Weakness on the part of a "great" country is met by a lack of fear by her enemies.
When Iran sent agents via the Mexican drug cartel to assasinate the Saudi U.S. Ambassador in a public restaurant in Washington,nothing happened.What should have been treated by us as an act of war was played down by the WH.
Now,with no sanctions that have real teeth,(against the Central Bank),the Iranians have stared a terror campaign in India Georgia.Thailand and elsewhere,. against Israel.
This is part of their usual pattern.To wit the Iranian attacks on the Jewish Center in Buenos Aires,
They were never punished.
Israel must see that the world does not give a crap for Jewish lives.Nor does the world care to step up to the plate in Syria.So the Chinese V.P.gets the royal treatment,as his country and Russia block a UN resolution.
Remember it was a Shiite attack on our Marines in Lebanon in 1983 that not only lilled 223 or so leathernecks, but scared us out of Beirut.