2000 years from now

[telewinz]

What present day country(s) will join Rome, Carthage and Greece in the annuals of World dominance and why?

[Werewolf]

Well - one will of course be the USA.
100 years from now I imagine that Brazil or China will be the top DOG on earth.

After that it is anyone's guess.

The why is always the same - freedom followed by prosperity followed by complacence followed by corruption, then tyranny and finally the fall.

[Standing Wolf]

None of the countries here today will still be here in two millennia; then again, neither will I.

[Guest]

Good point.

[Bemidjiblade]

England, for sure.  It's been a major player in world politics for over 800 years now and is still going strong.

[TMM]

considering the US has enough nukes to destroy the world like 7 (or was is 12?) times over, i think we could be a superpower simply with the threat of "we'll turn your country into a parking lot if you don't play nice."

~TMM

[stevelyn]

My guess is that in 2000 years it won't be "which country", but rather "which planet" or system of planets as humans by then will have evolved enough technologically to become players in inter-planetary/inter-stellar space.

[Gun Runner]

England?  Tiny island with small population.  I don't see that happening.

Brazil?  I have no idea, but I'd like to hear your opinion on why you think they'd be a contender, Werewolf.

[Werewolf]

Brazil?  I have no idea, but I'd like to hear your opinion on why you think they'd be a contender, Werewolf.

Resource wise Brazil is sitting on a treasure trove of resources both agricultural and mineral much like the US was in the early 1800's. If they can ever get their political act together they'll be able to exploit that wealth just like the US did.

Militarily Brazil is up there with I believe the 5th largest Navy in the world. Their army and air force are competitive too and geographically they are the Super Power in South America.

Brazil is an emerging power sitting on a backwater continent that most of the current big boys mostly ignore. It has huge potential and the population to exploit that potential. Unfortunately until they get their political act together that potential is going to go unrealized. It's probably going to get worse there before it gets better but the country has too much wealth for it to be ignored forever. Eventually someone will step up to the plate and do something with it.

[Iain]

England?  Tiny island with small population.  I don't see that happening.

Brazil?  I have no idea, but I'd like to hear your opinion on why you think they'd be a contender, Werewolf.

Tiny island with a relatively big population.

We punch above our weight. Have for a long time. Britain will be in the mix. Of course, I'll have been dead for around 1,950 years so I'll not listen if you're around and proving me wrong.

[Paddy]

I don't know, two thousand years is a long time and technology is increasing exponentially.  I suspect there will be a major catastrophe (chemical, biological, nuclear) that will take out much of the worlds population.  Civilization as we know it will revert to a more primitive form, probably tribal, with vestiges of technology here and there.  Probably the area least affected and most technologically advanced before the event will emerge as a dominant force.

Or maybe aliens will invade or the south will rise again, who knows?

[telewinz]

I thought the South had already rose.

[toro]

England will once again be a world power along with the United States.  Remember Queen Elizabeth I?  They just need women to run the countries.  Maybe like Condi Rice?

Elizabeth was a master of political science. She inherited her father's supremacist view of the monarchy, but showed great wisdom by refusing to directly antagonize Parliament. She acquired undying devotion from her advisement council, who were constantly perplexed by her habit of waiting to the last minute to make decisions. She used the varying factions (instead of being used by them, as were her siblings), playing one off another until the exhausted combatants came to her for resolution of their grievances. Few English monarchs enjoyed such political power, while still maintaining the devotion of the whole of English society.

Elizabeth's reign was during one of the more constructive periods in English history. Literature bloomed through the works of Spenser, Marlowe and Shakespeare. Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh were instrumental in expanding English influence in the New World. Elizabeth's religious compromise laid many fears to rest. Fashion and education came to the fore because of Elizabeth's penchant for knowledge, courtly behavior and extravagant dress. Good Queen Bess, as she came to be called, maintained a regal air until the day she died; a quote, from a letter by Paul Hentzen, reveals the aging queen's regal nature: "Next came the Queen in the sixty-fifth year of her age, as we were told, very majestic; her face oblong, fair, but wrinkled; her eyes small yet black and pleasant; her nose a little hooked; her lips narrow... she had in her ear two pearls, with very rich drops... her air was stately; her manner of speaking mild and obliging." This regal figure surely had her faults, but the last Tudor excelled at rising to challenges and emerging victorious.

                                                   Mrs. Toro


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  Ester 2:17
  And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

[Nathaniel Firethorn]

Frank Lautenberg will still be the senator from PRNJ. However, Jesusland will have sawn PRNJ loose and accelerated continental drift to steer it toward France.

- NF

[Iapetus]

None of the countries here today will still be here in two millennia; then again, neither will I.

China has been around for over 2000 years in one form or another, so its not impossible for a country to last that long.

On the other hand, I think China is the only country that has been around that long, so maybe it is unique.

[grampster]

Werewolf's example of Brazil's postition is the spotlight on why the 3rd world is still in the backwaters of history.  Climate, natural resources, vast lands, soils, etc. are all held in thrall to the political systems.  Where there is freedom, there is prosperity.  Where there is despotism there is chaos.

I posted on another thread that if the powers that be in the USofA paid more attention to ramping up (instead of propping up)  the political systems in Mexico, Central and South America, we (The Americas) could thumb our noses at the rest of the world.

PS: I believe Egypt may have a civilization as old as China.

[Werewolf]

PS: I believe Egypt may have a civilization as old as China.

You are correct Sir!

IIRC China as a nation dates from about 300 BC or so. The culture dates back to 800 BC or so. Before that the people in that area were much different than today. Surprisingly it is being discovered that much of what is western China today was then populated by Caucasian peoples and not Oriental people.

Egypt as a unified nation goes back to 1500 BC (going off memory here - may be 1700 or 2000 BC). If one considers the Northern/Southern Kingdom then Egyptian Phaoronic history goes back to 2500 BC  or so and the culture itself goes back to at least 4000 BC.

Egypt is a much older nation/culture than China though it could be argued that for sheer continuity that China is the clear winner.