "Formal theory and evidence provides little or no basis on which to believe the benevolent autocrat story" and that, "economists should retain their traditional skepticism for stories that have little good theory or empirics to support them." However, in a July 2012 article in the NYT, he also wrote that the current Chinese leadership has not used its surging economic growth to also introduce gradual political reform and that, "Corruption is as bad as ever, institutionalized transparency and rule of law remain weak and consensual politics nonexistent." 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."
Friedman's work is popular in China. His book The World is Flat was a bestseller in the country, although criticism of China in the book was removed when it was published in the country. A translated version of his article from The New York Times, "China Needs Its Own Dream", has been credited with popularizing the phrase "Chinese Dream" in China, a term that was later adopted as a slogan by Xi Jinping. Friedman, in the magazine Foreign Policy, has attributed the phrase to Peggy Liu and her environmental NGO JUCCCE.
In September 2020, Friedman told CNBC that "Trump is not the American president America deserves, in my opinion. But he definitely is the American president China deserved. We needed to have a president who was going to call the game with China. And Trump has done it, with I would say more grit and toughness than any of his predecessors. I give him credit for that." In November the same year, Friedman observed that Xi Jinping had brought about "an end to four decades of steady integration of China’s economy with the West".
Iran
As the Iran nuclear deal agreement reached between Iran and a group of world powers (the P5+1). In Friedman's interview, he mentioned that "Our view of the Middle East is deeply colored by Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey and they all have their own interest. 15 of the 19 hijackers on 911 were from Saudi Arabia, none from Iran! Iranians had a spontaneous demonstration to support Americans on 911." He added, "What strikes you most about Iran (vs. Saudi Arabia) is that Iran has real politics... A country of 85 million people, a great civilization, many educated men and women, if they want to get a bomb they will get it. They have demonstrated they could do it under the most severe sanctions... Show me where Iranians have acted reckless . These are survivors."
On February 2, 2024, Friedman penned a allegorical op-ed entitled, "Understanding the Middle East Through the Animal Kingdom", in which he posited Iran as a metaphorical "parasitoid wasp" with proxies in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria, as caterpillars. Friedman claimed "We have no counterstrategy that safely and efficiently kills the wasp without setting fire to the whole jungle", suggesting that America militarily destroy the entire Middle East to annihilate Iran and its allies. He concluded that he could "contemplate" the Middle East by watching Animal Planet. The New Arab reported that it has been criticized for racism and orientalism.
Radical centrism
In the 2010s, Friedman wrote several columns supporting the politics of radical centrism. In one he stated that, if the "radical center wants to be empowered, it can't just whine. It needs its own grass-roots movement". In another column Friedman promoted Americans Elect, an organization trying to field a radical-centrist candidate for the 2012 U.S. presidential election. That column decried "the two-party duopoly that has dominated American political life". Friedman's radical-centrist columns received a considerable amount of criticism, particularly from liberals.
Personal life
Friedman's wife, Ann (née Bucksbaum) is a teacher and a native of Marshalltown, Iowa. A graduate of Stanford University and the London School of Economics, she is the daughter of real estate developer Matthew Bucksbaum, whom Friedman describes as his "best friend". They were married in London on Thanksgiving Day 1978 and live in an 11,400-square-foot mansion in Bethesda, Maryland. They have two daughters, Orly (born 1985) and Natalie (born 1988).
Friedman supported Hillary Clinton for President of the United States in the 2016 election, and supported Michael Bloomberg in the 2020 primaries. He supported Joe Biden in the 2020 United States presidential election. Friedman is on the board of directors for Planet Word, a Washington, D.C., based private museum dedicated to language.
Awards
Friedman has won three Pulitzer Prizes:
- 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
Published works
- From Beirut to Jerusalem (1989; expanded edition 1990) – winner of the National Book Award in its first edition
- The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization (1999; revised edition 2000)
- Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11 (2002; reprinted 2003 as Longitudes and Attitudes: The World in the Age of Terrorism)
- The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century (2005; expanded edition 2006; revised edition 2007)
- Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—And How It Can Renew America (2008)
- That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back (Co-written with Michael Mandelbaum 2011)
- Thank You for Being Late: Finding a Job, Running a Country, and Keeping Your Head in an Age of Accelerations (November 2016)
See also
References
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- "About the Author | Thomas L. Friedman". Archived from the original on May 2, 2016. Retrieved September 19, 2016.
- "Person Details for Thomas Loren Friedman, "Minnesota Birth Index, 1935-2002" — FamilySearch.org". FamilySearch. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
- "Why the World Is Flat". Wired.com. May 2005. Archived from the original on February 12, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2012.
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- ""I Am Jewish" | Facing History & Ourselves". www.facinghistory.org. February 21, 2018. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
- From Beirut to Jerusalem. 1990, page 4
- "The Echo". Archived from the original on April 28, 2005.
