TO THOSE OF US who only had one eye open, there was a moment, at the end of the second millennium, when the world looked very bright. The holocausts of the earlier part of its last century had been brought to light and taught us something. The dissolution of that evil empire mitigated the threat of annihilation brought by weapons of mass destruction. Technology offered the possibility of solutions to human problems.

The Internet could carry uncensored truth across national boundaries. The elimination of global inefficiencies and increasing international interdependence in production and trade offered the promise of prosperity. All in all, the world seemed headed toward democratic reform, greater human understanding, and acceptance. In this brave new world there would be no place for the hatreds of the past. Little could we imagine, in that brief window on utopia, that we would soon hear the familiar