The Foreign Service Journal, December 2005

36 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 5 n the United States and in much of the developed world, new information and communications technologies have created a universe in which information is unimaginably plentiful and accessible. This abundance has shaped a new generation of youth, fundamentally different than their elders. Many of them cannot imagine research without the Internet, or communication without cell phones, e-mail and instant messaging. The idea of ter- restrial television — showing just a handful of programs, often at awkward times and with imperfect reception — has F O C U S O N I T A N D D I P L O M A C Y IT C OMES OF A GE IN THE M IDDLE E AST Valerie Sinclair I T HE INFORMATION REVOLUTION IS CREATING A NEW GENERATION IN THE M IDDLE E AST THAT WILL LIKELY , BUT NOT NECESSARILY , BE MORE DEMOCRATIC . B Y J ON B. A LTERMAN