Ok, but the "powerful" in this situation are not looking out for the interests of average working Americans, who would be best served by fair and peaceful relations with other countries. And they're not even looking out for the interest of maintaining their "power" since they continue to give the entire rest of the world more and more incentive to abandon the dollar as the global reserve currency. What will happen to the standard of living in de-industrialized America once that happens?
it's justification of might and power. summed up in "might makes right".
there's also something of this in the reasoning behind the phrase "history is written by the winners".
this is only an instance of power being wielded by the powerful.