Thomas Friedman's word of the day

In honor of the New York Times columnist's man crush on the Peoples' Republic of China, we bring you "Superfluous"

superfluous - serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being; "otiose lines in a play"; "advice is wasted words"; "a pointless remark"; "a life essentially purposeless"; "senseless violence"

And used in a newsworthy context, see if you can pick out the phrase that best fits the definition:

Only three weeks after the idea was first publicly floated, China has cobbled together its own peace prize and plans to award it Thursday — the day before the Nobel Committee honors an imprisoned Chinese dissident in a move that has enraged Beijing.

Since Liu Xiaobo's selection, China has vilified the 54-year-old democracy advocate, called the choice an effort by the West to contain its rise, disparaged his supporters as "clowns,'' and launched a campaign to persuade countries not to attend Friday's ceremony in Oslo. The government is also preventing Liu — who is serving an 11-year sentence for co-authoring a bold appeal for political reforms in the Communist country — and his family members from attending.

(prompting, ours)