Superpower

[ss3goku]

I thought it would be cool to talk about superpowers past, present and future. They can be from any area of the world, even regional. You can give some reasons as to what made them really powerful. I'll take Australia, they are a regional superpower. Since Australia was settled heavily in the eighteenth century due to the discovery of gold, their population exploded. And after industrialization, the Aussies have a become fully developed. Now the Australian military goes around the SE islands and Oceania to ensure peace and stability.

 

[Quasar1011]

Seems to me Australia is still underpopulated, at least outside its 2 main cities. How large of a population could it really sustain, given it is a major exporter of wheat?

 

[Mongoloid Cow]

Quasar1011, Australia produces enormous amounts of foodstuffs and has a lot of emtpy land, but the limiting factor of Australia's population is water. Two thirds of Australia is desert, and a lot of the rivers have far too little water in them to sustain the current usage. The Murray-Darling basin is probably in the most dire state it has ever been.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Moved to OT... Not really much of a historical discussion...

 

[bobgote]

Australia is not much of a superpower.

we're taking more action in the pacific region.
we have a low population, but yes, it is due a lot to the water situation. we could support a fair bit more, but again the water situation ain't that good. We are a regional player, and a US lapdog, but no more than that.

Oh yeah, we're also in a bit of a drought kinda situation at the moment.

In the future, it is possible for Aus to become a power, but we really don't have the population for it at the moment, altho we do have a fair bit of natural resources.

 

[Archer 007]

Water would seems to limit development. I see Russia rising as a new superpower again.

 

[FredLC]

People here use to say that Brazil is the country of the future.

Too bad that future is always tomorrow...

 

[Crimson Sunrise]

If the world were perfect, there would be no need for tomorrow.

Brazil's day will come.

 

[MarineCorps]

I doubt that.

 

[FredLC]

Originally posted by MarineCorps
I doubt that.

I hope to prove you wrong.

Anyway, who can know about the long-term future?

There was once a time when imagining the uSA as a world superpower would be a statement of madness, you know...

 

[Inhalaattori]

China and Usa are only superpowers for next 50 years or so.

 

[Aphex_Twin]

China is building up terrible momentum right now. It would be safe to say that it will out-live America's dominance (that is, if China goes about it the smart way)...

 

[Sims2789]

Australia is the most powerful country on it's continent.

the USA wasn't a world power until the 1940's.
if American politicians continue their anti-American, neo-Conservative ultra-Right-Wing Bull S***, then China will become more powerful than America. what is really scary about this is that China is moving toward Fascism(they now have a stock market, but it is still illegal to insult the government).

 

[funxus]

I like the mongols during the beginning of the last millenium, but I'm not sure you can really call them a superpower, since it didn't last very long. I don't think anyone has ever been in charge over a larger land area than the mongols were however, never before or since then.

I think USA will keep their position as a superpower as long as they get along with China and Europe. Europe probably would go under the same moment US goes under, so that leaves China to challenge USA's position. That's my perception of it.

 

[FearlessLeader2]

Originally posted by sims2789
the USA wasn't a world power until the 1940's.

I beg to differ. The US flexed its 'world power' muscles when it tossed Spain out of the Americas in 1899, and no one could argue that the USA was not a major global power by the start of WWI. That America's influence in the world was primariliy economic until its involvement in that war goes without saying, but dollars buy bullets...

Originally posted by sims2789
if American politicians continue their anti-American, neo-Conservative ultra-Right-Wing Bull S***, then China will become more powerful than America. what is really scary about this is that China is moving toward Fascism(they now have a stock market, but it is still illegal to insult the government).

Your argument is confusing. Fascism will weaken America, but make China strong? Are you sure it will not make both brittle?

 

[andrewgprv]

I wouldn't say Australia was a Super power.

Hmmm my fav Super Power was Great Britain.

I also like The Arab Caliphates.

USSR

and Carthage

Those are the Super Powers I find most fascinating.

 

[stalin006]

australia??!

3 MAIN SUPERPOWERS FOR THE NEXT 15-20 YEARS.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

EUROPEAN UNION

PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA

 

[Ian Beale]

China's economy is very weak though they have the military to be a superpower. When do people think China will become capitalist?

 

[G-Man]

I don't believe China will become an equal or a competitor to the US. They work the same way as the USSR, with a lot of show off and many gigantic projects, but their leaders' political needs and ego causes them to often do little good with these projects.

 

[G-Man]

Originally posted by Ian Beale
China's economy is very weak though they have the military to be a superpower. When do people think China will become capitalist?

They'll become truely capitalistic when they'll become truely democratic. I also don't agree that they have the army to become a super power. Their army is large, but it's nearly worthless beyond China's immidiate nehibours.