The world is a dangerous place. We wish it were otherwise, but wishing doesn't make it so.

Russia under Vladimir Putin seems determined to restart the Cold War. China, long a sleeping giant, is awakening. In Pakistan, Islamic fundamentalists are just a suicide bomb away from controlling a country with nuclear weapons.

That's why national security and foreign policy experience matter in this presidential election. The United States must remain strong, undaunted by the challenges we face. That's why the country needs a president who sees the world as it is, a realist who will stand up to the bullies, terrorists and petty tyrants of the world, even if the United States must stand alone.

That's why America needs John McCain as its president.

McCain is a straight shooter who is unafraid to tell it like it is. In an interview with The Eagle-Tribune's editorial board, McCain was dismissive of President Bush's claim that the United States has a friend in Putin's Russia. Bush famously commented that he had looked into the Russian president eyes and had seen "his soul." McCain said he looked into Putin's eyes and saw a KGB agent.

When almost all of Congress was willing to give up on Iraq, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared bluntly that "the war is lost," McCain stood up for our troops and for a vigorous U.S. foreign policy. McCain recognized the danger in abandoning Iraq and its people to the tender mercies of al-Qaida. He understood that for the United States, defeat in Iraq would have repercussions around the world.

So McCain supported President Bush's plan to increase troop levels and change the strategy in Iraq. The evidence shows "the surge" is working. Areas of the country once too dangerous to tread are becoming more peaceful. Normalcy is returning to that country as al-Qaida has been placed on the defensive.

McCain is strong on national defense but he's no warmonger. McCain knows personally the reality of war having spent years as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese.

McCain, through his long political experience, knows how Washington works. He knows how to get things done.

But that Washington insider status comes with some negatives. McCain's biggest flaw is that he sometimes shares Washington insiders' conceit that they know what's best for us ordinary Americans. Hence, McCain's support for campaign finance reform that was corrosive of the First Amendment and for an immigration reform bill that didn't put enforcement of existing law first.

He isn't the perfect candidate. But he's the best one running in 2008. We encourage New Hampshire Republicans and independents to cast their votes in Tuesday's first-in-the-nation primary for John McCain.