What one has to understand is we hold the power to destroy the world not once but 12 times over with nuclear weapons.China is a big threat to the United States and also we cnttrrol almoost 50% oof the world money, and what obama says is tthatwe should talk with are enemys and down size are Armed forces, and when World War 3 happens will be screwed. But the funny thing is we will go out with a nuclear bang wiping china out with us. VOTE REPUBLICAN PROTECT THE AMERICAN EMPIRE!!!

Well that's a relief. :NOTSURE:

Tell me... have you ever disconned a multiplayer RTS game because you were going to lose?

The ignorance of the world population on nukes is truly scary...

The entire supply of nuclear weapons on this earth can't even kill everyone in Asia. The resulting population kill of the most effective spread would be massive, but that's because of how many people live in large cities. Once you get to rural areas, they do dick. Once you get into uneven ground, they really do dick. The Himalayan mountain range would use up everything we've got. Now if we made a couple hundred thousand more, maybe. The radiation wont kill people, it will kill some people, and cause a lot of cancer. Would it suck, hell yes, but we can't wipe out the world. The nuclear winter thing is a joke. Mankind survived the ice ages, of which there have been a lot, mankind would survive the comparatively mild effects of nuclear winter. Most of the smaller munitions, the tactical nukes that comprise the vast majority, wont even contribute much to a global cooling. Stop watching Hollywood horror movies written by high school dropouts with no common sense. Aside from being horribly inaccurate, they suck.

Seriously now, end the perpetuation of Hollywood myths please.

Nequa, liberal idiots have been running the educational system for too long. "Child abuse" promotes aggressive tendencies, like slugging some asshole when he tries to walk all over you, or shooting the guy that breaks into your home to steal from you. Reacting with violence is an unacceptable situation, regardless of whether it's appropriate. Consequences for your actions are supposed to be restricted to painless methods, like free room and board with cable tv and a gym in a medium security flophouse for murderers.

Spanking your children, even if they aren't harmed by it(and no legitimate study has ever found spanking harmful), teaches them that consequences can be painful, and that such consequences are reasonable to apply to others.

Carbon, since you seem to not see it, the difference between spanking and beating. Spanking does no physical damage, it's a mental note. It leaves at worst, red marks that take a few hours to fade. Beatings leave cuts, bruises, broken bones, injuries to your organs. They are not a painful reminder not to do something, they injure. If someone slaps you for sassing them, and someone else breaks your jaw, I think you'll be able to tell the difference.

Ghostwes, wonderfully stupid replies. What better education on a subject is there than first hand knowledge? If only he had a doctorate in child psychology and no children he'd be able to understand the finer points of discipline! Being a well educated idiot doesn't make someone smart, just arrogant. Kinda like we are, eh?

Man, this thread is becoming silly. That's the worst impression of a Republican I have ever seen. You probably work for Clinton's campaign. I mean, come on... nobody is that stupid.



psychoak, you do understand that he used child abuse as a metaphor to justify the invasion of Iraq, right? This isn't really about child abuse, despite your attempt to make it so.

The Futurist, a blog I enjoy following from time to time, had a great article on China and whether we'll keep our hyperpower status (there can be multiple superpowers, BTW.): http://futurist.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/05/why_the_us_will.html

The problems facing China are mostly cultural. That's not to say they can't do it, and anyways, as an American I welcome the competition. People look at global trade as though it's us vs. them. In reality, America has much to gain from economic booms in other countries.

We put a man on the moon only after the space race with the Soviet Union. I don't know if we would have done it otherwise, and even if we would it would have been much later. Competition is good for America, I don't know why more people realize that.

As a Canadian I can tell you that our health care system is not in fact excellent. We are taxed at a higher rate in Canada than most industrial nations and yet nearly 40 cents on every dollar in taxes goes to health care. Despite this huge expenditure it is routine to have to wait months for diagnostic testing, and years for routine surgeries. Oh sure if you're dying you get fast and excellent care but if you can't walk because of a bad knee you had better be prepared hobble for a looong time.

The main reason for this is 100% publicly funded and delivered health care mandated by law and socialist ideology. I definately don't believe that the system in the U.S. where insurance companies who are accountable to their investors are the gatekeepers of care is necessarily a good system either. You could argue a capitalist ideology Yet many European systems with mix of both public and private insurance are the best health care systems in the world. Providing the best care for less money. Proving once again that pragmatism trumps ideology every time no matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on.

And that to me is the key point. Every Nation has its own Culture, and a different way of struturing its economy.

Crude example: in UK the short distances traveled by car compared to the US and the less dense public transport in the more open areas of the US are for a reason - the dynamics of real world life in respective Countries. The outcome is a different structure in Oil / Petrol taxes. Is one more "right" than the other - No. Its the pragmatic reality of each country concerned, realities that the other does not have to face. That was driven home to me when on the British Training area near Medicine Hat, Alberta Canada.

