Someone needs to help dictatorships get up to speed. The past few weeks, we have had more than the normal flow of rhetoric pouring out of official media outlets. Between Iran and North Korea, the bombastic statements have been flying like ill-fated missile tests.

And I have to wonder: What are they thinking? How is it that a country like Iran, which is developing nuclear technology, doesn’t get Twitter? As Daniel Henninger wrote in last week’s Wall Street Journal, “Web 2.0 has become a metaphor. The communications technologies are important-cell phones, social networks, messaging protocols-but its more interesting attribute is that it enhances the role, and power, of individuals.”

Those in power may be convinced that they are in still in control, believing governments can function in a pre-2.0 world. Neda Agha-Soltan’s tragic death in Iran this week, captured by amateur video and broadcast via Youtube, provided vivid proof of the brutality of the Islamic regime killing for control. Viewed by thousands a few days after being posted, Iran simply made up a ridiculous story.