I've been reading a book, lately on how to influence people without necessarily making friends. It's an intriguing read, some of which I thought worthwhile sharing:

"The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, which usually patrols the western Pacific from its home port in Yokosuka, Japan, is more like a nuclear powered floating city than a mere ship. It is more than 1,100 feet long, as tall as a 20-story building and carries a flight deck 250 feet across. This behemoth houses nearly 6,000 crew, pilots, and mechanics along with 70 state-of-the-art aircraft. Wherever it goes it is accompanied by an Aegis cruiser outfitted to knock down incoming missiles, several frigates and destroyers, one or two hunter killer submarines and supply vessels. The Kitty Hawk can steam at more than 30 miles per hour; to support the U.S. attack on Afghanistan, it covered the 6,000 miles from Yokosuka to the Indian Ocean in twelve days. This is a truly awesome concentration of military might.
The United States has thirteen of these carrier battle groups. No other country has even one. And whether it is bombers, working ballistic missiles, strategic submarines, laser-guided smart bombs, ground-hugging cruise missiles, pilotless drones or gun ships, American dominance is more or less the same. Moreover, these forces are scattered at more than seven hundred U.S. installations around the globe, with 120,000 American troops in Europe; 92,000 in East Asia and the Pacific; 30,000 in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia; and 15,000 in the Western Hemisphere outside the United States. The United States' share of the total defense spending of all countries in the world is at 40 percent and rising; it spends as much as the next nine countries combined. In terms of sheer military dominance the world has never seen anything like this."

"Economically, the United States looms nearly as large. At $10-trillion, the U.S. GDP accounts for more than 30% of the combined GDP of all countries in the world, and is twice that of the number two country, Japan. While the GDP of the combined European Union is about $9-trillion, including the newly joining countries, the EU is not yet a state and acts as a peer of the United States only in limited areas. Even so, the United States is bigger economically than all of Europe and is four times as big as Germany, Europe's largest economy. At market prices, China's economy is only a tenth the size of the U.S. economy and Russia's is less than half that. Even after the loss of $7-billion of U.S. market value as a result of the collapse of the recent technology bubble, the capitalization of U.S. stock markets accounts for 36% of global market value. More significantly, U.S. productivity growth is 50% more rapid than that of other developed countries. Moreover, the numbers are all moving in the United States' favor."

"Nor can we ignore American leadership in key technologies or its intellectual and cultural dominance. U.S. research and development spending accounts for more than 40% of the global total and in the area of medical and biotechnology research, the United States spends more than the rest of the world combined. More than 85% of the world's computers run on Microsoft Windows or Unix and are powered by Intel or Motorola microprocessors. The software and systems integration businesses are dominated by U.S. companies like Microsoft, Oracle, EDS, and IBM and the vast bulk of new drugs and medicines are developed in the Unites States. Close to 75% of all Internet communications globally pass through the United States at some point in their transmission. American films account for about 85% of box office revenue in Europe and more than 80% in the entire global market. In a recent survey of the top ten movies in twenty-two countries, 91 of 220 possible slots were American."

"Being big, strong and influential doesn't necessarily equal imperialism, or if it does, perhaps the imperialism is a matter of seduction rather than coercion. In fact, America's power makes itself felt in at least thee distinct ways: coercion, seduction, and persuasion." 

A most persuasive argument for 'respecting' the United States of America, as the single most powerful, influential country on Earth. Even though this book by Clyde Prestowitz, Rogue Nation, was published in 2003 and world events have changed, much yet remains the same, as far as the above is concerned.