In retrospect the world of 2012 seems such a quainter quieter place, where when we worried it was about the possible „what ifs?“, that we really did not think would come to pass, despite the history of 9/11 (2001) and „The War on Terror“. The world still seemed „bounded and explainable“ to all those fortunate not to be in a war zone. Afghanistan was heading down a road „we thought“ we [The West] controlled and could and would be put to rights. Afterall there was only one global Superpower in town – the USA and its weight was unstoppable  (see below, Jon Ronson gives an off the wall, humourous assessment of idiosyncratic and peculiar dangers the world was facing. The danger was from within, it seemed adolescent and seemed to be small. You could make jokes about it. a bit like a BBC2 family sit-com):