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- Landler, Mark (May 11, 2011). "Obama Seeks Reset in Arab World". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 7, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2011.
- "Iraq 10 Years Later: The Deadly Consequences of Spin". Motherjones.com. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
- "What Does Tom Friedman Know About TPP?". Fair.org. February 18, 2014. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
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- Friedman, Thomas L. (1999). The Lexus and the Olive Tree. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 87–88. ISBN 9780374192037.
- Friedman, Thomas. "Trade bill will expand democracy in China. Eugene Register Guard. May 17, 2000.
- "US Has 'Lost Its Leverage' in the World: Friedman". CNBC. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
- Friedman, Thomas L. (May 27, 2007). "Laughing and Crying". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
- Thomas L. Friedman (April 23, 2019). "Trump Is Wasting Our Immigration Crisis: The system needs to be fixed, but "the wall" is only part of the solution". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
- Eddie Scarry (April 25, 2019). "Thomas Friedman joins America, endorses Trump's immigration positions". Washington Examiner. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
Give New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman credit for his admission, rare among the national news media, that President Trump's immigration positions are logical, humane, and morally right.
- Friedman, Thomas L. (April 3, 2005). "It's a Flat World, After All". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
- ^ Friedman, Thomas L. (July 22, 2005). "Giving the Hatemongers No Place to Hide". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved July 5, 2015.
- "A New Blacklist for 'Excuse Makers'". FAIR. July 27, 2005. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved July 5, 2015.
- Thomas Friedman (April 23, 1999). "Stop the Music". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
- "CPJ Declares Open Season on Thomas Friedman". Fair.org.
- Steve Chapman (April 29, 1999). "A War Against All Of The Serbs". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
- Solomon, Norman (September 6, 2007). "Thomas Friedman: Hooked on War". HuffPost. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved April 26, 2020.
- "Vote France Off the Island". Globalpolicy.org. February 9, 2003. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
- Greenwald, Glenn (November 18, 2007). "The Tom Friedman of 2002 has not gone anywhere". Salon.
- Friedman, Thomas (January 12, 2004). "Liberal Hawks Reconsider the Iraq War: Four Reasons To Invade Iraq". Slate. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2006.
- The Endgame in Iraq Archived December 16, 2005, at the Wayback Machine Sep 29. 2005
- Tom Friedman's Flexible Deadlines: Iraq's 'decisive' six months have lasted two and a half years Archived October 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine May 16, 2006
- Black, Duncan (May 21, 2006). "The Six Monthers". Blogspot. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved April 26, 2020.
- HuffPost cited it as the "Best New Phrase" of 2006."Media Winners of 2006: Honorable Mentions (Rapid-Fire Round II)". HuffPost. January 2, 2007. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved April 26, 2020.
- White House Mounts Media Blitz After Killing of Zarqawi Archived October 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine June 11, 2006
- Corley, Matt (September 25, 2007). "No more 'Friedmans' for Friedman". ThinkProgress.org. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
- "Economist's View: Thomas Friedman: Iran's Great Weakness May Be Its Oil". Economistsview.typepad.com. February 3, 2007. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
- Friedman, Thomas L. (November 12, 2008). "How to Fix a Flat". The New York Times. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
- "Fresh Dialogues interview with Alison van Diggelen, September 10, 2009". Freshdialogues.com. September 18, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
- The NYT's Thomas Friedman Archived January 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine January 2007
- "Terrorism on the New York Times Op-Ed Page". Fair.org. January 14, 2009. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
- Greenwald, Glenn (January 14, 2009). "Tom Friedman offers a perfect definition of "terrorism"". Salon.com. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
- ""Exterminate all the Brutes": Gaza 2009". Chomsky.info. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
- Fernandez, Belen. The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work. Verso Books, 2011, p 99-107
- Sherman, Martin (February 14, 2011). "Go figure Tom Friedman". Ynetnews. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2011.
- Thomas L. Friedman: Newt, Mitt, Bibi and Vladimir Archived March 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine New York Times December 13, 2011.
- New York Times Columnist Tom Friedman Crossed a Line Archived November 3, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Jerusalem Post, December 19, 2011.
- Friedman responds to criticism over ‘bought and paid for’ jab at Congress Archived April 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine JTA, December 20, 2011.
- Swanson, Ian (August 16, 2020). "Trump seeks to build campaign momentum with Middle East deal". The Hill. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
- Friedman, Thomas L. (July 11, 2023). "The U.S. Reassessment of Netanyahu's Government Has Begun". The New York Times. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
- Thomas Friedman (October 27, 2023). "Israel: From the Six-Day War to the Six-Front War". New York Times.
