The Age of America is coming to an end - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;29449871]Nope, It got powerful by being an island nations. Islands tend to become trading centres and build up huge navies. Slavery played a large part but without warships or ports no trade could have been done or the empire expanded and protected. Even then Britain banned the slave trade at the start of the 1800s and the royal navy was continually engaged in stopping the slave trading ships. Britain became a world power because they invented the modern steam engine, and exploited the technology they invented to the absolute maximum.[/QUOTE] It got powerful because it conquered countries with shitty economies and mined the crap out of them to make money. Britain did ban the slave trade, But they still supported slavery here and there after the 1800s however.

[QUOTE=Laserbeams;29448187]The US is still one of the best countries to live in. Unlike China.[/QUOTE] Except if you're gay, black, Muslim, Mexican etc etc

[QUOTE=TheFilmSlacker;29449254]I'm surprised how many agree ratings you got there. FP is usually very intolerant towards America, which is pretty unfair... ALTHOUGH, I can see where they're coming from when they diss places like Texas. From [I]what I've heard[/I] that place is a hole.[/QUOTE] I went through Texas when I was moving to Arizona... Fuck that state, and fuck the majority of the cunts that live there. I went into a gas station with my sister to get a pop, and we both got Pepsi. Everyone in there went about calling us yanks, and shit. Was aggravating as shit.

[QUOTE=Da Jester;29448277]Britain got most of it's power through slavery bro.[/QUOTE] Barley. The British Empire had its hand in every inch of the worlds economy.

[QUOTE=Swebonny;29449692]Now I understand what you were trying to say. I'm quite sure that most of the Chinese people are aware of their current situation, such as that they are actually living under a totalitarian government and have limited freedom of expression. The people in China aren't retarded, they know how a western society works and how democracy works.( It seems to me that you are mixing North Korea and China with each other. I've been there over 15 times and traveled to several cities and met several people, I know.) However I think it's wrong to question how a person lives if he finds that he's living a good life. It reminds me of the history books, that told about the colonialists, which deemed that the Indians were uncivilized and needed to be "re-educated". I mean if one individual is having an okay life, there's no need to question him about it. Sure the bigger picture might be completely differnet . . . but I was talking about Tac Error's mother, which is one individual.[/QUOTE] In my anecdotal experience, as friends with many mainlander chinese citizens, this is true. They do understand what the differences are and how severe they can be.

Now will you idiots finally realize the Illuminati controls America, and they're running their own system into the ground? They've got what they wanted from the people fuelling the system, and now here comes the apocalypse.

You know I can't think of one Country I'd want to be #1. Well except sealand but still.

[QUOTE=NuclearAnnhilation;29449897]It's just trying to make people paranoid. I'm American so whether this makes this biased or not, whatever, I don't care. Yes China's economy is making a boom...in places like Shanghai and Beijing. The rest of the country is seriously still living in straw huts and are rice farmers who probably don't even know what the internet is. Whether this makes sense or not is also debatable but its a point of view is that great empires spanned for hundreds of years. America has been on top since the 1950s, thats only like 60 years. We've got time. China also commits human rights violations AAAALLLL the time and the standard of living their is pretty damn bad, unlike America. What I'm getting at is those commercials like the Chinese college students saying how they own America in the future is just trying to scare people. We'll be fine.[/QUOTE] If China doesn't kill America, America will. [editline]26th April 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=evilweazel;29450169]You know I can't think of one Country I'd want to be #1. Well except sealand but still.[/QUOTE] How about Norway [editline]26th April 2011[/editline] I mean, it kinda already is.

China's following the same path that all the countries do. Once industrialization is mainstream they press it forward as fast as possible. The business booms so to speak. Eventually, the low workers start organizing and unions will form. Not to say their economy won't be strong and it probably will surpass the U.S.'s the point is that they'll stagnate in a while as the next 3rd world country becomes industrialized and soon Chinese businessmen will outsource there.

Obey.

