Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Gopher]

What we are talking about when we predict the imminent collapse of "the American Empire" -- assuming "we" does not refer to the likes of M. Imadinnerjacket and H. Chavez and co. -- is the imminent collapse of the postwar Atlantic system, especially Bretton Woods/Bretton Woods II, the American-led currency-relations system, as well as the American-led and/or created World Bank, IMF, and other financial institutions such as IADB. Also include the American-created and -led military alliance, NATO, and American forces stationed abroad in places such as South Korea and the Gulf. Also include power-projection via nuclear-powered carrier task forces stationed globally.

Nothing lasts forever, true. And none of us knows what the final date in the "Postwar American Hegemony (1945-XXXX)" entry will someday read. But I do know that we are not there yet. Neither do I believe that we are presently facing a sudden decline, unravelling, and collapse.

And let me assure all of those who are celebrating that day, or smugly chiding America for "wanting to dominate the world," etc., if we go down in a sudden collapse, especially in a Great-Depression-like event, we will unfortunately take a lot of others with us, and then regionalism, chaos, and war will follow (Britain has tied itself to the United States since the Truman Doctrine -- who will Britain tie itself to now?; think Russia without NATO pointed at it; think Iran and Israel going aggressive in one form or another; think of what might follow that in the Middle East and Europe; think China and Taiwan; think a rearmed and likely a nuclear-armed Japan and what might follow that in East Asia, not simply militarily, but political-economy-wise, etc., etc.)

[Ya-ta Boy]

Officers at the US Pacific Command's headquarters in Honolulu said senior Chinese naval officers have told Admiral Timothy Keating, the Pacific Commander, that they planned to build aircraft carriers in the near future. When those warships are ready for sea duty, the Chinese said, perhaps the US should withdraw to the eastern Pacific while China patrolled the western Pacific.
Keating, the officers said, politely but firmly responded that the US would not retire from the western Pacific.

Beazley did little to conceal an Australian fear, one shared by most American allies in Asia and the Pacific, that the new administration in Washington would turn its back on them in favor of Europe and the Middle East. "It behooves Australia," Beazley said, "to devote particular intellectual effort to ensure that the increasing value of the alliance to its partner is not unnecessarily diminished."

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/how_will_the_candidates_deal_w.html

[Kuros]

Chinese aircraft carriers are more than a decade away. And then they'll have one or two to America's half dozen active carrier groups.

India commissions its second carrier this year, and a third in 2012. The Brits have two, France one, hell, Spain and Italy each have one. Thailand has the smallest carrier.

All China has is the never commissioned Varyag from Russia. It sits there, since China promised never to activate it as a condition to purchase. China's naval projection is a joke.

[mithridates]

I don't get the feeling that any country in the world even wants to take the US' place as a superpower. Headaches galore.

[chris_J2]

Some comic relief:

http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s2i41280

[Gopher]

[mithridates]

[Gopher]

[SirFink]

[ddeubel]

Those thoughtlessly believing that there will be an "end of American history" are very wrong. This is just not looking at the real facts/picture and merely going with the hollow media echo and sound bites that parade as knowledge.

America by every indicator that counts is strong. Not saying the economy is sound but when you measure things that really count -- individual freedoms (movement / business), competitiveness, entrepreneurship, higher education etc.... (there is a long list) America is at or near the top. Add on its incredible size and diversity and you get the BIG picture.

America will be around and influential for a long time. The question is whether she will do the right thing. Meaning, stop a policy of exceptionalism and interventionism - stop killing thousands of the world's people and relying on its military for both economic fuel and foreign policy. It is the military nature of America, along with its now decreasingly defunct journalistic tradition and waning judicial influence that I see as "weaknesses" and even wrongs in its make up.

But this article is like so much else --- sensationalism.

DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com

[Safron]

When has an empire ever fallen from power peacefully? Just a question... This isn't over yet.

[mises]

America won't "Fall". It will decline. Rapidly, perhaps. It will be a financial decline first, as the military is so far ahead of everybody else. But her ability to shape the world will be and has been dramatically decreased.

[Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee]

[Bigfeet]

America has been slowly getting weaker since the 70s. The financial collapse is just a more apparent symptom of it. But while America weakens, I don't see any other nation getting powerful enough to overtake it.

China had the 2nd largest economy in the world at one time before Mao Zedong ruined it. So they're just going back to where they were before. I don't think they will ever overtake the US.

[djsmnc]

America is in trouble on TV, the internet, and in the press. The mass media is telling you it's over. The media tells you that the war is lost. You believe it. You suck every last bit of mangravy that the media secretes down your throat. You choke on it, then dribble that media snowball in the mouths of those around you. America is about to pimp slap your fruity cheeks and kick you to the curb. Your country does what Meegook dictates. Bend over while we plant our drills your country's backside.