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You pretty much said it all on each of 3 points before I got to post it so I'll just reply a great big ditto to you.

The only two things I'd like to add is the ridiculousness of France saying the Isreal-Pali situation is a one that could set the world ablaze at any moment. Well its been going on for how long now over Isreal, and the world, except for parts of greater BagDad, ain't exactly ablaze.

He also said that no one country should lead the world. Well if no one else has the guts, then the only one with any, will and should lead.

Good points. On Leadership. I had a roommate from England back before the fall of the Soviet Union. I asked why Europe always seemed to criticize the US but not the Soviet Union. His reponse was, that America holds up an ideal to the world. And any time you hold up an ideal you open yourself up to criticism. He said, Oh we know the Soviets are the bad guys. But we have to live next to them. If America isn't going to lead, we sure as heck are not going to. That more than anything else made me realize. We are the superpower. We are the leader by default. And it's just unlikely that if we don't lead that smaller countries will.