as you know, i take thomas friedman to be a pre-eminent advocate of what i have called squishy totalitarianism, which marries economy and state into an unstoppable military/money juggernaut, and which the u.s. and china are approaching in different directions. in case you think that's too rough, check this column, showing you what's wrong with democracy in friedman-world, where you've got to control populations through education, and every aspect of economic activity to deal with global warming, etc. but he seems to be losing all focus and just kind of wanders away as column goes on.