As the new millenniun dawned a decade ago, the world witnessed two very different events whose
impacts have been far reaching, profound,and in many ways have shaped the discourse of global issues
.
The first was the new era of terrorism,ushered in by the tragedy of 9/11 It burst upon the internat
ional
scene with force of a mega-catastrophe, occupying virtually every waking moment of natioanl and glob
al lead
-ers throughout the world and seizing the attention of the rest of the planet's citizens who contemp
lated
both the immediate implications and the long-term effects of a U.S. response. The foucused interest
of nati
-onal policymakers was soon transformed into a war on terrorism, while average citizens sought to co
pe with
changes brought on both the tragic events of September 2001 and the global community's response to t
hem
Both goveronmental leaders and citizens continue to address the consequences of this first intrusion
of the
new millennium on a world now far different in many ways since the pre-9/11 era.