In a conversation with one of the locals, he casually mentioned they usually "popped into" Calgary for the weekly shop on a Saturday. Its 142 miles one way for crying out loud!! Its a bit like in UK someone living in Manchester saying they "popped into London" for the weekly shop ...... utterly inconceivable in UK, well for the sane ones amongst us anyway

Different Country, different dynamics, different solutions. What is crucial though - in any system - is to minimise short term tinkering, it always leads to mayhem. To cherry pick one aspect of one Country and almost say "yaboo its better there" does not hold true. Each Country evolves for its own unique circumstances and culture, there's no right or wrong.

One of my wife's favorite sayings is "what they really mean is, its not that they cant afford it, its because they choose to spend their money in other ways - you cant have your cake and eat it", and I fully agree. There are obvious limitations to that which is readily acknowledged, particularly if someone is literally on the bread line, it is however a very good way of expressing many of these dilemaes.

Regards
Zy

Ever since man has stabilized and has started to build Empires, Nations, Alliances, and Democracies, the world has been at war. As said by John F. Kennedy, serving as President of the United States of America from 1960-1963,:

"A Man May Die, Nations May Rise and Fall, But an Idea Lives on."

An average Empire, (70% of the time a rebellionist group that revolted from a larger, more critical mothercountry), lasts about eighty to six-hundred years. For Example, the Roman Empire lasted from around 300 B.C. to (around) 300 A.D. Six-hundred years.

America, ever since 1776, has been it's own, independent country. We have created many world-changing vehicles, equipment, technology, and transportation. We have defined the words Peace, Celebrate and Happy, and have defined the words Slaughter, Kill, and Annihilate.For the past 300 years, America has been a growing country, and an impressive one at that.

The problem is, when will we fall from the list of Superpowers of the World? Five months? Five years? Five-hundred years? No one knows for sure, but all we know is this: Not If, but when.

If say, in 2020 Russia gained an economic advantage over the United States and the rest of the UN, and rebuilt their "Glorious Motherland" into a well built, economically rish country, with a military rivaling the World's on it's own.

They invade and totally destroy the United States. Within, say, five years, rebellions would start across the world from mass-starvation. Millions are killed, and the Russians control the world.

But then, the world's people revolt in one mass-attack and overrun Russia. America is still gone, but, of course, the ideas the Great Founding Fathers thought of still Live On.

If, say, in 2015, China invades and destroys America. I'm saying it in 2015 instead of 2020 because China has a military advantage over Russia (Russia has been falling apart these past years). Rebellions rise up but are quickly cut down with mass-execution. Two billion people are dead.

If America fell, the world would be at a disadvantage. A perfect example is The Roman Empire. It grew so large it fell apart because it could not sustain itself with just one man. Those men were power-hungry and would kill for controlling the world.

America falling from the list of nations in the world would obviously shock the world, but 76% of the people knowing that would be happy. Why? Because they think we are greedy bastards.

The French, for example, have been jealous of us and the British since WWII, which ended in 1945. Why?

The Nazis invaded France in 1940 and we helped take it back. They were jealous, and therefore angry, at us. They couldn't fight the Nazis off because they came with lighting force.

Anyway, countries like France may never make the Superpowers List, but who knows. By tomorrow, New Zealand would have released a biological chemical that could kill millions of people in an instant.

The Point is, In the stories, Good Guys always win, to make the reader/watcher feel better. But in reality, the Bad Guys could win and even endanger our species. America has protected and played part in most events in history, and have stood side-by-side with their allies to the bitter end against the Evil Masterminds plotting against them.

 

I conclude my story.

China:Will collaped becasue if the USA stock market crash that force tons of people homeless.

Look at china They care about the olympics more then it own citizens. (the olympics site was a historical site)

USA: Will be A super power unless the USA will be like the EU

Europe: Possable if they become a super nation.

Africa: No they not yet to be industrized yet.

South america: Save as Africa

 

Look at history: Some empires last very long as the superpower and some die out overnight.

Good one.

EmperorPalpatine89,

Sorry to say but you spouted so much nonsense in your post that it's tough to only look at the reasonable points you made there.

 

"We have defined the words Peace, Celebrate and Happy, and have defined the words Slaughter, Kill, and Annihilate."

-Okay i get it, jesus (for instance) never preached (or defined) "peace" It was the US, celebrate

-Celebrate - obviously there's only celebrations in the US, the rest of the world never had any reason to celebrate

-Happiness, obviously nobody has ever been happy for having kids or getting married, everyone knows you can only be happy if you're from the US

 

Slaughter - Sorry, the Us don't hold a candle to Ghenghis Khan or the inquisition

Kill - Pretty much the same as above

Annihilate - Well, we can say the US we're pretty good at annihilating the native americans and stealing their homes and lands, though to say you defined it... well not sure where the US were when say... the Aztec or Incan empires were annihilated...

