DAVOS, Switzerland—A year ago, at the Davos World Economic Forum, I saw elephants fly. Yes, sir, right here in the Swiss Alps I saw big ideas defying gravity. At this year's Davos forum, though, all the elephants came crashing down. Turns out elephants can't fly after all—and the world is a better place for it. Since Davos gathers together a sample of global leaders, business executives and social activists, it's a good place to take the world's pulse. Last year's Davos was dominated by three big ideas. The first was put forth by Bush officials that the U. S. not only was ready to invade Iraq largely on its own, but could also pull off regime change there without the help of either the U. N. or major al- lies—France, Germany and Russia. This year, Vice President Dick Cheney, who, more than any Bush official resisted cooperation with the U.N. in the Iraq war, made a firm, low-key defense of the U. S. policy. But alter Mr. Cheney spoke, a senior administration official privately told reporters that the Bush team was ready to give the U.N. pretty much whatever authority it wanted to help oversee Iraq's transition to elections—and the only thing standing in the way was whether the U. N. would assume the risks. It turns out that while there is no regime in the world the U.S. can't destroy on its own, there is also none that it can rebuild on its own. Last year, France was indulging its illusion that it could galvanize all the antiwar, anti-U. S. sentiment to make itself the great global Uncola to America's Coca-Cola—the new balancer to America. It would be a win—win for President Jacques Chirac. He would enhance his political stature at home by opposing America and make France the supreme power in Europe, marginalizing Britain. A year later, France was not only unable to stop the war, but it paid a big price in Europe. It turned out to be a lose—lose for France, remarked Peter Schwartz, head of the Global Business Net- work. By going to such lengths to oppose the U. S. , and by denouncing those Europeans who sided with America, France drove pro-U. S. Europeans, like Poland and Spain, deeper into the U. S. camp, noted Mr. Schwartz. This, in turn, gave Poland and Spain more backbone to resist German and French demands for greater control over E. U. affairs. The author write this passage mainly to______.