Important benefits often accrue to states that behave in an unexpected way.
The most dangerous states in the international system are continental powers with large armies.
Offensive realism predicts that the United States will send its army across the Atlantic when there is a potential hegemon in Europe that the local great powers cannot contain by themselves.
Decapitation is a fanciful strategy.
States have two kinds of power: latent power and military power.
In an ideal world, where there are only good states, power would be largely irrelevant.