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I think the fact of the matter is, nobody respects or fears us any longer. That is very dangerous.

I don't think there's a single country on earth that doesn't respect and fear the US. Having the largest economy in the world, as well as the strongest military, does have that effect. Nobody really respects or fears Iran, because it is an economic basket case and has no military to speak of. Iran has no military options. We do - between our nuclear and conventional capabilities, we can literally kill every single person within Iran's borders. Iran can't reciprocate. That's why countries fear us - for our capabilities. Because nobody can really tell when those capabilities will be unleashed. This is why Pakistan, which conspired with al Qaeda to kill 3000 Americans on 9/11, did a 180 degree turn afterwards and gave us access to dismantle a decade of Pakistani investment in the Taliban and al Qaeda. Because we would have nuked Pakistan.

Your comments aren't untrue in a sense. I know where you are coming from, and so they do make some sense. Do you honestly think the U. S. is going to unleash it's nukes on some nation? I don't. There wasn't even the slightest thought of using nukes on Palistan. In this era, we don't use nukes because that would open up the right of others to use them. This is not something we're prepared to do. I think you recognize that. You should.

Right now were busy dismantling our nuclear stockpile. We are reducing our warheads, and telling the whole world about it. At the same time we're mothballing aircraft, cutting short the procurements of aircraft we need to be effective well out into the future. We're even talking about cutting our aircraft carrier battle groups.

Russia has just given Syria some anti-ship armaments. Does that sound like Russia is shaking in it's boots about what the U. S. might do in retaliation. We're a paper tiger that is getting more paper tiger by the day.

Our own long term allies are not joining us on Syria. Does that exhude strength or leadership to the world? We are only kidding ourselves if we think anyone respects us on the same level they did when Reagan was in office. And anything less represents a slide on our stature, the fear factor, or whatever you wish to describe it as.

We're not going to kill everyone within Iran's borders. The leadership is hopelessly lost in the fifth century, but it's populace is not totally bad. It would be wrong to destroy the populace.

Nations don't fear us, because we are a rational nation for the most part. That can be good. It can also be a very deadly weakness.

This president we have now telegraphs weakness. If ever anyone had intents on taking this nation down, this would be the time to give it a go. If done by proxy, which some smart nations could do, it could be done rather systematically and thoroughly.

We're not talking about massive military engagements like the 50s and 60s might have seen. Today a few pulse weapons, a nuke or ten, and it's over.

I remain unconvinced that our national security "thinkers" are thinking clearly anymore. What's more, it doesn't matter what I think. If foreign powers observe weakness that are real, they may opt to exploit them.

God help us if we do. This is one time in history when we're not going to be able to simply regroup and fight back. When you can't feed yourself, you're sitting in the dark, and your own government thinks you're the enemy, you don't muster much resistance to those who wish to harm your nation the most. Of course that's even if your own team isn't helping them.

Russia has just given Syria some anti-ship armaments. Does that sound like Russia is shaking in it's boots about what the U. S. might do in retaliation.

It doesn't work that way. Countries that fear us will avoid staging major attacks against us on our own soil that will result in large scale retaliation against them. Note that in the 80's, Hezbollah had no problem killing hundreds of Marines in Lebanon. It also hijacked a TWA jet and killed Robert Stethem. And the PLF hijacked the Achille Lauro and killed Leon Klinghoffer. But none of these entities thought of renting a semi, filling it up with fuel oil and fertilizer and bringing down a skyscraper on American soil to kill tens of thousands, thereby bringing on their heads* a decade's worth, and a trillion dollars' worth of destruction.

During the Cold War, the Soviets helped the Chinese and Vietnamese Communists win by funding them while we cut off aid to their non-Communist counterparts. But they stayed far away from initiating war with us. We could have tried interdicting those shipments, but that might have resulted in all-out war with the Russians. Ultimately, they fear us enough to not attack us directly on our own soil, but they have never been so fearful that they won't supply our adversaries.

* When bin Laden first struck on 9/11, he was extremely popular in the Muslim world, because Muslims thought he had found a way to hurt the US and there was nothing Uncle Sam could do about it. After Afghanistan and Iraq were attacked, bin Laden became less popular among Muslims not because they thought his methods were immoral, but because they perceived that he had brought the wrath of the US upon the ummah in such a way that killed large numbers of Muslims. Whatever we might feel about the losses we suffered, Muslims took far bigger losses and are much more wary about staging large scale attacks against us that might trigger a multi-year war against them.

Do you honestly think the U. S. is going to unleash it's nukes on some nation? I don't.

It came down to body count. If we had lost 100,000 dead on 9/11, and Pakistan hadn't surrendered on the same day, we would have burned its cities to the ground. In a sense, Pakistan (and al Qaeda's other Muslim funders) was lucky that bin Laden only killed 3000 people. You're a good person, willing to leave vengeance to the Almighty. Plenty of people, right and left, are not, especially when their friends and relatives have been killed in large numbers. 3K dead wasn't sufficient to trigger genocidal rage. 100K would have been, and any president who resisted would have been removed from office.