Most of the time, foreign relations are kind of boring ”” negotiations, communiqués, soporific speeches. But then there are moments of radical discontinuity””1789, 1917, 1989””when the very logic of history flips.
At these moments ”” like the one in Iran right now ”” change is not generated incrementally from the top. Instead, power is radically dispersed. The real action is out on the streets. The future course of events is maximally uncertain.
The fate of nations is determined by glances and chance encounters: by the looks policemen give one another as a protesting crowd approaches down a boulevard; by the presence of a spontaneous leader who sets off a chant or a song and with it an emotional contagion; by a captain who either decides to kill his countrymen or not; by a shy woman who emerges from a throng to throw herself on the thugs who are pummeling a kid prone on the sidewalk.
What an intelligent piece and right on the money. So much better than the “blunder in with all the sophistication of a sledge hammer” approach that those like Charles Krauthammer from the Post rants about.