Carter on the Current Situation - The Troubling New Face of America (washingtonpost.com) is Jimmy Carter's take on the bind we now find ourselves in. America needs all the help it can get around the world to combat terrorism, yet we are increasingly isolating ourselves and alienating our allies.

We have thrown down counterproductive gauntlets to the rest of the world, disavowing U.S. commitments to laboriously negotiated international accords.