Earlier this month, America had failed to swing its fellow permanent members of the Security Council, Britain apart, to accept the response it wanted to Iraq's defiance.
Is the appropriate response to accept that it was mere bad luck to run into such a rare event or to get new forecasting models that assume more storms in future?
On Sunday, Russia cut off gas to Ukraine, in response to Kiev's refusal to accept a fourfold price increase imposed in violation of an existing contract.
The right response may be to do nothing to accept that ultimately central banks risk doing more harm than good if their actions prevent the purging of past malinvestment or allow politicians to avoid necessary structural adjustments.
The less-than-optimal response is continued full confidence in my original belief, and a refusal to accept the possibility that the new reality is true.