The New World Superpower

[silentsentinel]

I'm an American. I'll say that first, to clear things up... I've been reading the news and watching everything slowly crumble apart. The strength of the dollar is decreasing, the school system is terrible... It's sad for me, really, but I think it's inevitable. Great Britain lost its Empire. The Soviet Union fell. Now, I see the U.S. slowly slipping off its pedestal of power.

Now, I'm not trying to sound like I think America's going to crash and burn. The only thing that'll really be hurting is our pride. Our big, overblown pride. I just think that someone else is going surpass American as the "leading nation" of the world.

The two top contenders for the top spot are, of course, India and China. Both have large populations and workforces, both have nuclear capabilities, and both are developing rapidly. I'm part Indian (got dual citizenship too, though I'm an American at heart) so I'm pulling for India. Less human rights abuses, democracy, good food, and great accents that'll take the tension right out of any important international meeting. But, the government is crazy corrupt, so there could be some snags there.

Anyway, who do you think'll be the most dominant nation in the years to come?

EDIT: If there is any thread like this already posted, I'm terribly sorry.

 

[sma_warrior]

China. Next thread.

 

[SilentHunter7]

In my humble opinion, China's done. They're going to have to implement environmental laws sooner or later. And I know all those companies wont like having to upgrade their factories, especially considering the fact that it was one of the big reasons they went there in the first place. China's position as a superpower is hampered by the fact that it doesn't have a navy, or a real Air Force, and that their economy is joined at the hip with the west's. Particularly the US. We need cheap, lead-tainted goods, China needs someone who will buy cheap, lead-tainted goods. One goes, they both go.

India was already ravaged 10 times over. Hell I still remember hearing about the city that died in its sleep after a hazardous chemical leak. I heard the company settled for $100,000. They could rise up, but they don't have veto power in the UN, and I've honestly never heard of the Indian army. Plus, they'll only become a super-power if they and Pakistan don't nuke each-other off the face of the earth first.

The United States is sailing dangerous waters right now. Our ground forces are overstretched, and our Air Force and Navy are suffering budget cuts, and frivolous spending on the part of the Generals and Admiralty. We need to get the hell out of Iraq, stabilize Afghanistan, get the world to start taking us seriously again, get Russia, Pakistan, and Iran to cut the Mickey Mouse shit, pay back our ginormous war-debt, and end our energy, unemployment, and economic crises. Basically, 12 to 16 years of the best damn leadership this country has ever seen.

The European Union is impressing me. They seem to have their shit together. They still have an energy problem, but they're doing something about it. France already has more than half of their power coming from clean nuclear power. They seem to be the ones who will lead the western world. At least until the US gets their shit straightened out.

 

[Mr. Purple]

I think Japan has a shot being up and coming leader of technology and having some of the smartest and most distinguished leaders and citizens. Just amazing, the Japanese.

 

[sunami88]

China. Next thread.

QFT.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

I have to root for India. Despite us invading them we get on very well now and have large indian communities in the UK.
It'll probably be china though. China is implementing a lot of renewable energy policies, partly for pollution and partly just due to the need for power.

Silent hunter...the EU 'seems' to have its shit together, but theres an awful lot of petty beaurocracy (sp?) and wastage. Lots of divisive internal politics too. Means that things take too long and are usually diluted. The german renewable policy is a huge success so far.

 

[Joeshie]

Of course, like all great civilizations, the USA will inevitably be knocked off it's thrown.

However, I doubt there will be a next "superpower". Everyone keeps pointing towards China, but I don't know. They have plenty of problems that aren't holding them back right now, but may hurt them in the long run.

Also OP, the dollar has been improving recently and while the US doesn't have great primary education, our college system is the strongest in the world and shows no signs of losing that mantel.

 

[howard_hughes]

The US needs to focus primarily on the Education problem and the drug problem. The Drug problem is easily handled: legalize everything and subsidize it through the federal government, that should destabilize the financial footing of the gangs and cartels making it harder and harder for them to fund their operations. As for the education problem, they need to institute vouchers so people can freely choose their schools.