- Thomas Friedman (October 19, 2023). "Israel Is About to Make a Terrible Mistake". New York Times.
- ^ EDT (September 13, 2009). "New York Times columnist Tom Friedman hails China's one-party autocracy". Washington Examiner. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
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- William Easterly (May 2011). "Benevolent Autocrats" (PDF). William Easterly. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
- William Easterly (May 2011). "Benevolent Autocrats" (PDF). William Easterly. p. 44. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
- Thomas Friedman (June 5, 2012). "What the Locusts Ate". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
- "Fresh Dialogues Interview with Alison van Diggelen". Freshdialogues.com. September 16, 2009. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
- BBC Two: The Chinese Are Coming: Episode 2: The Americas (Part 4 of 4), quote can be heard from 11:50 to 12:15 on YouTube
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- "Trump is the U.S. president that China deserves, says New York Times' Thomas Friedman". CNBC. September 1, 2020.
- Thomas Friedman (November 1, 2022). "How China Lost America". New York Times.
- "Charlie Rose". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
- Thomas Friedman (February 2, 2024). "Understanding the Middle East Through the Animal Kingdom". New York Times.
- "Thomas Friedman's 'Middle East Animal Kingdom' article in New York Times enrages Arabs, supporters of Palestine over 'racism'". The New Arab. February 5, 2024.
- Friedman, Thomas L. (March 20, 2010). "A Tea Party Without Nuts". The New York Times. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
- Friedman, Thomas (July 23, 2011). "Make Way for the Radical Center Archived October 5, 2014, at the Wayback Machine". The New York Times. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
- Marx, Greg (July 25, 2011). "Tom Friedman's 'Radical' Wrongness Archived June 22, 2016, at the Wayback Machine". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
- Iowa state University Plaza of Heroines: "Ann Bucksbaum Friedman" Archived December 23, 2020, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved September 24, 2017
- ^ "Plaza of Heroines - Ann Bucksbaum Friedman". October 18, 2008. Archived from the original on October 18, 2008. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
- Graff, Garrett (July 1, 2006). "Thomas Friedman is On Top of the World". Washingtonian Magazine. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
- Forbes: "Thomas Friedman is On Top of the World" by Garrett M. Graff Archived November 4, 2015, at the Wayback Machine July 1, 2006
- "Thomas Friedman's World Is Flat Broke". Vanity Fair. November 2008. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
- Friedman, Thomas L. (July 13, 2016). "Opinion - The (G.O.P.) Party's Over". The New York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
- Thomas Friedman (November 12, 2019). "Why I Like Mike: The Democratic Party, looking to bring down Trump, should look at the recent Israeli elections". New York Times. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- Charlie Nash (November 13, 2019). "NY Times Columnist Endorses Bloomberg (Disclosure: He Donates to My Wife's Museum". Mediaite. Archived from the original on December 23, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- Friedman (September 25, 2020). "Thomas Friedman: I'm Terrified Covering America's Potential Second Civil War, I Shudder At Four More Years". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
- "The latest word on Planet Word: Downtown D.C.'s language museum is set to open in May". The Washington Post.
- The 1983 Pulitzer Prize Winner in International Reporting: Thomas L. Friedman and Loren Jenkins of The New York Times and The Washington Post, (respectively) Archived June 2, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, 2016
- The 1988 Pulitzer Prize Winner in International Reporting: Thomas L. Friedman of The New York Times Archived June 2, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Pulitzer Prize site, 2016
- The 2002 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Commentary: Thomas Friedman of The New York Times Archived June 2, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Pulitzer Prize site, 2016
- John Micklethwait (November 22, 2016), "The Message of Thomas Friedman's New Book: It's Going to Be O.K.", The New York Times, retrieved January 15, 2017
External links
- Official website
- Columns for The New York Times
- Thomas Friedman at IMDb
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Thomas Friedman on the Muck Rack journalist listing site
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- 1953 births
- Living people
- 20th-century American Jews
- 20th-century American journalists
- 20th-century American male writers
- 20th-century American non-fiction writers
- 21st-century American Jews
- 21st-century American journalists
- 21st-century American male writers
- 21st-century American non-fiction writers
- Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford
- American columnists
- American male journalists
- American male non-fiction writers
- American non-fiction environmental writers
- Brandeis University alumni
- Bucksbaum family
- Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
- George Polk Award recipients
- Jewish American journalists
- Jewish American non-fiction writers
- Livingston Award winners for International Reporting
- Marshall Scholars
- Members of the American Philosophical Society
- National Book Award winners
- The New York Times columnists
- People from St. Louis Park, Minnesota
- Pulitzer Prize for Commentary winners
- Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting winners
- Radical centrist writers
- University of Minnesota alumni
- Writers about globalization
- Writers from Bethesda, Maryland
- Writers from Minnesota