paranoiaphiliacs

[David Morris]

Caught in the Iraqi Dramatics
By DAVID BROOKS

During the first half of the 90's, I spent some time on the "Whither NATO?" 
circuit. I'd sit in stately European palaces with diplomats, 
parliamentarians and multilateral men who used the word "modality" a lot, 
and we'd discuss the post-cold-war international order.

There were disquisitions on multipolarity, subsidiarity and 
post-nation-state sovereignty. I recall a long debate on whether the 
post-cold-war United States would face east or west, as if we were 
phototropic.

The people at these conferences tended to be paranoiaphiliacs. They believed 
there was a secret conspiracy running the world, but they were in favor of 
it because they thought they were it.

But even as we were ratiocinating in those palaces, the Russians were 
tossing out Gorbachev, the Ukrainians were breaking away from Russia and the 
Serbs were massacring their neighbors.

Far from mastering events, the poor souls who attended summits found history 
moving in unfathomable directions. Their careful negotiations over a new 
global architecture often had nothing to do with reality. The 
economic-reform plans they proposed for Russia had nothing to do with a 
country that was being taken over by mafioso. I recall the dispiriting 
moment — at a stately manor in Oxfordshire, I believe — when I realized I 
didn't really believe in foreign policy. Most problems are domestic policy 
to the people who matter most.

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