My former State Department colleague, a very able man, Burns, yesterday generally gave the impression that all is reasonably well with the world. There are specific challenges; Israel-Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, a very serious challenge: Iran; that it was surprising that Iran didn’t accept the arrangement for electric power only from nuclear material; that the UN sanctions have been an achievement, but were weakened in the course of being implemented; and that the Unites States isn’t seeking confrontation, but a diplomatic solution to the problem with Iran and that we can hope for Arab support in Iraq. Others yesterday called upon the Palestinians to detach themselves from Iran, suggested that waiting for UN Resolution 1701 to be implemented and Hezbollah to be disarmed was a reasonable approach, discussed the elimination of nuclear weapons as a reasonable objective and that nationalism and capitalism are the most powerful movements in today’s world. While I do not represent AN American point of view, for in 2 ¼ centuries there has been no single American point of view, and I probably don’t represent a majority view. But I would say at least that on all of these points I beg to differ.

I wish we had a partnership with Europe but I am afraid it is deteriorating, Bruce Bower, Mark Stein and others have pointed to the accommodation increasingly in European countries with Shari’a and the degree to which the demographic trends in Europe are operating decisively to the disadvantage of continued European control, even of their own societies against encroaching Shari’a from their Muslim populations.

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