What are you supposed to make of this?
Paul Wolfowitz told reporters today that it’s not the US which has changed positions, but the UN. We’ve wanted a new UN resolution for months. It’s just that the UN has finally come around to our position. The bombing of the 
UN compound in Baghdad “changed the atmosphere in New York.”
How about that? Wolfowitz is an awfully sharp guy. But he’s turning into the Comical Ali of the collapse of neoconservative grand strategy in the Middle East.
The UN is putty in our hands!
We have bent them to our will!
The humiliation of the French is complete!
In the 19th century history was 
supposed to repeat itself: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce. In the 21st century it seems to be farce, followed by farce, followed by farce in a kind of infinite recurrence. Sort of a mix of Marx and Nietzsche, I guess.
On a more unfortunate note, there’s this clip from Steven Weisman’s aptly titled piece “Bush Foreign Policy and Harsh Reality,” in Friday’s Times …
“The question is whether the world is ready to pick the United States up off the floor and dust them off,” said a senior Western envoy involved in discussions on Iraq. “A lot of people aren’t ready yet.”
We have bent them to our will!
