So here is the problem...how does the rest if the world deal with a rogue state?

[starroute]

48. I think the effects will be more subtle -- and Hollywood may get pinched

Up to now, for all its flaws, the United States and its cultural exports have served as symbols of democracy. But how much longer will that remain the case?

Batman, Superman, Star Wars, Star Trek -- all these have the assumptions of American exceptionalism and bully-boy-ism built into their very fabric. What happens when the rest of the world starts to see them not as good holiday entertainment but as a reminder of everything they hate and fear about American foreign policy?

Blue jeans and hoodies have been the standard attire of protesters -- but what happens when it becomes apparent you can't protest against America by wearing American fashions? What if new styles catch on that are designed as a deliberate "bugger off" to Uncle Sam?

So far, the global protests have been directed against neoliberal economics in general and against the corrupt ruling classes of each country involved. But what happens if the US comes to be seen as the hidden hand behind all the oppressive local elites? This is already happening in Egypt, where protest signs (and not just that one obvious photoshop job) are describing Morsi as an Obama puppet.

Now that America no longer manufactures much of anything, our cultural exports have become essention to the economy. This is one reason the Trans-Pacific Partnership has so many abusive "intellectual property" clauses. But if Brand America becomes toxic, what then? What will we have to sell any longer that the rest of the world wants to buy?

And perhaps that's the real answer to how you deal with a rogue state. You just stop buying their stuff -- because it no longer upholds your own core values.