I haven't been updating much, but in my stead, read the article about post 9/11, which includes this:

"I remember thinking that one might easily write a book with two very different versions of how the world would respond to this attack on the West.

"One version would describe people coming to their senses about the ravages of war and the need to see the world as an interconnected whole. In this scenario, the endless photos of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center towers would propel Irish Catholics and Protestants and Central African Hutus and Tutsis and other historical enemies to realize they could live together and resolve their conflicts without slaughtering each other."