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New Disagree, at least in emphasis.
Good points about the UK; but that points more to the dangers of empire, doesn't it?

A few counter-points.

1) China doesn't have much choice but to buy US dollars. Their economy would collapse without a cheap Reminmbi/Yuan. They don't "own the US" in any real sense. http://www.theguardi...economics-economy China is already losing business to cheaper countries (Vietnam, etc., etc.).

2) Egypt's culture is older than China's - they're not doing so well these days... :-( Of course, China has had an amazing growth spurt the last 30-ish years. But every economy over-extends itself at some point. Their labor costs are rising; corruption is a huge problem; overbuilding in housing is a huge problem. If they have a bad recession in the next few years, there's no telling how far back they'll fall. Remember when Japan was going to rule the world economy? India has similar problems in may respects, but with a nasty border and territorial dispute to boot...

Additional progress in China and India are not inevitable. There are worrying signs of increasing stratification there, and it only takes a few people to start a revolution if things go pear shaped... While revolutions are often necessary to bring social and economic change, they do have a habit of making things worse for the masses at least (in the best cases) in the short run.

I agree that Africa has lots of promise, but who knows what the world will be like without cheap transportation fuels. :-/

3) When countries have a lot of money, for even a few decades or so, they can do their long-term prospects a lot of good. Take, maybe, Norway - http://en.wikipedia....um_Fund_of_Norway . The sandy countries could build themselves a great future with all that oil wealth, but they seem to be more interested in conspicuous consumption and religious fundamentalism in too many cases.

On the larger point, yes, the US shouldn't stomp around like it owns the world any more. And the US president shouldn't be able to blow up facilities in another country on just his say-so. I think Obama believes that as well, and that's one of the reasons why he's handling this the way he has - he wants the UN and the rest of the world to stand up and participate in enforcing its noble words about CWs. He wants a different, better world in the next 10-50 years. We'll see if his approach bears fruit or not.

Thanks.

Cheers,
Scott.
New What makes you say that?
Progress in India and China absolutely is inevitable. There is no evidence to think otherwise. It's hard to think what could make Indian society more stratified - after all, this is the society that for the past couple of thousand years has had an "untouchable" caste! If anything, Indian society is, as a result of economic progress and Western (by which I do of course mean British) influence, de-stratifying (a bit, and slowly).

I'm not going to speculate on what Obama wants - I'm going to see what he does. And what he does, like his predecessor, is go around freeing the shit out of people.
New Depends on the time scale.
Progress isn't linear. It's hard to make extrapolations given the rapid change in the world over the last 50 years or so, but we know that people can't eliminate business cycles, panics, etc.

Again, look at Japan. Bubbles happen and can be very destructive. Given the speed and ease of moving money around these days, China and (even more-so) India will hurt very quickly if their economies enter a severe downturn.

The widening gap between the rich and the rest of us is a big problem around the world. http://www.economist.com/node/21564414 - a good story(, but taxes do have a large role to play).

Watching actions is a good idea. That's why Putin shouldn't pay attention to the chattering classes over here. ;-)

Cheers,
Scott.
New Japan is just fine.
Fiat currency means that government debt is not the same as personal debt, and by all the accepted metrics, Japan is a great place to live, notwithstanding the contents of some of the vending machines, and will be for the foreseeable.

Now, Greece. There's a place with a problem.

You need better examples, dude.
New Heh.
Deflation isn't good in general, and is particularly bad in countries with large poor populations that are rapidly growing.

Japan has been struggling since their property/stock bubble burst around 1991. They're just starting to finally climb out of the pit that caused. There have been wrenching changes there even though, on the surface, things don't look too bad. ~ 4% unemployment looks great! But it used to be around 2%...

China is a special case, having a large foreign-exchange horde. But even they are not immune to market forces. And they're still a poor country in many, many respects. India even more so (without the huge $ reserves that China has).

Will they all dodge the bullets? Maybe. We'll see.

