Or is that reflux? That's more the feeling I get reading Friedman's latest NY Times op-ed. Lynn says he's "slipping rapidly further down the rabbit hole." Heh. As Lynn points out, all this one is is an attempt to rescue himself from his last abortive attempt to blame the difficulties of ME peace on insufficient action on the parts of Sharon and Bush. He does a slightly better, but only slightly better job of articulating his points this time. Still, still, he uses a crummy literary device - last time it was "Can you hear me now?" this time the theme of the column is as a memo from George W. Bush to "All Arab leaders". Tom Friedman is way too good a writer for this. He should leave the cheap gimmiks to us unpaid-bloggers. I confess also to finding this method a bit weasly. He's using this device to hide behind someone else's "voice," and since it's to be read as a person in effect "speaking," one to the other, it has the side-benefit of the hope that it won't be read too critically - like the last column appropriately was. Friedman has the capability to make his points, in his own voice, with correct specifics. I wish he'd do so. Sadly, that would also require a sense of personal responsibility that I'm not sure NY Times columnists feel these days, if they ever have.

No fisking on my part this time. Anyone with a longish memory (apparently memory over an entire year is the domain of long-term memory in the Middle East) and who's been paying attention, understands that not only was Abbas never in a position to "be strengthened," as he never had any power in the first place, nor would any concessions have provided Arafat any reason to provide him any, but Friedman also again minimizes the concessions that were made at the time - the removal of roadblocks, the pullouts. They did nothing but allow the "extremists" to claim victory in any case, and did nothing to actually strengthen Abbas.

One gets the feeling, as Friedman calls for ever greater concessions in the face of unilateral concessions rarely buying anything of value, ever - and this applies in great part to much of the history of the entire 20th century with regard to the Arab world and the Jews - for some people it's...never...enough.