(FORTUNE Magazine) – The historic events in East Berlin and Moscow, Warsaw, and Budapest provide the most dramatic evidence yet that the Cold War is over and we have won. Socialism is on the run, and democratic capitalism has triumphed. One might say, ''We're all capitalists now.'' % We are entering an unprecedented era of global economic competition -- and global opportunities -- when commercial and technological battles stand to replace 3,000 years of grand ideological confrontations. Free-for-all struggles for markets will replace wars for territory. Trade wars may well replace Star Wars. It is most improbable that the arrogant Leninists might rebound and slam down the Curtain yet again. Much more likely is that Hungary, Poland, and East Germany will press for some kind of membership in an even greater European Community. That will raise huge questions, especially about how to make their currencies convertible. Still, many Western businessmen will sense opportunity to sell to and invest in this underserved market of 65 million eager consumers. And can Russia be far behind? Suddenly the long-dormant dream of a single market stretching from the Atlantic to Vladivostok shows a few flickers of life. The shape of the future is uncertain, but the lessons of the past few weeks are clear. One is that peoples ultimately revert to character, throwing over the alien, external forces imposed upon them. Another is that, given any chance at all, men and women choose freedom (with all its risks) over totalitarianism (with all its secure predictability). Still another is that in this age of high technology and instantaneous information, ideas take hold and events move much faster than ever before. The TV is mightier than the sword. The marketplace also changes more rapidly than ever, and business people and policymakers alike will have to act -- and react -- faster. As Fortune has often remarked, speed will become an increasingly important competitive weapon. But most important will be the need to think global, to recognize that just as nothing is certain, so nothing is excluded. For we are indeed entering a new era of possibilities.