The end of the Cold War put the planet on a new track, abruptly replacing the familiar world of bipolarity, red phones, and intercontinental ballistic missiles with the strange new world of the Internet, e-commerce, and Palm Pi lots. The "New World Order" was defi ned by the fi rst U.S.-led war against Iraq, bloody ethnic strife in Bosnia and Rwanda, and religious tur moil in Central Asia. This evolving global system, however, over looked the powerful role of credit, which functions as a critical building block for developing greater national and individual wealth.