I am truly curious as to how much time you have spent outside the USA. Your grasp of Middle East politucs is appalling. America's star has been falling since she forced NATO to go to war in Iraq. The Brits were especially angry about it. Then there was that scandal about the CIA spying on its allies.

BRICS is more a threat to the dollar as its power as the reserve currency has been fading for some time.

Everytime I hearvthe phrase that America is the leader of the free world, I shake my head. We, in the rest of the world, have long moved on.