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The Cold War put the west in a difficult situation where we had to make existential choice after existential choice regarding our responsibilities to our fellow human beings. We weren't the cause of these dilemmas, but our response to them carried weight. Looking around the world, I see that our indecisiveness during the Cold War helped set the stage for third world terrorism. Soviet and Maoist tyranny were treated like diseases that had no cures by our State Department and the Democrats. The oppression in the Mideast has had a lot to do with support by both the Soviets and the Anglosphere for tyrants in the name of strategic advantage. Bush has said he's going to bring that to an end. Natan Sharansky has had a powerful impact on his thinking. The question is: can Bush bring along the rest of the free world's leaders? Both Tony Blair and John Howard have been reelected recently. I think this is a sign that appeasement and "dirty dealing" for strategic advantage may well be shelved for a time.