infonet-economy

The letter rejects Thomas Friedman's (1999) theory according to which economic integration diminishes the likelihood of economic conflict. The author points out that Friedman's assumption that "no two countries that both had McDonalds had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonalds" had been falsified by the fact that both Moscow and Tbilisi were harboring McDonalds when the war in South Ossetia broke out in August 2008. I.e., economic integration is no guarantee for peace as history had already shown in 1914.