There is a huge vacuum in international leadership. The Asian economic meltdown, the collapse of the Russian economy, Saddam rattling his sabers, the collapse of the Congo, the rise of Osama bin Laden, and the potential of collapse Latin American economies. Yeltsin is so weakened that he can't even get his Prime Minister approved by the Duma. He is helpless in dealing with a collapsing economy. In Japan, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi is limping along in his first weeks in office, struggling to show some national leadership in his 35 years in Parliament.
Japan seems paralyzed with no plan for recovery.
Its economic recession has international implications. China's President Jiang Zemin has been humbled by severe floods and by an economy that has been slowing. The Asian crisis could develop into a global depression. Russia could fail in its attempt at democratic-capitalism and slip into totalitarian solution. The worldwide proliferation of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.