Amusing article from Zero Hedge, with more than a hint of truth in it:
They maintain secure borders. They have strong currencies. They don’t blow through six leaders in a single year. They aren’t in a constant state of social revolution. And they aren’t bankrupt.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2022-02-07/dominant-superpowe…
They maintain secure borders. They have strong currencies. They don’t blow through six leaders in a single year. They aren’t in a constant state of social revolution. And they aren’t bankrupt.
Does anyone know how easy it is to get Swiss citizenship?
LOL
Pete
“Does anyone know how easy it is to get Swiss citizenship?”
Canadian citizenship might be just as good…
Although neither is a superpower.
Amusing article from Zero Hedge, with more than a hint of truth in it:
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Zero Hedge article is just a bunch of right wing talking points. USA is still a superpower and will continue to be a super power for a long time to come.
Currently USA economy is doing well, fully employed and companies are looking for more employees, short term supply chain issues are driving worldwide inflation in the food and energy sectors which will be resolved this year, virus is going to diminish as an issue to the world economy as more people get vaccinated, gathering and travel will start to come back, anarchists/insurrectionists will be punished, rule of law/democracy will survive, and the future looks bright.
Jaak
While the article is an obvious scare tactic to induce readers to order their “Plan B” product, the article does have grains of truth in it.
A better reference is “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000,” by Paul Kennedy. His bottom line is that many great powers of the past were drained of economic resources by very high military spending.
The U.S. is a good example of many of the problems seen before during the fall of a great power. We are still great, but decline takes a long time.
Our world is changing. China’s rise as a great power with four times the population and a strong manufacturing base resembles the early 20th century when the U.S. displaced the U.K. as the world’s pre-eminent Great Power.
Further comments might be construed as political so I will stop here.
Wendy
Our world is changing. China’s rise as a great power with four times the population and a strong manufacturing base resembles the early 20th century when the U.S. displaced the U.K. as the world’s pre-eminent Great Power.
The UK was a great power for some 350 years. The US so far for 110 if we go back to WW I.
There was one major reason for the rise and sustainability of that power over the long haul. The upper middle class bought in. The professional class, the business risk takers had a proper seat at the table. There was true power sharing and a flexibility in the decisions accorded the various points in time.
Yes China has risen. Xi is making many mistakes from here. We can all see his hand of cards sucks.
The US did not peg the USD to the British Pound. Ironically it was pegged to gold. Liberalizing the economy away from gold allowed the US the fiscal or financial freedom to very expansively succeed.
China’s very poor decision making and peg to the USD is destroying her from within.
Remember while the US stole plenty of IP from Germany, France and England most of our engineers of the time and our business owners did the build out of the country. In China international corporations still heavily invested there have done the real work.
The poor decisions in China are edging into an exodus for those international corporations. Yes a slow movement if you look at just last year. But in the sum of time a very fast movement.
Although neither is a superpower.
Agreed that Switzerland is certainly not a superpower. However, the list that Divitias quoted* might well fit Switzerland, too, which suggests it is not an all-inclusive one. Maybe geographic and economic size, along with a large military might also be on the list?
Pete
They maintain secure borders. They have strong currencies. They don’t blow through six leaders in a single year. They aren’t in a constant state of social revolution. And they aren’t bankrupt.
A superpower is a country that can bully all the other countries with little to fear.
The Captain
likes practical explanations
His bottom line is that many great powers of the past were drained of economic resources by very high military spending.
Of course, on the other hand, many small, medium, and great powers of the past completely disappeared due to too low military spending. 