The New World Order

Between the Age of Discovery in the 15^th century and World War Two, European nations ruled the world, both directly and indirectly. The colonial Empires of Spain and Portugal dominating in the early years of Empire, but they were eventually leapfrogged by the French and British Empires, and to a lesser extent the Dutch Empire. Russia, Germany, Austria and Italy also played an important role, especially in the later years. By the time the 20^th century dawned the world was changing, Japan and the US were emerging powers and Germany was threatening the balance of power within Europe itself. The two World Wars that followed devastated Europe, both economically and politically, immediately after WWII the empires of France and Britain fell apart and the UK handed superpower status to the USSR and USA. Yet Europe was far from unimportant, the USSR was a European country after all, and Germany, France and Britain still commanded significant influence. But with the fall of the USSR in the early 1990s, for the first time in modern history, the most powerful and important nation was not a European one, rather the USA.

So I think I’ve made my point, countries rise and fall and everyone has to adapt to the new world order brought about every century or so. Although Europe is still far from unimportant, of the top 20 economies, nine are European and of the five countries with a veto on the UN Security Council, three are European.

The Question is where is the world heading? Who will be the new countries on the scene, which nations will challenge western power?

The truth is nobody really knows, but there are certainly contenders. Over the next few days I will write about countries I believe could take the mantle of power from the West. The big debate surrounds whether China will eventually best the USA or will another country be the one to overtake America?

The following are the countries I believe have a chance of besting the west:

1.       China – the favourite to become the next superpower

2.       India – A rising nation with a population set to become bigger than China

3.       Brazil – the big boy of the South American economies

4.       Mexico – the rising star that may not be if drug lords have their way

5.       Indonesia – the island nation could be a surprise winner

6.       Africa – as a continent it will not take power any time soon – but its day will surely come 

New World Order Countries in red

Santorum Angers the Dutch

Santorum has greatly angered the Dutch in a recent statement about euthanasia. In it he claimed that 10% of deaths in the Netherlands are caused by euthanasia and of those deaths half of them are not voluntary. He claims that the elderly do not go to hospital but rather they leave the country because they are afraid that due to budget purposes the hospital will kill them. He also claims that elderly Dutch people wear special bracelets saying “do not euthanise me”. None of the aforementioned claims have a grain of truth in them, indeed the Netherlands does have euthanasia but it’s nothing like how Santorum described it.

It has provoked outrage in the Netherlands, an opposition leader and member of the Dutch Labour Party, Frans Timmermans, has demanded that the Dutch ambassador to the US weigh in on this and if she won’t do it, then the foreign minister should step in. It has insulted the Dutch so much because it has been said by a possible future president and he was not saying it as a joke or in jest. I agree, Santorum appears to want to anger as many groups of people as humanly possible, he has angered non-Whites, Liberals, Catholics, Mormons, gay people, immigrants, the British (over comments made about the NHS) and now the Dutch. It seems that he will not be happy until he has annoyed every group of people on the planet. If he becomes president I will be the first one on the shuttle to the moon. Its worrying that people like him actually get a platform in politics and that they have wide bases of support. I don’t understand where he got these lies from, did he make them up? Did someone give them to him, if so did he never even check if they were real? Apparently not.

I really hope Obama gets re-elected as the Republicans are an alternative I would dread to think about.

Empires Today

In 1997 the British handed Hong Kong back to Chinese, with a population of around 5 million this was the last major colony of any country. But the old colonial empires are not totally gone, their remnants still exist and although they are small, they do have major benefits for the countries that own them. Officially the only countries which still have empires are France and the UK, the USA also has areas similar to an Empire, but is not considered to be so. The UK has territories in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. These are mostly small islands with relatively small populations; the total population of all 17 is around 510,000 people. The benefit for the UK is not the people, but the location, being scattered across the globe means the UK can place military bases around the world. Akrotiri and Dhekeli and the creatively named British Indian Ocean Territory are mostly military bases. By nature of them being islands they significantly increase the size of the UK’s EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone), this is the area over which a state has special rights on exploration or the use of marine resources and extends up to 200 nautical miles from the coast. The UK has 6.8 million km² of EEZ, mainly thanks to the overseas territories. This means that any oil found in that area would benefit the UK greatly.

France also benefits significantly from the remnants of the era of Empires although the system through which France governs them is more complicated than the UK. Contrary to what most people believe, parts of France are outside of Europe, such as French Guiana in South America. These are actually part of France in the same way that Paris and Marseilles are. France also has territories which are not part of France and she governs them similar to hoe the UK governs her overseas territories. France experiences significant benefits just like the UK from its overseas territories such as the ability to put military bases in any ocean and benefits from a huge EEZ, the second largest in the world!

Other countries have remnants of their colonial empires, parts of the Netherlands are in the Caribbean and Portugal owns a number of Atlantic islands. Norway controls a small island in the south Atlantic called Bouvet Island, Denmark controls Greenland and the Faroe Islands and Spain owns a few Atlantic islands. Even the USA owns a few islands in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean. All these countries benefit significantly from the control of overseas territories. This scattering of islands owned by the west on every continent and in every ocean gives the west an advantage that the east will never be able to get. China and India will only be able to place military bases where they please if they harbour good relations with other countries.

The age of empires is long gone, but the legacy of that era still influences the world today.