If you think this is a new thing, of spies looking for weakness in anything, and trying to take advantage of it, you are mistaken. What many people don't realize is that their are spies in this country, and some of the countries that spy on us a lot are who you would expect.
Russia and China are also gaining favor in many Central American countries, (coincidentally the same ones smuggling the majority of the firearms into Mexico and feeding the violence there). This is simply a tactic, which we (the U.S.A.) employ on a regular basis. Sometimes under the guise that we are trying to bring peace to a region, but we are causing turmoil which affects the morale of the population of the region, and sometimes distracts the world from what we may or may not be doing covertly.
We want to be in Iraq to make Iran uncomfortable and unstable. We want to be in North Korea, or at least to threaten it, to get China on edge. We want to be in Georgia (the country, not anywhere near Atlanta), Ukraine, Poland, and other places in that region to help us keep Russia in check.
Back to the power grid scare though, I'm more concerned with this:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/23oct_superstorm.htmSolar flares and other sun based anomalies are very capable of generating an electromagnetic field (pulse) large enough to knock down the power grid on the planet, not just one country, not to mention knocking out satellites in orbit around the globe. Many people do not realize how much of their daily activities revolve around data links that are going over a satellite.
