It appears that you no longer need to have your own army to be considered a powerful individual on the global playing field. In fact, if the tapes that have been airing on Arab satellite channels are any indication, all you need is a portable video camera, or, failing that, a cassette recorder. We’ve all heard the old credo that “information is power,” but these days, it seems that the efficient dissemination of information, and a keen grasp of how to make use of the global media, is as important as the information itself.