 

---

 

AS for the Us being a superpower, people sometimes mix in there being a military superpower and the economic center of the world. For as long as the Us has enough nukes to exterminate all life on earth (no it's not the blast, it's the radiation), the US will be a military superpower. As for economic center, there have been plenty of economic center in history and the US has only been one for less than a century (a third of the time the UK was the center so...)

 

I don't think that China will take over the US as economic center so soon, but it has high chances of doing so in the next 50 years.

 

I bet 100-200 years down the Road there wont be country's any more. It will be like 1 Government of the world cause scientists say in the next 50 years Mars will be colonized by humans, then in about another 150 years we will have the ability to viist other starsystems and colonize planets we dont even know of now.

So long as there are rednecks there will either be a USA or a CSA!

   

 

Btw, when WW3 occurs (everybody against China and North Korea), China will be wiped out by a all the western nations, removing the 6000 year old nation, and all the commies.

Well, there's still half a dozen (at least) other countries behind the Iron Curtain including the Russkies, so we would've done very little when that happened, except whipe two Major Asian Nations of the map.

Obviously liberal countries with no idea how to keep peace would attack Americans.

Wave those white flags when the russians take over please.

America will eventually lose it's power, but it wont happen now, China is way too overcrowded

War provides exponentially diminishing returns with the development of high-investment infrastructure and civilian globalization.  There is a non-negligible probability that there will never be a WWIII.  Forget what you've heard about men being violent bastards.  Men are greedy bastards.

First of all, there are not nearly enough nukes in existance to exterminate all life on Earth.  I don't care what your highschool physics teacher told you.  The amount of radioactive material you would need to give everyone a fatal dose is preposterous.

Second of all, the US is a military superpower because of its superior Air Force and Navy.  No country will overcome this in the foreseeable future.  It takes a profoundly complex and expensive logistic effort to field the number of aircraft carriers that the Americans do.

I doubt many people will be interested in colonizing planets that take multiple lifetimes and unspeakable resources to reach.  Not now, not in 150 years.

-Dr. B

 

Ask yourself: "Has America always been a super power?"

 

Answer that, and you answer your question.

with less than 120 days left in office, our beloved leader has figured out away to distroy our economy and to crush any future chance of America remaining a super power for more than a generation or two.

The bill is now coming due and we have no way to pay it.

"always" is just plain stupid - there is no such thing as "always". In a few trillion trillion years there will be NOTHING. No life, no planets, no stars.

Anyway, in the short term, within a few thousand years we will have no countries. We will have solar systems, if not a single nation comprising every known human-controlled planet.

Don't forget the Army, which is every bit as important. One thing we learned in some of the wars after WWII was that you can't hold a city with only an air force. We've bombed cities to the stone age, only to find out later the people regrouped and took the city back. You need a presence in the city itself to prevent this. You need an army.

Saddam's army was largely wiped out because his tanks were older and could not compete with our modern tanks - our tanks had double the range and could safely destroy his with almost no resistance. I'm sure the Air Force helped, but the Army played a key role in crippling Saddam's forces.

But yes, militarily, it appears we will be a superpower for some time to come. Economically, on the other hand, we're not doing so well .

As far as visiting other planets - I can see going back to the Moon and to Mars in 150 years, but going to other solar systems will probably be in the multiple thousands of years rather than the hundreds. The resources required to do so are simply way too vast for such a project in a couple generations. The trip itself will likely be over multiple generations.

Nah, this is a situation we created ourselves. People giving out loans were too confident that the market wouldn't slip and gave money to people who couldn't afford a downturn. Well, the market started a downturn and now loans are defaulting all over the place. The president just happens to be an easy target for blame.

Stars have a limited lifespan.

Congratulations, you just killed the entire human race.

Well, if us religious people are wrong and God never comes again, then that's gonna happen one way or another. Eventually, the universe will succumb to thermodynamics and there will be no useful energy left.

But that stuff is so far into the future that frankly it doesn't matter. We have to focus on what's going on right now rather than what's so far ahead in the future.

It will matter one day, the chance to survive sacrificed by people fully aware of the results. Sacrificed for personal gain because those people cared about nothing else than themself.

You count me out of this one. Planned extinction.

You see, i understand the will to evil. The will to evil is like an iron forge. It can only be shaped by a conscience that is the fire. If there was a creator, he obviously came to the same conclusion.

I am glad we experience today first hand what reckless exploitation of our planet is resulting in.

The majority of humanity WILL learn from its failiure or get killed in the process. That is the plan.

Our cities razed by storms, our coastlines drowned in floods, our forests afire our deserts enlarging. When will you learn to take precautions?

I think in the next 150 years a sizeable ammount of research will be concerned about preserving habitable enviroments, wich is in turn exactly what you need for a generation vojage colonization efford. Coincidence? Perhaps. I don't think so. Evolution is at work here. But what is it that is evolving?