The U.S. under Bush has thrown down the gauntlet to other countries.

It has basically decided to settle scores with other countries by the use of force,ignore long standing international conventions such as the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners,the UN Charter and others.Its pretexts for invadinga poor Third World country like Iraq have worn thin and the entire world sees it as naked aggression.Many countries now suspect that the 9/11 event was also staged and compares with the Reichstag Fire or the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.

It would not surprise me in the least if poorer countries seek to arm themselves with all sorts of weapons as a detterence against this predatory nation.Even random acts of violence against Americans will be on the rise world wide.The decline in our economic domiannce will add to these problems even more.

from all of this. I have two sons (one in college that has a learning disability and a 13 year old) that have a future that wasn't as bright before W and 9/11. It bothers me to no end as to what was avoidable in all this.

You know, I've been keeping my eye out for this kind of thing ~ I half expected to see this over the last 6-12 months, but didn't really hear much about it. Was it because people in other countries really did give the American people a pass when they believed that Bush snuck into the white house the first time?

I don't know, but I do expect to start hearing about more violence toward Americans in the coming months. As I seem to be saying a lot lately, "I hope I'm wrong."

place is the ability to destroy us by allowing the dollar to drop to 0. And if the countries decide to stop selling us oil, the whole country could stop dead. No jobs. No food. Just look at what we use oil for. We have the whole world against us right now. There is no need for any thrid world country to arm themselves.

With no takers for the 20 yr T -bills, the writing is on the wall. If China, japan gets cold feet carrying our enormous debt, then it's all over folks.