] Mr. Bush is right to champion free trade and global
] prosperity, since an economically integrated world will
] be a more stable one. And he is right to hope that China
] in particular stays on the free-market path. But if
] China, with its 1.2 billion people, does keep up its
] brisk economic growth, won't the day come when it can
] match America's defense budget without breaking a sweat?
] How can America then afford to keep its military so
] potent as to "dissuade potential adversaries from
] pursuing a military build-up in hopes of surpassing, or
] equaling, the power of the United States"?

this is Robert Wright from Sept. 2002... another quote :

"Yet the Bush administration, with its limited regard for both international law and world opinion, is making America not just sheriff, but judge, jury and executioner. This strategy could lead to a number of outcomes, but national security isn't among the more likely."

Contradictions of a Superpower