ABSTRACT
Almost thirty years have passed since March 23, 1983, when President Ronald Reagan announced the famous Star Wars program [the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)]. One does not have to be a historian to observe that our lives changed unrecognizably at that point. The old competitor of the United States for the world leadership-the Soviet Unionceased to exist and the world became monopolar. The United States, which found itself in a position dreamed of by its £nancial and political elite, appears perplexed. Apparently, competing for the absolute leadership of the world was easier by far than carrying its heavy burden. The two wars with Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the unprecedented activation of terrorism, and-as a consequence of all this-the enormous national debt are only a part of the cost of power over the life and death of the present civilization. Military science analysts are increasingly disturbed by a series of global trends that developed rapidly since the world did not simply change: it became much more dangerous and, even worse, unpredictable. The cost of overcoming the next share of dif£culties is not yet known and might be much higher than that of the position of main world power.
