But here was this kid who loved Transformers and Snoopy and the Ninja Turtles, and the characters that I read about, I fell in love with, and they became my friends.

The British, whose Churchillian nationalism helped them to prevail against Hitler s attacks, never shared this aversion. And their deep pride in Britain s liberal democratic tradition made them suspicious of meddling Brussels bureaucrats.

No one can create a stable political order for them with the Americans gone, meddlesome Arab neighbors and anxious Iranians can only lose by dooming Iraq to remain a tinderbox.

If that were to continue, the result would be a world in which each country s contribution to pressure on natural resources and the environment would make sustainability a major global challenge, as the free rider problem in its most extreme form would prevail.