Just found this little piece in the Block Island Times (h/t War and Piece) about a talk given by a few international relations specialists at the Naval War College in Newport.  John Mearsheimer was one of the participants.  For those of you unfamiliar with his work, Mearsheimer is an IR "Realist," one who understands power as a reflection of military capabilities and who defines national interests in rather narrow material terms.  He was against the US invasion of Iraq, unconvinced that Iraq’s military power really posed a threat to American vital interests.
Mearsheimer then spoke about his time at West
Point in the late 1960s. An English professor had assigned his class to
read French existentialist Albert Camus’ "The Plague." The instructor
explained that he was using the book as an allegory for what was
happening in Vietnam: the plague came and went of its own accord – and
humans "operated under the illusion that they could affect the plague
one way or another." Mearsheimer said he saw a similar dynamic afoot in
Iraq.

      In any event, this is what he had to say:

Mearsheimer then spoke about his time at West Point in
the late 1960s. An English professor had assigned his class to read
French existentialist Albert Camus’ "The Plague." The instructor
explained that he was using the book as an allegory for what was
happening in Vietnam: the plague came and went of its own accord – and
humans "operated under the illusion that they could affect the plague
one way or another." Mearsheimer said he saw a similar dynamic afoot in
Iraq.

"There are forces that we
don’t have control over that are at play, and they will determine the
outcome. I understand that’s very hard for Americans to understand,
because Americans believe that they can shape the world in their
interests.

"But I learned during the
Vietnam years when I was a kid at West Point, that there are some
things in the world that you just don’t control, and I think that’s
where we’re at in Iraq."

 Forces beyond our control?  Recognize our inability to shape the world in our interests?  Operating under an illusion of effectiveness?

      Sounds like Tao to me….