Five thousand years of Chinese diplomatic history suggest it is more likely to respect a strong state than a weak and vacillating one.

But this time around, Bear Stearns's business was so weak, it wasn't eligible for a Chapter 11 reorganization filing.

Now, largely because of its failure to tackle the root causes of weak domestic demand, it is taking more of an economic hiding than any other rich country.

A nation of weakings can never be expected to go anywhere culturally and economically .

In practice the judiciary is the weakest, as Alexander Hamilton cautioned in "The Federalist Papers", because it controls neither sword nor purse.