>Most members of the E.U. only have military for defensive purposes. Russia is no longer a superpower. It has too many internal problems. China is emerging as a super power, but it is not there yet.

IMHO a Superpower is defined as a body of people who have the ability to destroy the entire world at a whim!

So we have numerous superpowers already, including, but, not limited to the USA, Russia, China, Great Britain & France.

The correlation of these nations that can unilaterally destroy the world at a whim, and all others, is also reflected in the permanent members of UN security council.

All those Americans that think for a second they are the only "superpower" that exists in the world today, you need to wake up......for once your politicians know more than you!

>Most members of the E.U. only have military for defensive purposes.

To add salt to the wound....what are you saying? America is the only superpower because it has a military designed for "Aggressive" purposes???

Not something hard to sell today........America is becoming a dangerous aggressive force, someone might have to stop it in a few years from now!

"All those Americans that think for a second they are the only "superpower" that exists in the world today, you need to wake up......"

>>>Shhhhhh . . .it makes Americans feel good to think they are king of the hill.

All i hear in hear is the country is going to fail and we are doomed. And it seams that you are all placing the blame squarily on GW. But i dont see any arguments or facts on how he is doing this. Just personal fealings and a group stroking session. G.W. Bush will go in the records as one of the greatest presidents america ever had. History will show it.

"Just personal fealings and a group stroking session. G.W. Bush will go in the records as one of the greatest presidents america ever had. History will show it."

>>>How 'bout some facts to back that up?

Btw, it ain't just me who thinks Bush stinks. Republicans are bailing on him real, real fast. The only people sticking with him belong to AIPAC.

What parallel universe are you living in? I guess it's possible that someone could rewrite history at some point in the future. But in the here and now, we'll be impeaching the bastard and indicting all of his cornies. LOL, time will tell. I guess even Nixon still has supporters.

__________________
S.O.S. ------ United We Stand, Divided We Fall

Typical liberal elitit attitude here folks. Lets not forget Okhams great great great great grandad sold the us government the land for west point. So he must be right. Ive got your number my friend. You are an elitist. Living on the hardwork of your past realtive.

A shame a fraud and a phony yes sir that is you. The only reason you have gotton your status here on these boards is because you are well spoken/written. To bad you dont have the facts and what facts you do have are talking points you absorbed from your liberal pow wow's and communist friends. But there is an old saying, probably from where everybody comes from and im shure you have heard it. IF IT LOOKS LIKE SHIT AND IT SMELLS LIKE SHIT THEN IT MUST BE SHIT.

Talking point Okham

Typical hysterical distortion of the facts. Ft. Putnam was named after my ancestor. I never said he sold it or even owned it. The Ft. was a military installation and always has been, and it's still there.

Since you keep running from the threads where I post a small example of the FACTS that I bring to the debate, I will make sure it continues to follow you.

Other non-related links to sources I have used to support my positions.

Until you make the effort to know your opponent, to take the time to inform your positions, your rants will never be more than just that. You will continue to be at risk of getting blown out of the water, and you can't possibly expect to win the argument.

Elitist? Me? ROFLMFAO...

Oh and thanx for the backhanded compliment, but being well spoken and well written requires that you are well read and make convincing arguments backed up with FACT!

Your posts can't touch mine for accurate, credible supporting information. Give up, your baseless fixation with personally attacking me is fruitless. I know who I am, and many here are getting to know me. My body of work speaks for itself... unfortunately for you, so does yours.

Aren't you getting tired of being completely humiliated yet? Please, do your homework. Any moron can shoot their mouth off.

So, now it's time for you to put up or shut up... where are your supporting "facts"? Back up your position or sit back and watch how it's done.

