Future world powers

[kj]

Alan, hope its ok to put this here, not sure if i should put it in Lounge. Anyways...

at the moment America is the only super power left. But i'm wondering who you think will be the next. I mean, the world is constantly changing, and to be honest America wont be at the top for ever.

We've seen the emergence of countries willing to stand up against the Americans, and well known American allies go against the US because its what they believe. Do you think we'll always stay in the shadow of America?

I can personally see the emergence of a more dominating power coming out of East Asia in the not too distant future. With technology and industry moving to those countries, if money generated is well spent, there is no reason why another country can emerge and stand up for the rest of the world. I dont think its safe to have one sole super power influencing the way the world moves. There is only one voice being heard at the moment.

Views?

[Rebelius]

I think in the not too distant future Europe will expand into the middle east and become very large and strong. Europe could be the next super power.

[Talcum]

The gap between america and the rest of the world is larger than there has ever been between a dominant nation and the pack ever before. I read that somewhere.

[AlanG]

Its between China and India

India:
huge workforce, those with degrees in english are working in our call centres. Programming jobs are being shipped overseas. The majority of UK manufacturing was shipped over 20-30 years ago. The UK used to be a self-reliant economy, now weve shipped service and manufacturing over to India, as have the US, if the cost of living increases, wages their do, we are then dependant on Indian labour to run our economy. Coupled with the Indian unis churning out people in the classical sciences I could see real advances coming from there.

China:
largest population of any country in world, becoming heavily industrialised. The reason the war provoked the "blood for oil" and "its all about the oil" slogans was because of teh growing need for oil in china. If america/other non chinese sources can control the oil reserves then china has to pay whatveer it takes to get oil to fuel its rapid industrialisation. If China can secure some oil reserves/strike deals with oil rich countries it can lower the cost it has to pay for it as we are now reachign the midpoint in the total oil reserves and the demand for it is only going to grow from now on.

The US:
if Bush stays in charge another term america is fucked. Their defecit is huge, unemployment has fallen slightly but its been high-wage jobs replaced with low-wage jobs, its sitting at 5.9%, the US needs no more than 4% to sustain the economy and the value of the dollar is dropping sharply (10dollars now = £5.80, has been a steady 6.60-7 for about 10years).

Europe:
by uniting in one currency and expanding, its now a larger economic bloc than the US with the highest monetary reserves as a bloc. Things are looking good compared to the US, but compared to India and China I think were gonna be overtaken

[Chunderbunny]

Plus Europe tends to be relatively CIVIL compared to the bloody Americans

[AlanG]

Originally Posted by Chunderbunny

Plus Europe tends to be relatively CIVIL compared to the bloody Americans

battle of the somme: check
hitler: check
breakup of yugoslavia: check

me=confused

[ianb]

I wouldn't say eurpoe was more civil. The French revolution was mingin', the Germans used the Spanish civil war to test their new toys prior to WW2; they bombed Guernica on the market day when it was full of farmers and peasants. However, I think the Europeans are more calculated. ie. "ask questions first, then attack" as opposed to Americas "Lets bomb 'em, and if we're wrong then who cares since they'll be dead anyway".

My history lecturer at uni said that all the great powers in the past fell spectacularly and the US government will do the same, simply because it has infuriated so many people around the world.

As for who will take over ruling the world, I really don't know. No-one seems anywhere near them.

[humndislocation]

I think China will become the next super power, they've got a large population, and if I recall correctly, they have a well developed nuclear arsenal. As far as I am aware, China has the capability to send thermonuclear weapons via intercontinental ballistic missles, whereas India only has the capability to send relatively low yield atomic bombs via bombers. Things like that make a big difference, as they will be taken more seriously as a world power.

[6months of evrything]

i just hope we dont go to the euro its just stoopeed! i dont want the euro! we dont need it! (do we???)

[~smack]

Originally Posted by Alan G

battle of the somme: check
hitler: check
breakup of yugoslavia: check

me=confused

no, you=condescending smartarse.



~smack.

[Rosco the magnificent]

I dunno. I can't see anything changing at the moment. I think the biggest danger would be China being challenged over its arms which would cause some major 'barney rubble'. Until then, you can't see where the US are gonna stop

[*Sarahanne*]

I'm not sure who the next great dominant power will be. All I seem pretty certain of is that the leader (s) won't give a shit about the people's opinions and will do what the hell they like, whether they have public support or not.

[bHd]

personally I think Fiji is a power to watch.... all out there on their own in the pacific plotting in their evil lairs in extinct volcanoes under the sea...... um, yeah anyway, back to the real world....
this is all personal views and stuff I have picked up so please bear with me!

USA - The first true hyper-power, controls vast wealth (individuals own enough to buy entire countries....something wrong with that for a start!) but has pissed the world of because of this wealth and it's insessant quest for profit. Capitalism is what made America but it's what'll bring it to it's knees too unless they start doing things very differently. I don't know what like - I'm just and engineer dammit, not an eonomist....

China - Probably the biggest threat to Americas placing at the top of the global food chain. As said before they have a massive workforce and an expanding industrial sector. Not too sure just how stable the political situation is there really. It's always been a bit of a secretive country about a lot of things (esp. human rights etc...). The nuclear arsenal isnt really of much consideration to any of the large powers as it stands I don't think, China should be sensible enough to realise the self-destructive capacity of a nuclear exchange (look what the Cuban Missile Crisis did and how close we came to extinction....).that's too scary to even comprehend...

Europe - Another big threat to the USA. If it did finally became a United States Of Europe it would be a massive force to be reckoned with (and imagine how good we would be at football.....) The main thing with Europe is the Common Currency thing. Good idea in principle -instead of having to change all your cash in every smegging country you visit, makes commerce easier etc.... the only downfall is having to trust the french really.....enough said... lol

not too sure about any of the middle/far eastern countries really. too many looking out for their own interests I feel for any major power to step forward but that's just my opinion.
Not that it all matters much really anyway, when I am Lord Dave, Emperor of Earth they will all have to answer to me!!
right, where's me coat......

[humndislocation]

I'm not saying China would use its nuclear weapons, just saying that I think the quality of a countries nuclear arsenal goes a long way towards giving them power on the world stage.