I agree with your assessment of the basic problem, but am somewhat confused by your post.

The First Monkey can bluster all he wants, but all it will take for the world to really, really have problems will be for one, count ‘em, 1, irritated ruler to slip one (1) nuke to a terrorist and we’ll be faced with this – blow up the entire world, or just take care of US, commonly called #1.

A Third World thug leader giving a local terrorist a nuke from their own arsenals could have two results: First, the terrorist manages to nuke Washington. Yay! Then hope to Allah that it never leaks out, or the U.S. never figures out, exactly where that nuke came from. And most nukes leave a very broad trail. Sleep well, O Sheik!

Or second, the terrorist figures out that a nuke makes one hell of a blackmail weapon right here at home, and maybe the terrorist should be the guy in charge. Most thug leaders in the Third World got where they are by less than democratic means, and it is likely that this scenario will also occur to the thug leader before the fact.

The point is, there is less incentive for a hostile government to hand a terrorist a nuke than you might think.

Your alternatives, blow up the world or take care of #1 are a little odd. Of course, we'll take care of the U.S. That's what we pay the government for, isn't it?

Or, we could just take care of #1 first, let the multinational corporations take care of themselves, and forget about trying to expand globalization and Big Oil. (It’s always money – they spend our lives like dollar bills – Jones, “The Thin Red Line”.)



Sad, but we’ll try to say that taking care of #1 is taking care of multinationals and Big Oil. At least that’s what Eisenhower said we’d do, and he was right so far.



This is of course based on the liberal premise that multinationals and Big Oil are the only reasons the terrorists are trying to destroy the U.S. I don't quite buy that...see below.

Unfortunately, I think this country is much, much greater than that. I think this country is people, living, an opportunity to enjoy family, friends, and life. There is much more to it than making sure we manufacture arms and pump oil.

I heartily agree with your description of this country. It's a little silly to assume that all we make in this country is arms and oil. If you want a nation that lives solely by the oil well, check out Saudi Arabia.

But until you understand that love of living, prosperity, optimism, human rights, family values, and opportunity are the real reasons we are hated in nations that have none of these, you are always going to be barking up the wrong tree on terrorism.