markmuana

super power – strong economy, strong military than can stretch far beyond their borders to influence world affairs. (don’t bash me w/ this, just my simple understanding bout the phrase)

more than a decade ago there were only 2 super powers. With the collapse of USSR only 1 remains.

Nowadays it seems a trend for other nations to go the way in becoming super powers (at least that’s what my scared shitless neighbor is talking about).

-One obvious contender is china (no need for introduction since you’ve been talking about this country all the time)

-Russia – rejuvenated from their new found resources, stretching its muscles again (lots ah oil).

-India – another nuclear power (NUKE - status symbol – don’t mess with us).

-Japan – if I’m not mistaken they’ve been talking about amending their constitution to enable them to build an offensive capable military.

-And the less obvious... Australia – they are now more involved in world affairs than ever before

-Brazil - explained by melek underneath why it deserves to be on the list

in the future...
Who will end up on top???
Will they destroy each other???
Will they try to co-exist harmoniously???
What language are we going to speak???
What do you think will happen to the world???

Anyone would like to add to the list of the contenders or share your opinions- it’s a great pleasure for me to learn other peoples views?

melek

Try Brazil. The "hot tips" for future powers are often written as the acronym BRIC. Brazil, Russia, India and China.

The inclusion of Russia may be well founded at present, but they lose about 3000 from their total population per day. Not good.

Brazil, on the other hand, has a largely young population and plentiful resources--including food production that will be in demand by India and China.

Interestingly, Brazil is developing its own nuclear industry complete with its own enrichment programme. The ILEA queried this but has accepted an arrangement by which they CAN inspect all stages of the programme EXCEPT the isotope separation process.

I think you might add Brazil to your list.

Melek

Sebelius for VP, not Hillary

China remains the only contender for "superpower" status. Superpower meaning something remotely similar to the strength to of the US.

Saudi Arabia has a lot of oil, but that doesn't make it a superpower. A superpower means massive fleets of aircraft and ships. Russia has been shorn of its sattelite states and the rest of its economy is pretty weak, IMO.

Most of India's economy is in shambles, and the infrastructure is pathetic, the state is fragmented and corrupt.

Japan has hit its maximum growth potential. They are fully developed and their military is dwarfed by ours in size.

Do me a favor and look up Australia's population. (France has more people).

No way. Brazil's economy is also mostly underdeveloped and their economic growth is slow.

China will rise and I believe that the world will generally stay the same. China is surrounded by nuclear powers and has no incentive to start fighting with anyone except for Taiwan. China probably will not fight with Taiwan and can probably bring Taiwan back into China if China democratizes.

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Dragon Horse

China.

Japan if they remilitarize and get nukes, they have over 126 million people but their military is basically a glorified coast guard they can at least be as power as the UK if they wanted to.

That's about it. India and Brazil are basketcases. Russia is facing demograpnic meltdown...and their military is now a joke.

Kazikli Bey

China: most definetely, I don't think i need to explain why.

Russia: possibly, they need to sort out their internal problems first and update their military but after that all will be well.

India: hmmm... i don't know enough about India to comment but from what i have seen i don't really think that they would be a contender, but they make great call centres.

Japan: most definetely, they have some of the most up-to-date technology, all they need to do is direct that to their military and they're in with a chance.

Brazil: well, they have everything going for them but i seriously wonder why they would like to be considered a superpower, all it leads to is squabbling, that said, i think they have all the right ingredients to becoming a superpower, good sized and young population, growing economy, i think we could add Brazil.

Australia: Not a chance, i mean we have a population of about 25 million and, whilst our SAS soldiers are probably the best in the world, they constitute a small minority of our army. However, we control a large portion of the Uranium reserves, and God knows what the hell we are doing with it out in the middle of the desert.

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markmuana

thanks guys...

by the way i said these nations i mentioned in my speculation are going the way of becoming super powers - doesn't mean they are super powers or will become super powers(i guess the way i brought up the topic is quite misleading).

ah... Dragon Horse! what is the expression basketcase means?

markmuana

Sebelius for VP, not Hillary

Japan's population is 130 million, they just don't have enough people to be a superpower.

My 2 cents.

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Dragon Horse

it is like a hopelessly unstable situation that is never really stable.

Dragon Horse

Is the UK a super power?

I don't think people is the issue per se.

I mean...Cuba can never be a super power, but 130 million is sizable...larger than any European nations but Russia.

If you count the reserves America has about a 2 million man army (including coast guard too)...second largest in the world after China, but little N.Korea has the 4th largest.South Korea the 6th...which has half of Japan's population.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._active_troops

Japan also has the second largest economy next to the U.S. and have had since the early 1980's so they can pay for all the high tech they want.