America is squatting and straining to produce a huge, foul, bloody, stinking, catharsis of evil. This monstrous, potentially fatal turd is only beginning to stretch the anUS, so far revealing only the leading players of the Bush Cabal. Let's get this over with- the whole world, and history, are watching. We can't die here like this, can we?!? PUSH! BUSH! PUSH, AMERICA!
We can't die here like this, can we?!? Yes you can and chances are that the American empire will crumble like a cookie soon enough if you have another 4 years of Bush and company. America is breathing its least breathes of hyperpowerdom before China and the gang stop the US in her tracks.
I think the Rest of the World has had enough of the US, and is waiting ambivalently for the eventual decline of Pax Americana. This could be all avoided and the US can re-enter the world stage a proud, strong nation like she was before. But now the US smells worse then a babies soiled diaper.
I, as an American, hope that we do step down from our supreme status. It hasn't done us much good. Unfortunately, the powermongers cry, "From my cold, dead hands!!" Bastards. The real question is who will be the next leading world power. Because there will be one. It would be nice if we could settle disputes without a big man on the pedestal calling the shots. And as to the rest of the world being sick of "pax americana", how long will it take for them to be sick of the next guy. People always hate those who make them feel inferior. Time is speeding up. Rome held it's power for hundreds of years. England for a couple of hundred or so. Not sure how long Spain was on top, I think it's less than England (so this kinda throws a monkeywrench into the works). America has had it for 60 years and nears the end. How long will the next hold power? 20 years? 10 years? A week? It will feel good when we finally squeeze out the turd and pass it on to the next guy. Eat our shit, power-to-be.
The real question is who will be the next leading world power. By the looks of it, China (the middle kingdom) is the next superpower to come along. I think China has more experience with imperialism, and being an empire rather then the US. China has been one state, and unconquered since the Yuan dynasty in the 1200’s. China has dealt with Westerners before and with little success. But this time China holds the cards, not visa versa. China will expand her naval presence in the Indian Ocean and directly confront the US in the Middle East. It’s really interesting to see how this all works out. China will within the next 10 years will eclipse the US economically, within the next 25-50 years militarily, and then who knows.
Sounds reasonable. Now that sounds like a real good deal, doesn't it? The new world power will be a country that brutally represses it's own people. Although, China has never had much interest in the outside world. They've always maintained an isolationist stance. Of course, so did the US once upon a time. But China has held this stance for thousands of years. Also, when the old folks start dying off their population will most likely decline rather rapidly. How long has the one child policy been going on? At least 30 years. At the present time their main resource is humans. What are they going to do when they lose that resource? As an aside, how long do you think Taiwan will last once this happens?
The new world power will be a country that brutally represses it's own people. The US oppresses other people; it's just two different contexts. Although, China has never had much interest in the outside world. They've always maintained an isolationist stance. Of course, so did the US once upon a time. But China has held this stance for thousands of years. China can't, in today's globalized world realistically maintain an isolationlist stance; neither can the US. China has been trying to replace the US as the patriarch of the region, already there are some worrying signs for the US. China has now eclipsed the US as SK's largest export market. Taiwan is dependant on China for her economic well being, Chinese nationalism is on the rise (as evidenced by the anger resulting from the land losses that China enduring during the waning days of the Qing Empire). The Chinese are beginning slowly, but surely increase her assets across the region hoping to usurp Japan as the leading export market for SE Asia. China has over $450 billion worth of FOREX, and the Chinese is basically funding the US war in Iraq. It's impressive for a country that in 1980 was not better off then India. Also, when the old folks start dying off their population will most likely decline rather rapidly. Which is not a bad thing, 1.2 billion people is way too many. With a smaller population the country will be richer for it. The gov't expenditures go down, and the stress on the working class also depreciates. Russia is a country screwed by population decline. What are they going to do when they lose that resource? China will never lose that resource. As an aside, how long do you think Taiwan will last once this happens? 10 years tops imo.
This is no time to speculate on the future- We are in the throes of a spectacular Super-Sized Shit right now. The Bush Administration has been festering in the bowels of America mostly unnoticed by the body politic until now, when it is suddenly producing many times its volume in methane, and impacting in the Colin with gallons of pressurized bile close behind. OK I'll leave the gross national product analogy behind, but we truly are witnessing the laborious elimination of the Push Administration, and not quite in the way I anticipated it. But if the Abu Ghraib laxatives had not come along, soon something else would have inevitably caused this acute distress Yes, I must leave the crass analogies behind. Behinds. Like the leadership choices we're left with. This is worse than our Nadir: This iskerry.
