If not boasting was a test for anything the US would fail miserably. Just listen to all the ridiculous shock and awe rhetoric from the Iraq war or cultural pearls like this: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(movie)" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(movie)</a>.<p>I think we need to know much more than official grandstanding and parades in order to judge wether enough individuals in a particular country are driven by a will to innovate and succeed and are willing to take some risks as well.