That's right. They (Bush, Blair, Putin, Kim Jong Il, etc...) "don't even know we exist, let alone care". They are all playing large scale power politics, and playing to win...or if not that, to survive.

One comment, though. It is not normally the business of a people to "do something about" another country's leader (unless already at war with that other country, and on the point of decisively winning said war). It is their job to do something about their own leaders, if they can.

To suggest that Americans, for instance, bear a new "white man's burden" and have a moral responsibility to do something about other people's leaders in distant parts of the world is a blanket justification for America to do what Hitler did in the late 30's and early 40's...attack other countries whenever they feel like it. It's a justification for unprovoked aggression.

It would be no more justified than if Putin or Kim or some other foreign leader decided to "do something" about Bush (meaning assassinate him or take him prisoner by military invasion and defeat of the USA. Put the shoe on the other foot and all of a sudden you see exactly what it means. Outright lawlessness, all in the name of a supposed moral superiority over other people.

What would be the reaction of Americans if some other country felt strong enough to suggest in the world media their desire to bring about "regime change" in the USA by force, as the USA decided to do in Afghanistan and Iraq, for example. The reaction on the part of Americans would be outrage! Readiness to fight at a moment's notice.

That's how it works. Put the shoe on the other foot and you begin to see how outrageous such an attitude is and why the "occupied" will never stop fighting such an occupation.