Well Hype what do what us to say/do? The US has ficked up royally this time round and the legitimacy of this administration is further tarnished, and with it the legitimacy of the United States. The inability of this president or admin. to admit failure, and open up has created a situation the US is in today. The lack of transparency, the anti-intellectualism, the ideologues at the top, and the absolute devotion to cause and country has blind sighted the American people from the excesses of this admin. You as Americans are the only ones who can decide the fate of your nation. This election is more then just an election it's a turning point in American history. I wouldn't want to be in the US if Bush wins in '04. With so many unknowns that comes along with his victory, a possible draft, new wars, further liquidation of the US' economic prowess, and the collapse of the social safety net in the US. You have a lot on your minds, including your eroding freedoms and hysteria that has gripped the US. Yes the US is going down the crapper, big time. But how to resurrect the damage already done is almost as the economist put it "irreparable". http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=35787
Someday, I hope that we'll be better for the experience. If so, we'll have a keener appreciation for the global costs of our prosperity, and understand that we owe a great deal to the peoples and nations that have been trampled in America's most mindless stampedes. To avoid it happening again, we are going to have to install new controls on the creeping tyrranies of corporate influence, the executive branch, and federal power in general. We are sufficiently bent out of shape to merit a Constitutional Convention. Americans could be justifiably proud if we could emerge from this humiliating shitstorm more evolved. We are the world. We are the future. We are the ones who- Oh, who am I kidding. This place is screwed, and me, the wife, cats, and dog are all getting ready to leave for sunnier shores.
Oh, who am I kidding. This place is screwed, and me, the wife, cats, and dog are all getting ready to leave for sunnier shores. We'll be waiting...America's refuse bin! Right across the lake, hey we better get used to American refugee claims. *Sigh*
On Feeling So Much Better I mean after this shit. Is it beyond hope that in the shitstorm ahead, the US can really get it all out, and wind up feeling better? Can Americans wisen up to the painful truth about what desperately needs to be forcefully eliminated? Or have our special corporate interests, our dynasties, and our bureaucratic cancer genes already hopelessly invaded our political bloodstream, Colin is ruptured, and the entire body must die of its own vile poison? Must we go gentle into that good night, fatally shitting the Star-Spangled Bedsheet?
I think we'll most likely go the way the UK did after they lost their dominance...we'll just sit in the corner and smirk at the rest of the world Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I agree with the China being the next big superpower, but I think that European Union also has a potential. Yes, it has to settle some differences and it has to agree on the European Constitution project, but after that... I think that Europe has a chance.. world's biggest inner market, a generally intelligent workforce, age old experience in trading and.. war making Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I see EU as a yet sleeping world power
That's it folks, the faster you realise "America's really big shit" the faster you may want to do something about it, or would you rather just point your finger at America, and moan Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
why moan? I'd prefer to stand aside and smirk at it Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I want to see John Kerry frame this election and the next congressional election in terms of a referendum on Republican / Neoconservative / fundamentalist Policies. He ought to put all of the chips on one spin of the wheel, saying "If you approve of torture, war crimes, class warfare, oligarchy, imprisonment of the poor, subjugation of women, destruction of the environment, anticonstitutionalism, election fraud, waste and general anarchy, vote for the Republican. If you vote Democrat, you vote for a repudiation and a reversal of all of these things." I want him to say so in a debate, in press conferences and I want the DNC to back him up. I want him to tell Sharon right now that if he is elected Israel's free ride will be over. I want Kerry to stand up and embrace the Apollo Alliance, with the goal of 100% independent and publically-owned zero-emissions energy production by 2014. I want nationalized heath care. I want a criminal justice system that is just, not criminal; in my opinion our prisons are a crime against humanity. Finally, I want the United States to return to the glorious language of the Declaration of Independence and "assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station...", as opposed to how we are behaving now. I don't think I am asking too much, and maybe, just maybe, it could act as a laxative that could, in time, result in a stronger patient.
The US is bad but you want China to be a superpower?? Lets take a step back and look at China's history of human rights..........