[QUOTE=Tac Error;29449459]Compared to the US, the Soviet Union during the Cold War had a noticeably inferior ability to project power since its maritime power was built on SSBNs rather than aircraft carriers. The Soviet Naval Infantry weren't like the US Marines (they were amphibious "shock troops" and the task to carry the fight further inland would be done by motorized rifle and tank troops from a subsequent echelon instead. Not only that, but they were tailored to operate in the Baltic and Turkish Straits) and its chance of building a "real" carrier fleet was lost after Dmitriy Ustinov became Defense Minister in 1976 - who effectively killed off carriers like the Project 1160 in favor of [i]Kiev[/i]-class monstrosities. With this in mind, I believe that a power with an inferiority in power projection can still challenge a dominant superpower. On the US losing power, I've heard a few former officers in the US military who are confident that eventually "we're well on the way to bankrupting ourselves like the Soviet Union did with unnecessary and expensive equipment".[/QUOTE] I disagree, especially when you compare the USSR to China now. The Soviets could project a lot of power in Europe for instance. They could invade another country(Afghanistan), it didn't work out for them but the point still stands. They could project so much power it wasn't out of the question to think tactical nukes might have been the only way to stop them if they invaded Western Europe. China is far, far from being able to project their army anywhere, they could be stopped with conventional forces alone. The fact that conventional forces are much more powerful and versatile(drones, stealth, etc) these days just makes it that much harder for China to catch up.

I for one welcome our new Chinese overlords, Besides Chinese food is fucking Delicious [editline]26th April 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;29450394]I disagree, especially when you compare the USSR to China now. The Soviets could project a lot of power in Europe for instance. They could invade another country(Afghanistan), it didn't work out for them but the point still stands. They could project so much power it wasn't out of the question to think tactical nukes might have been the only way to stop them if they invaded Western Europe. China is far, far from being able to project their army anywhere, they could be stopped with conventional forces alone. The fact that conventional forces are much more powerful and versatile(drones, stealth, etc) these days just makes it that much harder for China to catch up.[/QUOTE] China [B]is[/B] catching up, the increased military budget and the huge amount of foreign educated Chinese people heading back to China means that China will be the leading cultural and scientific country within 30 years, if not sooner.

I prefer Italian.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;29449871]Nope, It got powerful by being an island nations. Islands tend to become trading centres and build up huge navies. Slavery played a large part but without warships or ports no trade could have been done or the empire expanded and protected. Even then Britain banned the slave trade at the start of the 1800s and the royal navy was continually engaged in stopping the slave trading ships. Britain became a world power because they invented the modern steam engine, and exploited the technology they invented to the absolute maximum.[/QUOTE] although your right that britain banned the slave trade in the early 1800s the conditions of colonization in africa and india can be likened to slavery

Cool, I'll go learn Chinese now. So will India surpass China later down the road?

[QUOTE=yawmwen;29450677]although your right that britain banned the slave trade in the early 1800s the conditions of colonization in africa and india can be likened to slavery[/QUOTE] The entire ultra-capitalism it inflicted on everyone was a form of slavery. Even the British citizens were subjected to the same level of 'slavery'.

What happened to having peace and equality that doesn't revolve around money and power? :frown:

