Thanks to member Keith Ogilvie who sent in this article, which may be of interest to those who like to keep up on international relations.
The past 25 years of world politics have rested on a series of polite fictions, agreed-upon conventions and hypocritical pretenses: That we had a policy to end the North Korean nuclear drive (ditto for Iran); That Europe was becoming a great post historical power based on the mighty engine of the euro; That the two-state solution was just a settlement freeze away; That international institutions and civil society were replacing national governments at the center of world politics; That immigration was a no-brainer; That the progress toward free trade was inexorable; That democracy was irresistibly on the march; and so on. Americans and Europeans believed that the world would look more and more like we wanted it to without us doing any heavy lifting.
Those are all very comforting ideas, but sadly none of them are true.
http://www.the-american-interest.com/2016/12/30/the-great-unraveling/
