The power's down in four northeastern states, Denver's water supply has dried up, the US ambassador to Ethiopia has been kidnapped, and terrorists have hijacked an American Airlines 747 en route from Rome. CNN's Christiane Amanpour, in a flak jacket, is reporting live outside the US embassy in Addis Ababa. ABC's Peter Jennings is quizzing George Stephanopoulos on the president's state of mind. God, Voltaire said, is on the side of the big battalions. Not any more, He ain't.
Information technology is famously a great equalizer, a new hand that can tip the scales of power.
And for those on the ramparts of the world's sole superpower, the digital winds are blowing an icy chill through the post-Cold War's triumphant glow. Consider this litany. Not that nothing is being done. On the contrary, there's been a frenzy of activity, most of it little noticed by Washington at large. Yet, for all the bustle, there's no clear direction.