"Twould be an interesting study to see if such periods in which many important world leaders’ seats change hands have also been periods of larger termoil. Of course, the whole democracy thing is fairly new for most of the world, so maybe there is no baseline to study, yet.
By accident, the 9/11 terrorists hit us in a transition time, the best time they could have done so from thier p.o.v. If it had happened a year earlier when Clinton wasstill in office, I doubt the result would have changed, altough the election would have been a very different animal; and if it had happened a year later with a truely up and running Bush WH, who knows.
I say, keep alert, keep your powder dry and stay frosty.