Your point about culture is why I no longer worry about China's rapidly expanding military power, whereas your more isolationalist states (North Korea, and increasingly Iran) concern me. Intarwebs, blue jeans, and Hollywood have inadvertantly helped us a great deal in terms of "hearts and minds", whereas you can't really say that for a number of our recent military and diplomatic decisions.

The reverse is true about assimilation as well. People in the U.S. get a greater share of international news, cuisine, goods, and entertainment than ever before. It's also why attitudes towards foreigners tend to be more positive in large cities and universities, where people have more occasion to acquire this international culture, and more opportunities to meet people from other nations.

I work in the national security field. I know that it's dumb to stand around with your thumbs in your pockets, and it's sensible to do things like thoroughly check goods at the airport, the ports, etc. I also know that Timothy McVeigh, Eric Robert Rudolph, the Unabomber, and the still-uncaught anthrax mailer (recent terrorists who are conveniently unmentioned in Odrirg's post) caused a great deal of humanitarian and economic damage, and thus it's both sensible and moral to address actions rather than skin tones (or what Invisible Sky Wizard they like most).

valguarnera@carrionfields.com