THOMAS FRIEDMAN

COLUMNIST THOMAS FRIEDMAN: Go green so Iran can go Green

Iranian reformers don’t need our praise. They need the one thing we could do, without firing a shot, that would truly weaken the Iranian theocrats and force them to unshackle their people. They need us to end our addiction to the oil that funds Iran’s Islamic dictatorship.

By Thomas Friedman , June 24, 2009

In most Middle East states, power grows out of the barrel of a gun and out of a barrel of oil — and that combination is very hard to overthrow.

June 21, 2009

COLUMNIST THOMAS FRIEDMAN: Obama's focus should be Iraq

The most valuable thing that the president could do is preside over a sustained effort — along with the U.N., the European Union and Iraq’s neighbors — to resolve the lingering disputes between Iraqi factions before we complete our withdrawal.

By Thomas Friedman , June 07, 2009

THOMAS FRIEDMAN: Release the memos, but don't jail their authors

Justice taken to its logical end here would likely require bringing George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and other senior officials to trial, which would rip our country apart.

By Thomas Friedman , April 30, 2009

COLUMNIST THOMAS FRIEDMAN: Green Cabinet needs Green President

Now there is only one vacancy left. And it’s one that only Obama can fill: Green President.

By Thomas Friedman , April 26, 2009

COLUMNIST THOMAS FRIEDMAN: Diplomacy in an age of piracy

We have four problem countries at the heart of U.S. foreign policy today that we don’t have the will or ability to ignore but seem to lack the leverage or the allies to decisively change.

By Thomas Friedman , April 15, 2009

COLUMNIST THOMAS FRIEDMAN: Costa Rica shows the way

As a result, Costa Rica hugely invested in hydroelectric power, wind and geothermal, and today it gets more than 95 percent of its energy from these renewables. In 1985, it was 50 percent hydro, 50 percent oil.

April 12, 2009

COLUMNIST THOMAS FRIEDMAN: Obama should heed hard-won lessons

The über-lesson for presidents: You can’t be too honest in describing big problems, too bold in offering big solutions, too humble in dealing with big missteps, too forward in re-telling your story or too gutsy in speaking the previously unspeakable.

By Thomas Friedman , March 25, 2009

COLUMNIST THOMAS FRIEDMAN: U.S. needs inspirational leadership

We’re in a once-a-century financial crisis, and yet we’ve actually descended into politics worse than usual. There don’t seem to be any adults at the top — nobody acting larger than the moment, nobody being impelled by anything deeper than the last news cycle.

By Thomas Friedman , March 23, 2009

COLUMNIST THOMAS FRIEDMAN: Coming soon: President Obama's real test

If you didn’t like reading about AIG brokers getting millions in bonuses after their company — 80 percent of which is owned by U.S. taxpayers — racked up the biggest quarterly loss in the history of the Milky Way Galaxy, you’re really not going to like the bank bailout plan to be rolled out soon by the Obama team.

By Thomas Friedman , March 18, 2009

COLUMNIST THOMAS FRIEDMAN: This is not a drill, this is not a drill

Friends, this is not a test. Economically, this is the big one. This is August 1914. This is the morning after Pearl Harbor. This is Sept. 12. Yet, in too many ways, we seem to be playing politics as usual.

By Thomas Friedman , March 11, 2009

COLUMNIST THOMAS FRIEDMAN: The year of the 'Great Disruption'

Often in the middle of something momentous, we can’t see its significance. But for me there is no doubt: 2008 will be the marker — the year when “The Great Disruption” began.

March 08, 2009

COLUMNIST THOMAS FRIEDMAN: World hopes Atlas doesn't shrug

When it comes to the way other countries view America’s pre-eminent role in the world, he wrote, “whatever its life span, three things can be safely predicted: They will not pay for it; they will continue to criticize it; and they will miss it when it is gone.”

February 26, 2009

THOMAS FRIEDMAN: Muslims in India scorn terrorists

India’s Muslims, who are the second-largest Muslim community in the world after Indonesia’s, and the one with the deepest democratic tradition, do a great service to Islam by delegitimizing suicide-murderers.

February 19, 2009