RawAlex, I do not think US have a great desire to be "the worlds policeman", but because the US is a superpower, then everyone with a problem/conflict etc. want to involve the US on "their side", and if that is not possible, then having US on the opposite might be the next best thing to gain support from others. Ex. I think most islamists didnīt really care about the US lifestyle, when they needed the US to fight the communists, but once the communists were gone then they needed a new enemy to unit the islamists.
French President Chirac would probably not had been travling the world to "save iraq", if only a few EU countries with NO US soldiers wanted to invade... that would have caused more problems internal with the EU, then what Chirac would gain from the french muslims and business...
Etc.
Ofcourse the US also have more/greater intrests in the world than ex. China, so the US will react on more issues, but that might not always be so... maybe in 20-30 years China will a super power also, and then there will be two "policemen" in the world - just like the coldwar...
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"Chaos is the law of nature, order is the dream of man."
~Henry B. Adams (Historian) 1838-1918
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