The transition we are undergoing now is not only a shift in the world powerbalance. It is also a potential global realignment, and that's what isfrightening about it. Shifts in the world power balance are fairly common,although serious enough to cause significant concern: the Russian and Chineserevolutions, and the onset and termination of the Cold War, were 20th centuryexamples of such shifts. These events were the results of vast inequalities,wars, and insurgencies. They produced further instabilities and sufferings, andoccasioned new wars.