Thomas Friedman, "There Be Dragons": Today There Be Fools

In his latest New York Times op-ed gem entitled "There Be Dragons" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/opinion/friedman-there-be-dragons.html?ref=opinion), Thomas Friedman begins by observing that in days of old, mapmakers would warn of of dragons in uncharted regions. Well, today, given that most of the world has been explored, mapmakers are no longer warning of dragons, but only warning of fools on the New York Times op-ed page.

Remarkably, it is just beginning to dawn on Friedman that there never really was an Arab Spring. Tom writes:

"After the onset of the Arab awakenings, it was reasonable to be, at worst, agnostic and, at best, hopeful about the prospect of these countries making the difficult transition from autocracy to democracy. But recently, looking honestly at the region, one has to conclude that the prospects for stable transitions to democracy anytime soon are dimming. It is too early to give up hope, but it is not too early to start worrying."

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I have always stated that it was never reasonable to expect any semblance of Western-style democracy resulting from the Arab Spring. I also said that democracy had little or nothing to do with the revolts in the Muslim Middle East.

February 2012: the flag of al-Qaeda is flying over Benghazi, Libya, the Muslim Brotherhood and the even more radical Salafis have won the elections in Egypt, and make no mistake about it -- the Muslim Brotherhood also stands to take charge when the monstrous Assad regime in Syria is toppled.

Friedman would blame the Egyptian army for preventing 43 American NGO workers from leaving that country, and claims that the actions of the Egyptian army were meant "to undermine the democrats demanding that the Army step aside." The problem here is that the Egyptian army also has the backing of the democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood, as it thumbs its nose at the United States.

Since 1979, Egypt has received some $70 billion in civilian and military aid from the US, but notwithstanding the recent arrests of Americans, the Obama administration is unwilling to cut this funding.

Perhaps today's mapmakers should also warn of fools in Washington.