Instead, they express disbelief, worry, lamentation even, that the one solid referent in the world has gone, well, completely rabid. They are terrified after the Afghanistan debacle that their old ally or new homeland, the once constant America, is delirious, incompetent, and self-loathing, and now there is no plausible alternative to the old American deterrence.
So, they wonder who will resist China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea—and are silently petrified to go it alone without the United States.
-Chuck