The United States is victor, but its economic recovery is slow and its competitiveness blunted.

However, the achievements have been blunted by the food shortage crisis and natural disasters in the mid 1990s, whose consequences continue to be felt.

Encouraging as they are, these results have not blunted the drive and determination of women to move ahead and to play a still greater role in political life.

As Libya mounted its effort, the International Atomic Energy Agency remained clueless. Despite published speculation about the country s nuclear intentions, the IAEA considered Libya to be NPT compliant. The absence of international resistance normally would have allowed Libya a clear field to realize its ambition. But Qadaffi s hubris and revolutionary zeal blunted the goal by stimulating the imposition of international sanctions that ultimately brought down his nuclear program.