The earthquake which rocked Japan and the resulting tsunami which pounded and roared its way over the shores and inland of the already savaged nation, then raced across the pacific nearly as fast as the social media trumpeting it's arrival to wreak havoc on the coastlines of Hawaii and the United States, could tear asunder our fragile and global economy, and political systems already weakened by regional conflicts and internal power and economic struggles.
For we are linked economically and politically to each other in an unshakeable bond , a daisy chain of commerce and trade and political interests which is showing the wear and tear and strain of generations of failed diplomacy and strife and the deep enmity descended from ancient rivalries
And while we were all looking the other way, to the Middle East and Southwest Asia, the Pacific Rim, called by geologists the Ring of Fire, a geological minefield of interlinking volcanoes and deep undersea fissures was grumbling and growling and gnawing and finally exploded in an agony of upheaval so strong it moved the nation of Japan eight feet from her island moorings.
And changed the rotation of the earth by 1.8 microseconds.
And has altered the geopolitical landscape of the planet as never before.
The quake heard around the world, is, as Japan's prime minster said in an address to his devastated countrymen, the worst world crisis for Japan since World War II.
And then some.
For barely had the news spread around the world of the unthinkable disaster, when a fresh and even more devastating and ominous wrinkle appeared.
Radiation leaks from at least six of the 55 nuclear power stations which provide Japan with 30 percent of her electricity.
And that quickly, the eyes of the world were averted from the drama playing out on the desert sands of the oil rich countries already enmeshed in political turmoil and the end game being played out in Libya.
And that quickly, the hearts of the people of the entire planet have quickened with the fear we have lived with since the dawn of the nuclear age.
A nuclear holocaust.
A nuclear holocaust which would lay to waste every living thing on our blue dot of a planet.
And without a shot being fired.
This is not over yet.
There will be even more aftershocks, more revelations of nuclear leaks, more suffering and pain of a people whose world has collapsed right in on them.
And an entire world waits.
While Japan races to cool down the raging heat of six of her her nuclear reactors, a world waits.
