Indeed, it appears the single most inept, maladroit, and plain stupid move he could take was a direct invasion turning all those assets, and then some, into hollow crowns. Incompetence aside, he might have gambled because of the constant erosion of his historical vision that such policy, however rational, had been creating. We all know for whom violence is the last refuge, though. Empires must win by example, not by bloodshed. The lesson for the US is also clear, albeit hard to swallow for mad boomers on their fly-bitten totem poles.