July 2006 may prove to be a signal, era-shaping month in 21st-century history.

Sensationalists, fear mongers, defeatists and terrorists prefer predictions of catastrophe and disaster. On the surface, last month looks like a violent disaster, an August 1914, with this July's missiles, rockets and improvised explosive devices replacing the guns of that terrible August.

August 1914 began World War I. World War I seeded World War II, which lingered as the Cold War.

However, instead of starting a global conflagration, July 2006 exposed or made explicit key elements of and trends in an ongoing war with global, regional and very local dimensions.

Exposure and definition of problems and problematic actors create diplomatic, political and military opportunities -- the chance to forge a genuine, more resilient peace.

But let's give the sensationalists and defeatists their due.

Recall the first week of July: North Korea's surprise missile volley jolted Asia and North America. One of the first responses to Pyongyang's missile tantrum certainly sent a chill through China and other Asian capitals: Japanese leaders suggested reconfiguring Japan's military for offensive operations, to include acquiring offensive missiles capable of destroying North Korea's ballistic missile sites and nuclear weapons program.

The mass terror attack in Mumbai, India, was the big story of week two. 7/11's bombs left 200 dead and 800 wounded in the economic capital of the world's biggest democracy.

The Israel-Hezbollah war erased North Korea and Mumbai as the top headlines. Hezbollah's rockets continue to hammer Israel; Israeli bombs strike targets throughout Lebanon. Israel now fights a two-front war, against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

Iran, Hezbollah's financier, continued to dodge diplomatic attempts to end its quest for nuclear weapons.

In Iraq, terrorists and sectarian militias continued the mass slaughter of civilians with an IED and car bomb campaign centered on Baghdad. Iraqi security forces required U.S. and coalition reinforcements in neighborhoods the Iraqi government thought it had secured.

Venezuela's Castro-wannabe, Hugo Chavez, claimed common political cause with Iran's President Ahmadinejad. Continued...