My gut re-action for the past decade or two is that THE touble maker on the world scene (has been and will be) Pakistan. If Mushareff is ever assassinated, we could be brought to the brink of a nuclear war in a heartbeat. Remember also, the head of Pakistans' ISI was sitting in Washington the morning of 9/11 with members of the State Dept.
That meeting was never disclosed, but I feel it had something to do with nuclear blackmail. This same man had just wired Mohammed Atta $100,000 to the US just a few moths before; yet nary an eyebrow was raised.
And hey, Bin Laden fled to Pakistan...we ALLOWED the mountains between Iraq and Pakistan to be bomb free for a whole month while he escaped there. And they won't allow us in their country to hunt for him. AND, we just let their worst nuclear proliferator off the hook for selling nuclear secrets and technology to our sworn enemies.
Cushy deal, no?

I have always wondered why we had "friendly" negotiations with Pakistan, and I think it would be they were an ally in the world wide illegal drug trade. Once our buddies are gone there, we stand to be in real trouble.
Just a gut feeling.