After all, said Mr. Terry, "you are the single superpower in the world."

It goes back to the cold war era, when the world's destiny depended on the Western alliance's relations with a single, hostile superpower.

It wants to be treated as a bloc and as an equal within the alliance, so ending the relationship of a single superpower to a bunch of far smaller allies.

The Bush administration is committed to absolute military pre-eminence, but does anyone think that Clinton's military was less determined to remain the single - and overwhelming - superpower?

"Being the world's single superpower on the cheap is astonishing."

To make matters worse, the Cubans - in Miami or Havana - aren't the only ones thumbing their noses at the single superpower.

Norman Neale and his best friend Chuck have an ongoing debate on the subject of "what single superpower would you choose?"

The emergence of a single superpower has limited its room for maneuver in the third world.

And Prime Minister Pierre Beregovoy has said a European power was needed "because it's unhealthy to have a single superpower in the world."

In truth, Europe is still trying to adjust to a world with a single superpower, and it is having a hard time doing so.