Thank you for your response. Geopolitics is such a difficult field to predict the future and find agreement on the past.

My observation was that the west knew better than to embark on any kind of forced cultural conversion in Afghanistan. It understood that it could only push things so far. It accomplished quite of bit of "education of women" for almost two decades, and that will continue to have a positive effect on Afghani society for a long time.

If the Democrats had abandoned their lame duck leader in 1999, Al Gore would have been made president. And the world would have had a more reasoned response to 9-11. The writing of history is so fickle.

As my article suggests, Jack Layton was not fully tested as a political leader. Had he been made prime minister, there would have been a slow erosion of public support (or maybe a fast erosion). There is no political messiah to save us.

We need to build a new democracy rather than look wistfully at possible messiahs.