That Day shall they be thrust down to the Fire of Hell, irresistibly.

That Day shall they be thrust down to the Fire of Hell, irresistibly.

Iran under a new and more radical president is moving irresistibly towards possessing a nuclear capacity. A free electoral process brought Hamas to power in Palestine, and the unfortunate episode of the Danish newspaper cartoons illustrated the almost combustible nature of relations between Islam and the West.

Europe, gripped by a tremendous banking and debt crisis, is not an attractive destination, and loose monetary policy in the US has produced ultra low bond yields there. As a result, many emerging countries, with their higher interest rates and promising growth prospects, have become irresistibly attractive to investors.

After the shock of the September 2001 terrorist attacks, his son, George W. Bush, developed a far more ambitious vision. As one former adviser put it, he was irresistibly drawn to Big Ideas like bringing democracy to the Middle East, Big Ideas that stood in sharp contrast to the prudent small ball played by his father.

For the first time in America since John F. Kennedy s presidency, politics is seen as a potentially noble venture. The idea that you can make a difference not only for yourself but for your country and the world, that self interest and personal enrichment are not the only possible goals in life for the best and the brightest, has slowly and irresistibly been gaining ground in the Obama generation.