Our moral authority used to be our most important weapon– a big leg-up before a single shot was fired. Now… we are (more and more rightly) perceived as little or no better than anyone else. “Sudan, but with aircraft carriers and ICBMs” is hardly worthy of us.,. or is it?

There’s a reason that “cruel and degrading treatment” is the LEGAL definition (in treaties that our nation signed, duly ratified by the Senate, and then incorporated by American statute) as to what is expressly prohibited: it’s a much harder definition to muddle.

The rest of the world doesn’t see it “our” way. And until just 6 years ago, neither did we. And with damned good reason.

The minute someone puts doen the ‘death to America’ sign, we expect them to line up in agreement with the US on all points of roreign policy.
Merkel and Sarkozy will, naturally, consider their own national interests and public sentiment above US policies. Even if they, personally, loved the US, they could drag their countries along only so far and no further.