At midnight on New Year’s Eve, a bomb blast outside the Coptic Church of the Two Saints in Alexandria, Egypt killed 21 people and injured 80. Some suggest a car bomb, while Egyptian officials believe it was a suicide attack perpetrated by Al Qaeda forces from outside the country.

Egypt is currently looking for a successor for the current president Hosni Mubarak (age 82), and factions within the government are seeking to identify a stable leader. Some analysts suggest the bomb blast was designed to put pressure on the process of choosing a successor.

Each day brings new and unsettling developments in all sectors and levels of our country and other developed nations, spawning uncertainty and fear, as people go about their daily routines of work and leisure activities. As one contemplates this situation, the question is raised, "Why terrorism?" Why has this become a global problem, which everyone deals with and no one can control? It is a very complex question and a number of contributing factors can be identified.

“An Austrian court has recently fined a citizen for yodeling while mowing his lawn, according to a report in The Kronen Zeitung newspaper. The citizen, 63-year-old Helmut G., was told by the court that his yodeling offended his next-door Muslim neighbors, who accused him of trying to mock and imitate the call of the Muezzin [person who calls Muslims to prayer].”

Last month, Iran’s Foreign Minister was dismissed and replaced by the head of its nuclear operations. At the same time, Iranian armed forces concluded a covert “war games” exercise on the Iraqi border. Such demonstrations of force receive broad press coverage and are not kept secret. Analysts suggest these moves are aimed at sending a message to Washington that Iran’s nuclear ambitions will not be deterred.

News sources report that Queensland, Australia, is experiencing the worst flooding in history and a disaster of “biblical proportions.”  Flood waters have inundated an area the size of Germany and France.