Timing is everything. Has anyone thought about what would have happened if the meteor had touched down in the then U.S.S.R in the fifties or early sixties? No web as such and no intricate satelite tracking of incomings. Nervous fingers poised over the retalliation button? Garbled phone messages? People thinking they were being attacked and who could truly blame them?

I am very sorry for the people in Russia for what they have had to endure today and I am relieved no one died. Clean up is happening and help is ongoing. In the cold war days, irrespective of what superpower nation this space rock inflicted, the results could have been horrendous. Thanks to technology and an enlightened approach, this sort of thing, while terrible for a few, is not a catastrophe for the world.