And they can’t take no for an answer! Syria

[Seamus Fermanagh]

That's what military strategists are supposed to do. Having an "in case stuff" plan for any possible situation is the smart thing to do. The way they set up their colonial empire through military intervention, corporations and the monetary system allowing the dollar to become the economic frankenstein it is to day is much more frightening IMO. And let's not forget the spying and their overflowing prisons, and also the invention of bogus diseases like ADD (and forcing medication for their treatment on children)

Supposedly the UN has the global police function, but as we have seen in the past, when the USA breaks the rules no one dares DO anything. Because they can't. No one can win a war versus the USA, even the entire world combined. At best, they can be confined to their home continent or MAD can be achieved through WMDs. At worst, the vastly superior US navy would dominate international waters and trade, thus suffocating their major competitors.

So from a position of power, the USA knows that it's the biggest kid on the block, by far, and so it can bully whomever it wants.

Fortunately for the rest of the world, however much we throw our weight around over little disputes, we just aren't conquerors -- except on a cultural/economic level (with all respect to Civilization gamers, btw, the USA exported culture is anything but highbrow. We export culture like Coca-Cola, Budweiser, t-shirts as fashion, over-priced sneakers, and enough Hollywood action movies so that the entire world now knows the upthrust middle finger gesture). Might make us the worst of all things -- a busybody do-gooder who won't quite see things through to completion.

Come to think of it, maybe it would be kinder if we used bombs and old-school imperialism.