Highlights of the small picture of 2006 include:

* Sadan Husein is executed
* Confrontation with Iran as a nuclear threat, with the rising prominence of President
* Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his inciting words.
* A bottomless pit called Iraq.
* The Middle East quagmire remains “intact.”
* The threat of radical Islam and worldwide terrorism.
* The Hezbollah Israeli War in Lebanon during last summer.
* Midterm elections – with the Republicans losing control of both houses to the Democrats.
* Accelerated battle between science and religion.
* Radical atheism emerges – with best-selling books The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins and Open Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris.
* Warren Buffet’s unprecedented $35 billion charitable donation.
* North Korea, under President Kim II Sung, rattles its nuclear sabers.
* Unprecedented wealth generated by the financial markets.
* Technology speeds ahead at a breathtaking pace.
* YouTube and MySpace lead the Web 2.0 revolution of personal empowerment, with Time magazine designating “You” as its 2006 Person of the Year.
* Our dependency on oil and gas controlled primarily by despots only continues to grow.

Happy New Solar year!

Joseph Dadoune