__________________
S.O.S. ------ United We Stand, Divided We Fall

I have read an excellent bestseller by Paul Kennedy.
" The Rise and Fall of The Great Powers".
I have read Steven Ambrose "Rise to Globalism"..
These are two excellent if differing perspectives.
Kennedy's book is the more interesting because he studies the very ebb and flow that this thread debates. He examines the civilization/empires that have dominated human history. He observes in a new argument that the economic growth rate in comparison to rival ( and in economics ALL are competing ) societies is a critical factor in the tensions that lead to war.
.. From the Egyptian Empire to the minute relationships involved in the ascendancy of North America, the United States in particular. The points that refer to Asia, specifically China, and the grave tensions in the middle east.
. America has a growth rate and a State ultra-competence that guarantees a dominance regardless of ANY particular administration.
Barring the actions of societies that are NOT growing at that rate ..( or even socially stagnating. ).. who's own security concerns ( the constant tension between citizen and gov't) are of an internal one. This is why external enemies are made and why the NON-civilized EXTREMIST response abrogates civil order..LAW..( the moral and "fair" law, ).
..The Muslim civilization is facing a conflict between it's old world social mechanics and economic patterns and the dynamic, growing, and socially threatening power of the West. This is first a social/economic conflict.. the religion and its dominance makes this inevitably a threat to their faith.
( Not unlike the crisis the Catholic Church faced in Europe's Reformation.)
The expression of the reaction to the real challenge Capitalist vitality ( and inherent political and econmic radicalism) makes to all societies has been a range from Ludditeism to Marx to the Kazinski/ eco guerrillas attacks on business.
They also can be expressed in the religion's own militancy and hysteria. The fact is that there are Islamic clerics and leader's who have been preaching an open and violent war with the West and with the United States in particular. They have been preaching a violent and religiously inspired genocide against Israel and jews in general. The Fact is that there are powerful, and very widely followed factions of Islam who ARE our enemies. They ARE conducting a deep and far reaching war on our technological level.. as well as rousing a large number of less-than-informed Umma.

The Russian economic base will always suffer from limitations. The Chinese/ Japanese economic juggernaut is inevitable.. Their particular present agenda also indicates a collision. That is not for two decades hence. The African and the Middle Eastern economies MUST go through so serious a transformation ..
The West..and Therefore the United States must either stand aside and watch OR it must assume the authority of "global law."..The keeper of order..

We have been the target of MANY strikes in this war THEIR desperation leads them to. They have been at war with human civilization and order.. in the name of their religion for a hundred years.. and have been very deadly for three decades. You all know that any one of these incidents would bring the United States to a war of covert or overt means.
George Washington was virtually coronated as Commander-in-Chief and President after fighting a war against 5% taxes. The factions he referred to is a caveat against what is also an inevitable element of human civilization.. not as if one great general could change what was an integral part of our representative democracy.. ( faction is a coalition of like minded citizens.. that one or another is organized around the people of that especial time
and so rises or falls by the allegiance of it's constituency ) and it
is not the same thing ..He also warned against entangling TREATIES..and THAT is both a different argument AND an accomplished fact of America in the 21st century. Right?
In Fact, By the opening of the 1800's the United States was at a fever and a state of war with what amounted to a series of Barbary Pirates and City States. The war ranged from an embarassing kidnappings, murders, and tribute, to the USS Philadelphia's grounding and loss. 300+ sailors were held and abused for years until Thomas Jefferson paid off.. Or tried to have the tyrannt killed, or actually sent an american force undercover..
And where were the government declarations of truth? Oh yeah after a decade of war with the arabs.. we merely BEAT them into sullen submission
( see WWI)
Amyway.. This is boring and irrelevant to narrow and shallow perspectives. I realize that its comfortable to be led to the indignant outrage towards your government... But America did not deal well with the Middle East for the last thirty years. THEY struck with violence first. Various Baathist regimes and Hussein's Iraq DEFINITELY supported and abetted the values and the revolutionaries.. Al-Qaeda, and the more familiar anti-Jewish terrorists.
Iran has been a society that has been seized by a "hysterical", radical Islamic "faction" in the most violent mold. They have declared themselves to be our enemy since their revolution in '78-'79. They have been the boomerang in the works . United States MUST respond in a manner that is a victory.
We are not conducting such a war, and the reasons include why our very citizens are asking the defeatist and cowardly question this thread is called.
Fehrenbach's book "This Kind of War" also addresses this elemental flaw in our democratic, and individualistic democracy..
We do not want to be the one who has to be the cop in the bad neighborhood.
Guess what? Someone has to step up and be authority..
Otherwise we will fall LONG before we stagnate.
The lack of perspective and maturity on these threads, and in the leftist media is breathtaking. Indeed, the talking points ARE the one that rewinds back to "Liar, Liar"
and appeasing head in the sandism..
Tell me which version you prefer.
MTC

so I know it rambles .. but as usual, I touch on a lot of points, issues, and conclusions that will be "overlooked" As if you all have actually read a dozen history books.

aaaHAH! There it is folks... intellectual elitism at it's finest. A nice little put sown for everyone on AWE! nice.

PW, you hit on too many topics at once. Your posts are convoluted at best, and rarely stay on topic. I won't even mention the inaccuracies and distortions... oh wait... I just did.

I'd say it's a safe bet that the top posters here have read at least a dozen history books. How do you get through your primary education otherwise. Personally, I've read somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred. You greatly underestimate your opposition. Which is good... for your opposition.

Schmuck

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S.O.S. ------ United We Stand, Divided We Fall