I wonder if Tom Friedman...

regularly reads my blog?

Me: "If you've got American troops stationed in your backyard, and the American Prez pretty much telling Israel, "Our ally: right or wrong. Your crimes are our crimes, and we will pay for your sins... We got your back, no matter what." Heck, you might not realize what you're risking until it's much much to late to take positive actions to improve your position... although I suppose they've got another potential ally all picked out to support them and replace us, once the American moneytree runs dry..."

Tom today (better late, than never):

They just don’t get it: we’re not their grandfather’s America anymore. We have bigger problems. Israeli ... negotiators should take a minute and put the following five words into Google: “budget cuts and fire departments.” Here’s what they’ll find: American city after city — Phoenix, Cincinnati, Austin, Washington, Jacksonville, Sacramento, Philadelphia — all having to cut their fire departments. Then put in these four words: “schools and budget cuts.” One of the top stories listed is from The Christian Science Monitor: “As state and local governments slash spending and federal stimulus dries up, school budget cuts for the next academic year could be the worst in a generation.”

I guarantee you, if someone came to these cities and said, “We have $3 billion we’d like to give to your schools and fire departments if you’ll just do what is manifestly in your own interest,” their only answer would be: “Where do we sign?” And so it should have been with Israel.

Israel, when America, a country that has lavished billions on you over the last 50 years and taken up your defense in countless international forums, asks you to halt settlements for three months to get peace talks going, there is only one right answer, and it is not “How much?” It is: “Yes, whatever you want, because you’re our only true friend in the world.”

If it takes a middle-aged Midwestern woman to spur columnists to address what people out here really want to read about, so be it.

Now about that Peter Orswag "promotion"...
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ADDED:
Friedman to the Palestinians: "Here’s some free advice: When America goes weak, if you think the Chinese will deliver Israel for you, you’re wrong. I know China well. It will sell you out for a boatload of Israeli software, drones and microchips so fast that your head will spin."

Will a future superpower China trust Israel enough to take her under a protective wing as an "ally"? Hmm. It's a gamble I wouldn't take. Something tells me the Chinese government won't cave so easily as heavily lobbied American politicians have done all these years, substituting foreign interests for security at home.

Even for all the spy software and computerized military technology that Chinese manufacturing money can buy...