Who will take over the world?

[Boo]

Okay so the question is pretty easy. Who do you think will be the next person/country to (try and) take over the world? I think the current favourite is China, but then again, everyone is afraid of the Koreans going amok with nukes, and what about the rebels taking over the whole of Arabia and north Africa? Maybe they're all part of a secret plot for world domination under the support of good-will, but sort of dumb, UN!

Personally I'm starting to suspect Russia more and more. They've been laying low for a while now, but it's still brewing of censorship in there, so there's plenty to hide. Also, Russian corporates are buying over big company after big company, which I think is their way to beat the western world at it's own game. "You want capitalism? We'll give you capitalism!" And then BAM, once all the major companies are Russian, the whole world is!

Of course, the USA probably will jump out of it's own seems at one point and start shouting "We think we're the watch dogs of the world, but we're tired of watching so we'll just take over everything because it will be a lot better and easier then!!!"

Speaking of 2012, I'll make a thread about that too.

[CaNz]

There is no way that the US is taking over... we don't produce anything....

My money is on Saudi Arabia, since they have a giant fossil fuel output, and most of the modern world relies on it. I think if anything were to happen, those rich bastards would conquer the middle east, then use their amassed wealth to dominate the world.

I wouldn't be surprised if China took over, since they have the economy thing down... the problem is they have no military so it would be a peaceful take over... and that is just boring.

[Vicky]

I've got a feeling the dinosaurs are going to pull it back.

[Sangome]

[color="#9932CC"][font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]Well obviously the answer to this is "me"! I'm just so fantastic and charming and all around amazing that people will instantly fall to my charming wiles and follow me to help establish a new world order! Said new world order being filled with [but not limited to]: ponies, pretty men, my absolutely fantastic taste in music [Ke$ha and Katy Perry 24/7 woo hoo!], and more vidya than you can shake a staff at.

Oh, and for those of you that for SOME REASON can't live in this new utopia, TARDISes will be provided on a first come, first serve basis so that you may travel back into darker times, or travel forward in time to when my reign ends [PFFFT, END? I'LL BE IMMORTAL AND RULE FOREVER]. But they're in limited supply, so get them while you can![/font][/color] Edited August 24, 2011 by Sangome

[Pleiades Rising]

Without going into details, I've got my money on China potentially becoming the next economic engine of the world. Plus, they [i]do[/i] have the military might and technology to put some muscle behind them. (Heck, even their hackers seem to be working with the government.) If not them, my darkhorse pick is the Republic of India, another country with the economic and military potential to do so.

However, I do qualify this by saying I don't expect this shift to occur in the next year or two, if it ever does happen (the US can be an ingenious country, as history has shown us again and again). Then again, pre-WWII era U.K. were the powerhouse (along with Germany) and power quickly shifted after WWII, so all bets might be off on this one.

[b]Edit:[/b] Just came across an item that caught my attention, and it was related to this thread. The U.S. Department of Defense released the report titled "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2011". I haven't had time to read it yet, since I've just got a copy of it moments ago, but I've read the press briefing on the DOD's site. From what I gathered from it (and news items outlining the paper) is that while China is making advances in its military, they probably won't be fully "modernized" by 2020. They're making enough progress, however, to catch the U.S.'s attention, especially when it has implications with Taiwan. As the paper and briefing mention (repeatedly) China's growing military capacities might undermine regional stability. If that doesn't sound like the workings of a growing national power, then I don't know what is. However, I can't add much more until I've read it all and thought it over.
Edited August 27, 2011 by Pleiades Rising

[Odin M Yggdrasi]

I believe it is actually Google that is going to take over the world. The center of industrialization in reality takes the form of a 'front' of sorts, like a relative line that slowly creeps westward over the course of decades. 50 years ago it was in the Americas. 30 years ago it was Japan. 10 years ago it was China. China is actually going the way of Japan and America now as point of fact.

If my guesses are correct, that front where rapid modernization and industrial growth is west of China in the countries that were formerly part of the USSR. They're not going to take over the world, they are just going to dominate the marketplace for the next decade before the front moves further west and they see a peak and decline.