[quote]The Soviets could project a lot of power in Europe for instance. They could invade another country(Afghanistan), it didn't work out for them but the point still stands.[/quote] They successfully invaded Afghanistan and held with with the DRA - I mean even after they withdrew their Limited Contingent of Forces they still provided the communist Afghan government with plenty of support, but when they themselves went kaput in 1991 that was the end of that. [quote]They could project so much power it wasn't out of the question to think tactical nukes might have been the only way to stop them if they invaded Western Europe.[/quote] That was in Europe, yet they managed to have influence in faraway places like Central America, Southern Africa, the Middle East and India. China is far, far from being able to project their army anywhere, they could be stopped with conventional forces alone. The fact that conventional forces are much more powerful and versatile(drones, stealth, etc) these days just makes it that much harder for China to catch up.[/QUOTE] Technical capabilities should be a secondary factor in analysis, unless the disparity is very great (for instance, Iraq equipped with a mix of downgraded export equipment from all over the world versus the 1991 US Army). I mean, technical superiorities against peer foes have usually been a small advantage, and the PLA today is a far cry from the mass infantry-based force as it was during the Cold War and is totally incomparable to any "conventional" foes the US military has faced these past 20 years. And the mention of technologically advanced things like drones and stealth are part of this 1990s "Revolution in Military Affairs", which has proven to be wonderful against whatever small country the US would like to have a foreign adventure in. Along with that we see people who incorrectly judge how "good" a military is by American standards, particularly in the capabilities of air forces and naval aviation. I'd like to add that since 2001, the US military has been focused mainly on low-intensity conflict. And as for "catching up", there's a lot of modern military equipment these days that can be more or less acquired "off the shelf" through various means. But alas, my knowledge of PLA military art isn't as good as my understanding of Soviet military art.

[QUOTE=Lordgeorge16;29450780]What happened to having peace and equality that doesn't revolve around money and power? :frown:[/QUOTE] When did this happen?

America will always be a strong country though. The Chinese economy is only because America flowed money into there. If the United States stopped buying shit from china, china would be in the poor house.

[QUOTE=Lordgeorge16;29450780]What happened to having peace and equality that doesn't revolve around money and power? :frown:[/QUOTE] As long as there is money, there is greed and lust for power. If there is no money, can I change my pig for your gpu?

Who the hell cares if we're not number one anymore? I just want the government to actually get the damn economy under control.

Articles like this tend to get annoying, especially when the article sounds like it's doing nothing but shitting all over every last US American; as if we all think we're the center of the world and that we control everything. I've met very few people here who actually think that way, and the article doesn't do itself any justice when it also sounds like dick-waving. It sends a simple, immature message along the lines of "Hey! Our economy's growing a bit, the US doesn't have shit on us guys!"

People back in the 70's where saying this and they had to wait all day in line for Gasoline and had to deal with the Soviet Union.

[QUOTE=Shadowstone;29448031]19th century belonged to Britain, 20th to the USA, and now China will be holding the reigns. It's really a cyclical thing but doesn't mean that there isn't anything to worry about (moreso, really).[/QUOTE] 20th belonged to the USSR and the USA.

[QUOTE=NoDachi;29450775]The entire ultra-capitalism it inflicted on everyone was a form of slavery. Even the British citizens were subjected to the same level of 'slavery'.[/QUOTE] The conditions of British people and their rights was better than most other countries in the world at the time. I would rather live in Britain in 1800-1900 than elsewhere in the world at the time.

Personally I'm not to worried about other countries doing better than us or whatnot, I'm worried about the U.S. destroying itself from the inside. [editline]26th April 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Sobotnik;29451492]The conditions of British people and their rights was better than most other countries in the world at the time. I would rather live in Britain in 1800-1900 than elsewhere in the world at the time.[/QUOTE] I love you

Maybe finally admitting we're not "Number One Ultra Country of the Entire Universe and the History of Forever" will have positive political effects. That, or encourage the damn fascists. I'm not sure which.

[QUOTE=TAU!;29451319]Articles like this tend to get annoying, especially when the article sounds like it's doing nothing but shitting all over every last US American; as if we all think we're the center of the world and that we control everything. I've met very few people here who actually think that way, and the article doesn't do itself any justice when it also sounds like dick-waving. It sends a simple, immature message along the lines of "Hey! Our economy's growing a bit, the US doesn't have shit on us guys!"[/QUOTE] its a collective mindset individual people dont have it but the country as a whole does

[QUOTE=Bobie;29448470]slavery and the commonwealth drove the british empire[/QUOTE] Ya-huh it was also outlawed years before the Americans decided it might not be ethical after all. Well, they had to have a war over it first.