Respect is a rational process. This is why "superior strength" will fail.

[Deja Q]

We can have all the nastiest weapons ever devised.

Using them as a means to incite peace will not work.

Peace is not strength. Nor can peace be achieved via strength.

Strength only engenders fear. Fear turns into resentment. Resentment turns into hate. Hate turns into response. And response is rarely a walk in a flower garden with a candlelit dinner afterward.

[Kagemusha]

1. As much as I dislike the handling of this war...

I believe that the line "peace is provocative" is not wholly without merit. The problem is that a lot of people define strength so narrowly that the strength that can support peace is rejected as "wimpy," thereby creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.