Google on the other hand is omnipresent. They operate worldwide and are not chained to any particular physical location. Nearly every civilized country in the world has come to depend on Google, or make extensive use of them.

If anyone really is capable of taking over the world as it stands right now, Google is the closest to it.

[Drizzt Do'urden]

Well I'd love to say the good ol'USA is going to make a comeback by revoking NAFTA and eliminating outsourcing. Increased income and employment plus the increased taxes that brings in, as well as the taxes from the increased Tarriffs puts USA back on top in a few decades.

But since we're living in the real world I have to put my money behind China economically, I think their military numbers are threatening, but by the time 2020 comes around the "shoot first don't ask questions ever" U.S. will have dumped enough money into the military that we'll be even further ahead.

My prediction is that I'm very dead and very gone before a lone super power reamerges,

though I am on the verge of voting Sangome for president...though hopefully there will be lots've pretty woman, even for us not-so-pretty men. Edited August 27, 2011 by Drizzt Do'urden

[Pleiades Rising]

That does make sense, yeah. It's kind of hard to imagine that the U.S. would slow down its military spending enough to let China's military "catch-up". In the paper, it says that China currently doesn't have the resources or experience for global operations beyond its own regional excursions (read: keeping a close eye on Taiwan). The U.S. meanwhile is able to engage its military in two relatively minor wars (minor, referring to the opposite of all out global war), while still having resources back at home. But they can be stretched only so thin, so they gotta watch out for that, and I'm pretty sure China is keeping an eye on that too.

[James]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]I don't think China and America are mutually-exclusive; I'm sure they can both enjoy significant success without one necessarily dominating the other. In any case, China is still a long way from becoming a super power at the level of the United States.

I suspect that in the future no single country is likely to dominate the entire world - we'll probably end up in a situation where there is just a lot more counter-balancing going on.[/font]

[Pleiades Rising]

Well, if understood in very general terms, then even today no [i]single[/i] country rules world, not even the U.S. It's more subtle than that, I think. If it sounds like I'm saying that China will rule the world, with no exceptions, then that's not exactly what I meant. What I mean to say is that if China does rise as a superpower, both in terms of economy and military, then it will have to in terms of a conglomerate (perhaps, kind of analogous to a trans-national corporation). They do have many interests worldwide, and they are heavily invested in the U.S. economy, with even Canada now thinking of broadening its oil resources to greater serve the Asian market (it's only at a talking stage right now, however).

While I agree with the finer nuances of a superpower not existing in a vacuum (the old USSR were lock-step with the U.S. for years, even outpacing them in its military capacities for a while), I still think China could come out ahead enough to allow one to say they're the superpower. But here I hedge: [i]I think.[/i] Like I said before, the U.S. could hold power for sometime longer, while maybe eventually sharing it with China. Edited August 29, 2011 by Pleiades Rising

[James]

[quote name='Pleiades Rising' timestamp='1314576694' post='709156']
Like I said before, the U.S. could hold power for sometime longer, while maybe eventually sharing it with China.
[/quote]

[font=palatino linotype]I agree, especially considering how symbiotic the two countries are.

I think the U.S. absolutely will be the dominant country in the world for many more decades - they are still light years ahead of everyone else in terms of economy, military and political power.

Some sort of relatively even distribution of power is probably the best we can hope for. I would certainly not be happy if China were more powerful than the U.S. whilst it is still a single-party state. [/font]

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]If Europe progresses towards total federalisation (which realistically it's going to have to if they want the EMU to survive), I could easily see it become a super power to rival what China seems to be gearing towards becoming and dwarfing the US by a large margin. I agree with James though that as things stand I don't think any single nation, or even bloc, will ever go on to become the de facto dominant power in the world. I suspect that as occurs in most speculative fictions, and indeed already occurs in some respects within national borders, super-massive corporations are likely to end up having as much influence as national governments if they're allowed to become big enough.[/size][/font]