A brief overview of the world today: *****1. The U.S. "War on Terrorism" continues to escalate as a result of national leaders' failure to realize why the U.S. is so despised in the rest of the world; *****2. Iraq continues to be the target of the United States, the United Nations and the world community; *****3. The global economy comes more and more under the influence of multinational corporations based in the U.S.; *****4. Iranian hardliners continue to seek the death of Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses;" *****5. The nuclear/biochemical arms race continues to escalate; and *****6. Human rights abuses continue virtually unchecked throughout the world.

And while the world around us appears to be going to Hell: *****1. Medical science keeps progressing toward cures for a variety of diseases; *****2. Popular leaders, previously exiled or otherwise out of power in their own countries, are returning to their people; *****3. Racial and cultural differences are being discussed more and more openly and honestly, with an eye toward reconciliation; *****4. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has launched an unmanned ion drive space probe named "Deep Space One" and is mapping the surface and below the surface of Mars; *****5. The International Space Station is well along in its' construction; and *****6. More and more people throughout the world are awakening to a higher spiritual awareness of life, leading to a "critical mass" seeking to change Human civilization by doing away with greed and power struggles.

Some say these events portend the apocalypse
prophesied in the Christian Bible. Others say
they herald a chance for a new beginning, a chance
to build a better, more spiritual, society. Still
others (probably the vast majority) beleive that this
is nothing more than business as usual in geopolitics.
What do you think?