Very interesting comment, Barry, on who won or who lost. By chance, I was rereading some old stuff by R. Buckminster Fuller and happend to pick up my old copy of Critical Path, © 1981. Chapter 3 is called Legally Piggily and deals with Fuller's insights into the history of world power as we see it today. It didn't really raise alarms when I read it in 1981 but in light of events since then, Fuller's insight seems remarkable.

The link will take you to the entire chapter. It's 60 pages long in Fuller's book and I think the online version contains the whole chapter so only the serious reader will take the time to learn what Fuller has to say. Highlights include:

• Who really won the American Revolutionary War? (Hint—it wasn't the British Government and it wasn't the American colonists)
• Fuller referred to the CIA as “Capitalism's Invisible Army.” (For a good time, do a Google search for "capitalism's invisible army")

Now Fuller was no wild-eyed radical, politically speaking. He was a clear, rational thinker. His point of view was that science and technology had the potential to make everyone's lives better if politicians would allow that to happen. Fuller's background, including a stint on the editorial staff of Fortune magazine, often gave him an insider's view of who was pulling the strings.

Anyway, I thought it was important enough to mention here. I hope someone takes the trouble to read through it.

      - Mark