Consider the events of the past week, in no particular order:

• Colombia has plunged into civil war.
• Venezuela, a major oil producer, is experiencing a major political crisis over its president, Hugo Chavez.
• In Afghanistan, the CIA has issued a report (published on the front page of the New York Times) warning that internal chaos is looming.
• In the Middle East, Palestinians have shifted tactics toward waging guerrilla war, and Israel is contemplating a major shift in its own strategy.
• In Iran, a majority of the Majlis has signed a petition demanding an investigation of U.S. charges that elements in Iran have aided al Qaeda members in escaping Afghanistan. This action creates a massive internal confrontation between forces around the Ayatollah Ali Khameni and those around President Mohammad Khatami, with a very uncertain outcome.
• What has emerged from U.S. President George W. Bush's meeting with the Japanese prime minister is that Japan has no idea how to manage its intensifying financial crisis. One of the world's major economies appears to be inching toward meltdown.