HeadingNorth Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 I'm not sure I claimed the size of power blocs goes up. I claimed you get progressively fewer. Which can only be true, if the size of each individual one is going up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teddybare Posted July 2, 2012 Author Share Posted July 2, 2012 a funny line, from a great film, unfortunately it's complete nonsense. Switzerland has always had a highly developed economy, even in medieval times compared to everyone else and industrialised very quickly. It was probably the first economy in the world that passed the 50% mark of services as a component of GDP. Contrarian. don't start sticking up for the fat nazi bankers too Strong economy, good skiing, what else? Cuckoo clock and a crappy knife that has scissors built in. Oh toblerone and roger federer. In centuries of neutrality and peace it's not much is it. Even holland and Belgium had empires furthest the Swiss got is guarding the pope dressed as court jesters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 depeneds what your definition of a super power is China is buying up resources on 4 continents. Those hitched to the China wagon such as Australia, and Brazil, have booming economies. China is not bothered about disputes with Japan, India or even the US, and will make it's own decisions on Burma, North Korea and Iran. China is building infra structure in Africa, which is a lot more beneficial than the Billions of wasted Western Aid, most of which is recycled to Swiss Banks anyway. China is the most influential nation on the planet. it already is the super power get used to it If it is then will it become the world's leading military power also? As the US has learned the cost of maintaining a military super force is a monster that gobbles up untold billions that should be used for domestic spending. I dont see the Chinese doing the same thing. They've probably looked at the US already and decided that spending 50 trillion dollars in the next 40 -50 years on military hardware would be madness and the Chinese traditionally dont wish to get involved in any world trouble spots unless they think it might directly threaten their own security. The current Chinese policy on Syria is an example of that way of thinking. Since local wars and conflicts will more than likely increase in the future due to dwindling natural resources etc how will these conflicts be handled by the international community? NATO more than likely will be gone in another decade and America is even now moving towards an unwillingness to bear the brunt in cost and manpower in wars where the outcome is uncertain and time limits unable to be established. So far the United Nations hasn't come anywhere near it's effectivness that was envisaged when the world body was set up at the end of WW2 and there's no reason to believe that it will ever become as such anywhere in the foreseeable future On the other hand if China does become the prime military superpower as well as the economic superpower will the western mind willingly accept the Asian logic and mentality in the manner of how the world should be managed. That's something Europe and the rest of the world will have to get used to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanerothyme Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Which can only be true, if the size of each individual one is going up. Perhaps, but I didn't say that either. I said that there are progressively fewer powers. They have aggregated. This is a tendency of power structures, I believe. I have not once talked about size, partly because there's no accepted measurement. With a few notable backsliding incidents along the way, the aggregation of power has been under way for twenty or thirty centuries. If you have a disagreement with anything I've said I'm delighted to debate it with you, but if you insist on debating me on points I haven't raised, then I'm going to start ridiculing you instead. I'm sure you understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callippo Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Contrarian. don't start sticking up for the fat nazi bankers too Strong economy, good skiing, what else? Cuckoo clock and a crappy knife that has scissors built in. Oh toblerone and roger federer. In centuries of neutrality and peace it's not much is it. Even holland and Belgium had empires furthest the Swiss got is guarding the pope dressed as court jesters. the Swiss played a difficult game well. Flanked by various tyrannies (not just the Nazis, there were plenty of other tyrannies before, and after) throughout their history, they still managed to emerge rich. And they never got conquered, by anybody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanerothyme Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 the Swiss played a difficult game well. Flanked by various tyrannies (not just the Nazis, there were plenty of other tyrannies before, and after) throughout their history, they still managed to emerge rich. And they never got conquered, by anybody. They've played their unique geographical circumstances very well. Without Switzerland and the Alps, European history would have been vastly different, right back to classical antiquity. Fun to speculate about! Try playing Diplomacy with Switzerland as a neutral supply centre, rather than an impassible province … Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erebus Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 China is a culture and country hard to understand. It wins hearts and mind through trade, and not bombs and bullets. China has throughout its 5000 year civilised history won friends and admirers through trade and innovation, and without China's input it seems we would not be where we are. In around the mid 1400's they could do whatever they wanted in the world, and had been global traders it seems for a few thousand years. They decided they were dealing with retards and withdrew into its own nation, burning miles of shoreline to dissuade people from landing and looking at China. Thanks to them Egyptian Kings enjoyed both cocaine and tobacco, as well as silk. Might be worth investigating a bit more than utube to find out the real aliens from outer space that influenced the world, shaped its destiny, all through trade, and its inventive genius. Forget the recent history post ww2, they have been using the same governmental systems created over 2000 years ago, when your ancestors painted themselves blue and thought they were invulnerable to Roman weaponry. They were the masters of the universe, till they decided to call it a day, on inferior life forms that were just not worth bothering with, as so retarded. Sadly those retards returned and forced them to smoke opium, and gunboat politics started. They should never have given us such technology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-sTAb Posted July 3, 2012 Share Posted July 3, 2012 China is a culture and country hard to understand. It wins hearts and mind through trade, and not bombs and bullets. China has throughout its 5000 year civilised history won friends and admirers through trade and innovation, and without China's input it seems we would not be where we are. In around the mid 1400's they could do whatever they wanted in the world, and had been global traders it seems for a few thousand years. They decided they were dealing with retards and withdrew into its own nation, burning miles of shoreline to dissuade people from landing and looking at China. Thanks to them Egyptian Kings enjoyed both cocaine and tobacco, as well as silk. Might be worth investigating a bit more than utube to find out the real aliens from outer space that influenced the world, shaped its destiny, all through trade, and its inventive genius. Forget the recent history post ww2, they have been using the same governmental systems created over 2000 years ago, when your ancestors painted themselves blue and thought they were invulnerable to Roman weaponry. They were the masters of the universe, till they decided to call it a day, on inferior life forms that were just not worth bothering with, as so retarded. Sadly those retards returned and forced them to smoke opium, and gunboat politics started. They should never have given us such technology. You also miss out that, China has built up many Empires only to have them knocked down or shown up by the countries around them. The Mongols, The Japanese, The British, The French. We cannot forget the importance China has had on the world. But its failure was its unwillingness to change with the times. It now seems to have rectified that, but still "Masters of the Universe" is a term I don't think the Chinese deserve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted July 3, 2012 Share Posted July 3, 2012 the Swiss played a difficult game well. Flanked by various tyrannies (not just the Nazis, there were plenty of other tyrannies before, and after) throughout their history, they still managed to emerge rich. And they never got conquered, by anybody. It was a good place for foreigners to safely deposit their ill gained riches and in war time a very convenient listening post for spies on opposing sides and a meeting place for secret negotiations between combatants at various times Three reasons that even Hitler didnt mess with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teddybare Posted July 3, 2012 Author Share Posted July 3, 2012 It was a good place for foreigners to safely deposit their ill gained riches and in war time a very convenient listening post for spies on opposing sides and a meeting place for secret negotiations between combatants at various times Three reasons that even Hitler didnt mess with it. Yeah that and the Germans used it as an import/export partner to circumvent restrictions/sanctions. Billions of holocaust victim's savings were deposited there shortly before they were killed. Conveniently for this Swiss this was misplaced and couldn't be found after the war. They lent to and profited from both sides during the conflict. Operation christmas tree was never put into action because it never needed to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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