AMERICA ALONE: At a dinner party in Washington last week, a British diplomat was asked if Prime Minister Gordon Brown believed, as did his predecessor, Tony Blair, that there is a "special relationship" between America and Britain. He said no - all of the United Kingdom's relationships are special (which really means, of course, that none of them are).

Also at the dinner was a former U.S. senator who spoke about the "Free World" - and the need to defend it against militant Islamism. I asked the British diplomat if he'd use the term, the "Free World." He said he did not think it useful since some countries are more free and some less and so it's difficult to know which to include and which to exclude.

I asked if he'd use the term "militant Islamists" to describe those committing acts of terrorism against some of the freer countries. He said he thought such terms also unhelpful and perhaps needlessly offensive to some...