In this installment I take a moment to pause and look back before moving forward.

Perhaps the time has come to popularize the term "Pax Americana" borrowing from the term "Pax Romana" that was used by 18th century idealists to describe the 400 year reign of Rome as the dominant empire on earth. It was the kernel that promoted the ideas that would result in the overthrow of kings and the establishment of experimental democracies.

Among the 18th century idealists who sought to emulate the romance of the Greco-Roman age was a rabble of colonists we fondly refer to as "The Founding Fathers". It is no acccident the the United States pursues the "Pax Americana". The very genetic code of this nation makes dealing with the issue an appointment with destiny.

There were others. The French Revolution was the one that most typifies the violent overthrow of the monarchies left over from the Middle Ages. The "intellectual ideal" coming back to scrub down the power vacuum left behind by the demise of the physical empire some 10 centuries earlier so to speak.

And when combined into a sour soup with the dehumanizing effects to the 1st Industrial Revolution, the romance of the "Pax Romana" became the seeds of Socialism and Marxism - two designs for dictatorial-democracies that actually have many similarities to the structure of Roman government before the arrival of the common soldier's Plebian representatives to monitor the excesses of the Senate in its own House. The United States adopted a model of governance that incorporates the checks and balances concepts seen in the post-Plebian period.

Of course both the European Colonial Era and the Empires of Communism have gone the way of the Do Do bird leaving the lessons of the shadows of empires to be studied once again. Perhaps the most appropriate cautionary tales come from the dissenters within Rome during the era of the "Pax Romana" itself. The writings paraphrase thus, "They brought order to their conquests and left desolation in their wake." It seems that keeping a caring eye on the true costs of success was not in the Roman vocabulary.

It should be no surprise then that the many nations and cultures on this earth who endured and remember the "Pax Romana" view the coming of "Pax Americana" with some trepidation. We often forget that their histories extend back far beyond our own ... or even the days of Rome.

And now we begin the era of Bush II and the mission to bring liberty to planet earth.

Dennis Santiago began his career as a military operations analyst specializing in global stability and force structure analysis. In 1984, he authored the first theoretical paper on the "Imperfect Defense Theory" for strategic missile defense that postulated a battle formula for using missile shielding as part of an overall deterrence system vis-a-vis the Soviet Union. He brings a talent for visioning beyond institutional myopia to the analysis of international affairs - a skill he has since transalated to other areas such as banking and finance following the demise of the great foe.