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Brazil, Russia, India or China. You really went out on a limb with that guess.
I think the question of what does superpower mean when we are all in debt to each other.
In the Navy they are always concerned about the military consequences of China invading Taiwan.
I always figured that the first thing that China would do before invading would be to stop buying US treasury bonds. Then they would issue a statement that they would only start buying bonds if there is no interference from the USA.
How could the cessation of buying treasury bonds be considered an act of agression?
I always figured that the first thing that China would do before invading would be to stop buying US treasury bonds. Then they would issue a statement that they would only start buying bonds if there is no interference from the USA.
How could the cessation of buying treasury bonds be considered an act of agression?
That's not exactly a threat, that would help the US.
India has a 5 trillion USD economy in 2013 in PPP terms. It's now the 3rd largest. It's currently a pseudo-Great power so there is still a long way to superpower.
Brazil is currently another pseudo-great power and I think Brazil with a population of 200 million can only reach a pseudo-superpower (greater than great power but not quite yet a superpower) after it becomes a developed country.
Russia is currently already great power and it can, at its full potential, only reach pseudo-superpower just like Brazil.
North Korea is definitely not a power at all.
Summary (all countries at their fullest potential)
Superpower: United States, China, India, European Union (if it becomes more integrated)
Pseudo-superpower: Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria
Yes, but India ranks 127th per capita GDP; which itself would not be too bad in regards to this topic, given Qatar ranks 3rd; but that actually is pretty bad and a good indicator of just how severe their economic problems are. By contrast, China ranks 92nd and Brazil 74th, and to further contrast, the USSR was 2nd in PPP, and 33rd per capita GDP.
India is not even close to being a contender for super power status, not even regional power status. After having lived/worked there for a year, and continuing working with India now in financial services; they have a very long road to climb to even become an influence on any level, and for other regional powers to give them any real respect.
This is just from my definition of super power, which to me is influence and control, which India has neither outside their own border.
But as I stated before, there are not going to be any super powers, in the US-USSR sense; it is going to be a multi-polar world with regional powers.
No nukes
If North Korea was not powerful it would already have stopped existing.
If the USSR and China never existed, neither would North Korea.
NK only recently acquired nukes, before that and now (sort of) it has been China's puppet, its hedge against US dominance in the region. Before that, it was a Soviet hedge against US encroachment in the region. The USSR nor China care about NK other than it was an ally against the US. Now Russia nor China does not care except they do not want to deal with millions of refugees, nor the fall-out from a military conflict.
The difference between many ethinic groups is pretty nill; basically the difference between a person in California and a person in Oklahoma.
Not disregarding the fact they are disinct ethnic groups, but to attribute some grand diversity ranking on the basis of them is sometimes a bit of a spin.
Umm, yes; I was not referring to China only. A language is not the only indicator of an ethnic groups' different ethnic groups can speak the same language.
Even your own link shows China has 292 living languages, yet only "recognizes" 56 ethnic groups. So which is it, 292 different ethnic groups, or 56 because the gov says so? Or is it a combination as well as what I stated in my example?
So tell me; (using a stereotype) how cannot someone from OK and someone from California not be able to consider themselves as a different ethnic group? They have similarities yes, but also they have differences.
china is the only real potential new super power , india has too many internal problems , brazil has no military worth talking about , Russia is all about hard power , it has virtually no soft power capability and appears to not see any value in such an approach
So there we go. In order to be a new global superpower, the economy/military is not enough; there should be cultural values that would be serving as a blueprint for the rest - it's a big part of "soft power."
None of the countries mentioned here so far meet this requirement, China including.
Yet it's becoming more and more clear that the world is coming to a dead end, basically, on many fronts and none of the countries listed above can bring the resolution, even if the US is about to step down ( though unwillingly,) so I can only logically come to a conclusion that one more new country is needed, ( that is probably not yet on the map of the world,) that would bring resolution and provide a new blueprint and "soft power" that the rest of the world would be able to follow.
No one country is scared of what Finland will do (maybe Russia should have been in WWII, but otherwise). Sane, rational not much of a military. North Korea, on the other hand, can act randomly crazy (I don't their leaders are, it's an act). And has nukes. That induces fear. Fear gives influence. North Korea gets listened to. Sometimes.
Yes, but if North Korea starts to mess around with their nukes, it will be the end of their country, and the leaders know that. Of course South Korea and Japan are monitoring the situation very carefully and might even be a bit afraid, but any other country won't. Not yours, not mine, and not really anybody else either.
China without a doubt... Many people underestimate the power of China, although even now we feel the strong influence of our eastern neighbor. Russia will have to choose a side in the future, the West or the East.
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