@ Lord Parkin: Excellent post! It has given me pause. However I think that building a wonder to keep others from getting it is only worthwhile for Civ3 GL or UN. As far as wonders allowing our enemies to win the game; this game will end with a war, all PBEMs do, if the wonders are giving them a huge advantage the proper counter-strategy would be to attack to rob them of the initiative and force them to protect their huge investments. However the GL is probably one of the best wonders left (Considering wonders from later eras may not be around long enough to be worth the cost) but it is still out of our way, maybe the Pyramids would work out better.
Your points about or GNP and manufacturing being in sad shape is right on as is your warning about over reliance on axmen and the low prospects of mounting any invasion in our current state.
These discussions go well beyond the scope of a turn-by-turn thread so lets move them to a new Long Term Strategy thread for more complete examination.