Cheers,
Scott.
New Norway is very different from the sandy oily countries
Tiny population, long history of parliamentary democracy, very low levels of poverty, massively high standards of living, highly-developed infrastructure, incredibly liberal; basically, if you're not one of those folks who's entirely too interested in the bedroom and bodily habits of other people, it's an all-around great place to live. As long as you like rain.

Compare to somewhere like Saudi Arabia:

Big population, only existed since 1932, huge levels of poverty, wildly varying standards of living, no real infrastructure outside the cities, as uptight as a gnat's chuff about absolutely everything, dreadful human rights record, and if you're not a rich male Arabic-speaking Muslim, a right shithole in which to live.
New Good points.
But things don't change unless people change them. Money is a big enabler if used wisely was my main point. It's hard to do, especially given all the problems you mention, but it can be done.

Cheers,
Scott.
New In its defense-as opposed to Norway-Saudi is pretty great...
...if you *don't* like rain. ;-/
--
Christian R. Conrad
Same old username (as above), but now on iki.fi

(Yeah, yeah, it redirects to the same old GMail... But just in case I ever want to change.)
New rofl.
New Re: In its defense-as opposed to Norway-Saudi is pretty grea
Hey... Saudi Arabia can "pound sand all day long" for all I care.
--
greg@gregfolkert.net
"No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible." --Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
     Obama's speech. - (Another Scott) - (40)
         Our policy on Syria is as misguided as ... - (mmoffitt)
         I like Putin's response - (boxley) - (38)
             You beat me. I just read it. - (mmoffitt)
             Glad the two are getting along better.. - (Ashton) - (1)
                 here, have a united fruit, you will feel better -NT - (boxley)
             I'd be more impressed if Obama could have an opinion piece.. - (a6l6e6x) - (34)
                 "The arms merchant to despots of the world . . . " - (Andrew Grygus) - (1)
                     US does the high end stuff. :) - (a6l6e6x)
                 Even if he makes some good points... - (Another Scott) - (31)
                     Going off-piste a bit: China owns the USA - (pwhysall) - (24)
                         Two things: - (CRConrad) - (13)
                             On B) - (pwhysall) - (9)
                                 No, of course I don't know. Because, after all... - (CRConrad) - (1)
                                     Poms, saffas, windians, injuns and convicts, that's who. - (pwhysall)
                                 Cricket: CalvinBall with big sticks and sweaters. -NT - (malraux) - (6)
                                     'Xackly. Almost as weird as, say, baseball. -NT - (CRConrad)
                                     :-) - (Another Scott) - (4)
                                         That's Enough.. to quell any further delving here. -NT - (Ashton)
                                         Not difficult - (pwhysall) - (2)
                                             How many wickets must he knock down for a strike? -NT - (CRConrad) - (1)
                                                 A googlie of them. HTH! -NT - (Another Scott)
                             On A) - (pwhysall) - (2)
                                 Yeah, but when all they've got to export is sand... - (CRConrad) - (1)
                                     I wouldn't look for an enlightened Middle Class here. - (mmoffitt)
                         Disagree, at least in emphasis. - (Another Scott) - (9)
                             What makes you say that? - (pwhysall) - (3)
                                 Depends on the time scale. - (Another Scott) - (2)
                                     Japan is just fine. - (pwhysall) - (1)
                                         Heh. - (Another Scott)
                             Norway is very different from the sandy oily countries - (pwhysall) - (4)
                                 Good points. - (Another Scott)
                                 In its defense-as opposed to Norway-Saudi is pretty great... - (CRConrad) - (2)
                                     rofl. -NT - (Another Scott)
                                     Re: In its defense-as opposed to Norway-Saudi is pretty grea - (folkert)
                     How now? - (hnick) - (5)
                         See my reply to Peter. - (Another Scott) - (4)
                             I too retain adequate-'faith' in his Character - (Ashton)
                             I don't see how he can have it both ways. - (CRConrad) - (2)
                                 It goes back to the War Powers Resolution - (Another Scott)
                                 Operative words here, 'in this case' are not weasel-words - (Ashton)

When someone asks you if you're a god, you say YES!
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