Thomas Friedman: A Theory of Everything

(image: Thomas Fuchs for NY Times)

From Cairo to London to Athens to Tel Aviv to Barcelona the bottle burns and gets over. Is there a common denominator to explain all that's happening everywhere? Tom Friedman is trying an answer in today's NY Times: a theory of everything, as he names it (and humbly he then adds a nuance, not quite a theory, rather sort of). You could guess: for Tom Friedman the answer is globalization (and I'm wondering whether Mr. Friedman invented the globalization, or rather the globalization was invented for Mr. Friedman).

Globalization acts both ways (says Tom Friedman, and he is damned right): it's hugely difficult today to keep your status, due to global competition; on the other hand the anger of frustrated people gets global.

Acting both ways: globalization makes easier for employers to replace local labor with foreign skilled workers, and any president or prime minister realizes that his task is no more to give things away to his people (as it used to be in the glorious times before the new millennium): now it's to take things away.

Acting both ways: some Israeli protesters carried a sign, Walk Like an Egyptian!

You can read the article of Tom Friedman at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/opinion/sunday/Friedman-a-theory-of-everyting-sort-of.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

(Zoon Politikon)