The economy can be solved by introducing a singular flat tax (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s109-25) to replace all other taxation currently going on in the country.

There you go problems solved bring on another 100 years of being top dog.

 

[Limos]

I don't really think that China is cut out to be a superpower. Maybe a big important thingy. But they seem to be irrevocably tied to the U.S. Most of the buisnesses that make up so much of China's income only go there because they don't have to deal with minimum wage and environmental controls. With China finally taking notice of their environment I think most of those companies will bail out and move their operations to another country. That should be a major hit to China's economy.


If they don't start enforcing environmental controls then China will probably devolve into a polluted cesspool that can no longer support life.


The only reason China is a power right now is because of their cheap labor and lack of scruples. If they start changing that their economy is going to collapse.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Sorry, slightly off topic.

 

[Eyclonus]

Theres been A LOT of talk about changing the commodities market to using Euros instead of US Dollars...

China may become a superpower, but that would be 10 years off, the first step would be an Environmental Movement, the second would probably be converting the mainland to a similar economic structure as HK.

 

[stompy]

Autralia shall be the next world superpower.

....

Please?

No, we're too small a player. Perhaps, but I don't foresee it coming.

Even before the two countries decide to be top dog, they have a shit-load to fix up before they have a shot. India needs to remove the corruption within its government and start getting more people educated and above the poverty line (pretty much redistribute the wealth). China also needs to work out a few things, like needing to clean up its environment and focus on markets other than labour (though, I suppose they don't have to).

I will naturally be biased towards India (you know, what having Indian migrants as parents), but really do believe they have a good shot at being the next superpower. They're democratic for one (though that doesn't count for much, what with the corruption in the system) and that they have major markets both in IT and labour.

Of course, I understand nothing in politics and economics so I'm probably not the best person to pass judgement.

 

[Azrael_0]

Both India and China seem somewhat less of superpower material to me. I don't think China will be allowed into power with it's current government, and India... I'm not too informed of the issue, but apart from a few big cities India's infrastructure leaves a lot to be improved. I'm even talking about essentials such as electricity.

Being European I hope the EU will rise to be the next big thing, but my bet is on Japan. The Japanese already have a huge economical influence, and is building up quite the cultural following among the new generation.

 

[The Thief]

Any country but Canada. We're too nice, the world stage would eat us alive.

Haha, like that would ever happen anyways. O Canada.

 

[Cab00se206]

China may be of superpower material now, but it will never really be.
1) It has too many economic connections to risk by threatening everyone with a smaller population than it
2) it is already suffering from famine in the West country and the fact that it is going to have to remove the one child policy (because the population is aging so much that soon there won't be enough taxpayers to fund the retirees) is only going to be the death-knoll. Traditional farmland is being used up (the nutrients that support the crops are just gone from some of the more overworked farms) and the Gobi desert is actually encroaching significantly into Chinese territory.
3) (linked to 2) China has spent all of it's time lately focussed on heavy industry (tractors, metallurgy etc) and this is hurting it terribly. Not only is it polluting the environment, they are actually building factories on fertile farmland, rendering it useless for the purposes of food production.
4) (linked to 3 and 2) The countries that China gets it food imports from (namely Vietnam and India) are rising in population now, so less food is coming in from there.

One thing that is interesting is that everyone forgets about India. For fucks sake, it is a nuclear power with a population above 1 billion people. Where it is smarter than China is in its investments, namely technology, which nowadays is worth a lot more than heavy industry.

 

[Lord Krunk]

China most likely.

The day India becomes the next world superpower is the day I vow to kill the Prime Minister.

 

[Serious_Stalin]

I think America has just had a small snag, as long as they keep on coming up with good excuses to occupy the middle east they should carry on being a superpower. China still has huge amounts of poverty, until they find a good use for their population they won't be taking over nuts.