Quote from Ricter:
3) No fortress ever built has withstood determined, coordinated efforts to "bust" it. So we cannot let (read laissez faire) the "other guys" simply build nukes and drones and software and germs, etc., indefinitely.
.
We're going off on tangents here, but the above is a valid point, and I'd like to address it.
Proliferation of WMD technology is inevitable.
The key ingredients to technological progress are:
1) Time
2) Research
We cannot control what research countries engage in. Nor can we stop time.
Therefore, any Country so inclined, will pursue WMD technologies, and eventually obtain them.
Now, even if we had the money to invade the world, that would create the very conditions we sought to avoid - World War, ya?
Last, we don't have the money. Even if we wanted to continue our imperial adventures, the money isn't there. We're Greece in 3 years.
So what now?