who should be a superpower if usa ever winds down?

[Bloodangel26]

what does that have to do with taiwan?

Additional Comment:

i just got warned by that spam post of "........." lol

and this is another spam post, hope you get warned for it too

[Mathalamus]

i don't cause i watch the news too and my (sometimes) accurate guesses\


i hope not

[DaCougarMech]

uh, taiwain does have a military and every male has to join the armed forces for 4 years when they turn 18

currently the world's tallest building is the Taipei 101 in taiwan. my guess is that china can't stand that so they're building a taller one. i havent heard about any nuking threats though

[Mathalamus]

heh heh taiwan is too small it wont make a dent in canada(military wise) if they try to invade

Additional Comment:
i just got off wikipedia and i noticed that the chinese made threats to nuke usa too if they defend taiwan

Additional Comment:
i just found out...the china/japan relations are falling japan is prepareing for an invasion of a small island or something the usa are also pissed with them no nukes 4 now

[Bloodangel26]

japan doesnt have an army, its part of the post ww2 peace agreement

[Mathalamus]

pfft japan still maintains a SMALL army 55000 planes warships subs etc


IDIOT!

[A.D.]

Japan has no army. Haven't you ever played Splinter Cell, Chaos Theroy?

[Dan]

dont tell me you are getting your info from a game...

[Ekizel`]

Based off the current standings of the four countries, China wins by a landslide. They wouldn't even have to resort to nuclear weapons, with such a large standing army and economic infrastructure, they could win WWIII through simple battle of attrition.

If this did happen and the USA resorted to nuclear weapons, any nukes Russia has left would probably be launched too along with China's. Basically, if WWIII were to occur any time soon, USA would be screwed thanks to the war in Iraq giving us a huge a** debt as it is.

As for the reason as to why they would bother invading other countries, like Blood said, to spread communism and try and overcome capitalism. That or if Taiwan pulls the final string and pisses China off enough to get them to take action. The only problem being as China's economy is growing, it is starting to take on minor capitalistic tendencies as it goes...

[Bloodangel26]

pfft japan still maintains a SMALL army 55000 planes warships subs etc


IDIOT!

no, they do not, if they did it would be a violation of the treatys that ended ww2

[Loits]

China is not a global superpower, regional yes but not global.

Why is everyone forgetting the EU?

EU is currently a mess due to a economic depression in Germany and the rapid change of procedures in goverments but in about 10 years when Europe will be properly integrated and will become a major economical power like the US. Just look at the GNPs of all of the European countries and add them up, you are left with a massive number that rivals the USA's GNP already, imagine what will happen once Europe is integrated. EU is a power that no one is even concidering in this topic.

I obtained some data from Wikipedia, let's have a look.

Country GNP(in millions of $)
United States 12,150,930
United Kingdom 2,016,393
Germany 1,916,393
Japan 1,916,393
France 1,858,731
China 1,676,846
Italy 1,275,033

Anyone noticing any European countries in the list?

Oh and look where China is 6th place.

Just with combining the GNPs of 4 top European countries we get a whopping 7000 billion dollar GNP. Combine the GNPs on all 25 members and have a look at the numbers.

There are other aspects to the EU aswell, how many seats does the EU have in the UN and how many does the US?

Just give Europe 10 years and a massive economy will emerge.

If you don't know what GNP is look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNP

[Ekizel`]

You have a vaild point Loits, I think people were basing their arguements off the 4 candidates in the poll, not overall

[Bloodangel26]

i think the reason behind EU not being included is because it isnt a country. also theres the fact that the thread maker is dumb and wouldnt think of it

[Loits]

Well EU is not a country but neither is the US, they are both a combination of states. In a very near future I can see people from the outside not specifying a state in the EU but the whole coalition itself.

Edit looking at the poll.

Russia - internally too unstable, not much foregin investment due to a massive corruption and heavy govemrent influence over businesses.
China - western countries have become aware of China and the amout of foregin investment has decreased rapidly leading to a development standstill for a few years.
India - is receiving more and more foregin investment, western goverments want China and India to be competitors therefore never becoming a danger to the western world.
Canada - in economically terms Canada is a joke.

[Bloodangel26]

the US is a country, made up of administrative divisions known as states...

[Tetsumaru]

what the hell?? the u.s. is a country. EU is a combination of several countries that have had many many many conflicts between each other, and i doubt that they would be able to come to a common cause and agreement in 10 years. too many proud leaders who want to stay in power. too much germany enslaving the world. also also also. nukes.

Country Warheads active/total* Year of first test
United States United States 5,735/9,960[2] 1945 ("Trinity")
Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) 7,200/16,000[3] 1949 ("RDS-1")
United Kingdom <200[4] 1952 ("Hurricane")
France 350[5] 1960 ("Gerboise Bleue")
People's Republic of China 400[6] 1964 ("596")
India 40-50[7] 1974 ("Smiling Buddha")
Pakistan 24-48[8] 1998 ("Chagai-I")
North Korea 0-10[9] none[10]

(from wikipedia)

yeah. wow. india's 40-50 nukes. good job india. we are proud of you. canada has none. plus, all of russia's nukes, they are the old type. atom bombs. we have H bombs. they use fusion. thats 1000 times powerful thatn fission. H bomb is the power the sun uses. right now, we can only hope that the UK becomes the next superpower, and dont worry everyone. george bush is almost gone. just hope to god the US doesnt get hillary next. otherwise the world is doomed.

[Loits]

what the hell?? the u.s. is a country. EU is a combination of several countries that have had many many many conflicts between each other, and i doubt that they would be able to come to a common cause and agreement in 10 years. too many proud leaders who want to stay in power. too much germany enslaving the world. also also also. nukes.

Country Warheads active/total* Year of first test
United States United States 5,735/9,960[2] 1945 ("Trinity")
Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) 7,200/16,000[3] 1949 ("RDS-1")
United Kingdom <200[4] 1952 ("Hurricane")
France 350[5] 1960 ("Gerboise Bleue")
People's Republic of China 400[6] 1964 ("596")
India 40-50[7] 1974 ("Smiling Buddha")
Pakistan 24-48[8] 1998 ("Chagai-I")
North Korea 0-10[9] none[10]

(from wikipedia)

yeah. wow. india's 40-50 nukes. good job india. we are proud of you. canada has none. plus, all of russia's nukes, they are the old type. atom bombs. we have H bombs. they use fusion. thats 1000 times powerful thatn fission. H bomb is the power the sun uses. right now, we can only hope that the UK becomes the next superpower, and dont worry everyone. george bush is almost gone. just hope to god the US doesnt get hillary next. otherwise the world is doomed.

To a 16 year old it might seem that the power of a nation comes from it's weapons arsenal and pride is puny in comarison to money, nuff said.

the US is a country, made up of administrative divisions known as states...

You don't think that that is EU's aim?

[Mathalamus]

canada? a joke? lol man i gotta work my way up and order say 10 nukes

[Bloodangel26]

You don't think that that is EU's aim?

that is its aim, except i dont think they actually want to become 1 country

[Tetsumaru]

To a 16 year old it might seem that the power of a nation comes from it's weapons arsenal and pride is puny in comarison to money, nuff said.

how is pride going to help them become a world superpower? sorry, it doesnt work like that. countries need money. country that has money has power. it is a dissapointing fact, but thats how it is, and we must work together as the human race to rid the world of this kind of thing.