In American history it has never come to this. The richest man in the world finds his America walls off his newest hired employees. What to do? Set up plants in Canada and Mexico and India, for starters.

There is much irony of a protester from Tibet stealing the show, if only for a moment, while the man from China spoke about harmony and brotherhood. This spoke loudly, as did the criticism of China about poor security.

There is such contrast between the wiser elder Bush, like a wise Greek philosopher with wise advisers, who had to undo the Reagan voodoo economics that his predecessor,and his son, have blundered into again.

As the Jews were driven out of the lush lands of the Nile river delta, they headed north into the desert. If they had gone west, and then applied their genius, here indeed was a much more promising land with no enemies.

American history has been one of the great stories of the growth of democratic values in the world. A new free people create a new free nation for all. Well, all white men, but now all.Why bomb others?

The Europe coming may include the African side and the Asian side as well as now most of the European side of the Greek and later Roman Empires, if E.U. delegates have their way. As well it has all the Germanic and Hun bits up to the Arctic, and Celtic Ireland and Scotland, who with the Germans had been beyond the pale. That is, too feisty.

The coming together of so many new nations to create a greater, or Metro Europe just keeps surprising us. Now a Europe from the Arctic to north Africa and West Asia is the talk of the halls in Brussels. What are they putting in their lunchtime brownies? We think the idea is great, the wider Europe.

Television shows us Chinese police hit with clubs men in saffron robes in their holy city. Then, we see in Athens an Athenian woman hold the torch in a circle of five, and hand it to an Athenian dressed Chinese woman.

The opening of talks between east and west Europe now seems to open to north Africa and west Asia. Here we look at Roman spas in the Sahara. A Swede might one day winter here with out need of a passport.

Some visionaries see a wider Europe that combines the old Roman Empire around the sea with the Germanics and Baltics to the Pole, and the Slavs to the east and Moors from Morocco to Turkey. Do we see any problems? Alas yes.