Organic chemists make molecules, very complicated molecules, by chopping up a big molecule into small molecules and reverse engineering.

So when the British came to terms with this harsh reality, they played out the lamentable end game of their management of the negotiations with small minded cheese paring and logic chopping offers, all designed primarily to safeguard narrow British interests, mainly at the expense of the new member states.

The linkage between politicians unwillingness to fund domestic programs and the imperiled commitment to the long war might elude those in US foreign policy circles, but it is not lost on the rest of the country. Opinion surveys suggest that Americans want to maintain many of the discretionary domestic programs schools, hospitals, transportation infrastructure, recreational parks, etc. that are now on the chopping block in budget negotiations.