HUBBA DUBYA? :

Bismarck's Lessons for Bush (JOSEE JOFFE, May 29, 2002, NY Times)

What is the critical strategic problem for the United States, a nation that dwarfs all others in terms of "hard" (military) and "soft" (cultural-economic) power? It is how to prevent the rest of the world from unifying against No. 1. After unification in 1871, Bismarck's Germany found itself in a similar position in Europe: more powerful than any other country, yet threatened by the resentments of all.

The United States is Bismarck's Germany on a global scale. [...]

So the best rule for an unchallenged No. 1 is this: Do good for the rest of the world in order to do well for yourself. This is not the counsel of woolly-headed sensitivity training, but of hard-nosed realism. Bismarck would undoubtedly approve.

Unifying? Nearly every other culture is engaged in a contest to kill each other : Euros vs. immigrants; Muslim vs. Jew; Muslim vs. Hindu; African tribesman vs. African tribesman. They couldn't unify if Earth was being attacked by Mars. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 29, 2002 12:30 PM