Friedman on Leverage

The New York Times' Tom Friedman writes with insight about foreign affairs, and without insight on domestic politics. His most recent column looks at the U.S. diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks and what they tell us about our lack of leverage (i.e., bargaining power) vis-a-vis the Islamic world and separately, vis-a-vis China.

Friedman makes an argument for the U.S. being less dependent on foreign oil and foreign credit. I don't know if he is right or not, but I do know he is interesting on this topic. Generally, it is better for a nation to have more, rather than less, leverage.