I'm in broad agreement with you that we need to understand that differing interests exist and these cannot always be bridged by a bigger, better IO strategy. That's why we have diplomacy and professional negotiators, and sometimes why we reassess our definition of "national interest".

Disagree with the idea that Zeus' thunderbolt is the answer. This will, in the end, lead to far greater engagement with the world as the thunderbolt will be called upon to attack any possible threat. Any other country that is near a thunderbolt capability of their own is an impossible strategic threat and must be neutralized, else they use a similar strategy on us.

Also this idea seems to require foreign policy consistency across decades. I submit that this is pretty much impossible in any country and perhaps least of all with American democracy.