Decline and fall of the US.

[starcraft]

NJ5 said:

starcraft said:

There is one major difference between the USA and every other empire in history.

If the USA goes under it will take the entire world with it in ways we cannot even contemplate.

There is a novel series written by an Australian author.  They give a highly dramatized account of what would happen if most of America was annihilated (by a sci-fi event in this case).  Nonetheless, it is a seemingly realistic view of just how badly Europe, China, India/Pakistan and the Middle East would go to pieces if the USA's influence was rapidly and dramatically diminished.

The series two books are "Without Warning- America is gone" and "After America."

I'm fairly sure that that's highly exaggerated. Obviously any big country disappearing would have big economic impacts given the globalized nature of the economy, but it's not like the world is hanging by a thread on the influence of the USA military. European countries have nuclear weapons, it's not like it would be open game for other countries to start invading.

As long as we're in the "country X disappearing" hypothetical context, imagine China disappearing for example. There would be a serious shortage of manufacturing capacity which would have big consequences. The immediate impact could be quite a lot bigger than if the USA disappeared. Or if some middle Eastern countries disappeared, there would be a sudden shortage of oil which could well send other societies into chaos in a matter of weeks.

Oh absolutely.  If China disappeared it would be nothing less than an economic disaster. 

But you've misunderstood what I meant about the influence of the US military.  If the USA disappeared, it is plausible to think that INSTANTLY over a billion people would lose their jobs.  Oil prices would skyrocket despite the loss of the second greatest oil market on the planet, simply because it is the US military that maintains the balance of power in the Middle East.  Israel's position would become untenable, the likelihood that they would use nuclear weapons on some of their neighbour states is EXTREMELY high.

Europe would not be invaded, but the chances that it would face several states imploding upon themselves is high.  China would face devastating consequences.  The entire tenant of their current political system is essentially "you get a decent paying job and you don't ask why you lack political and social rights."  That would go instantly down the toilet as an enormous proportion of the country found itself unemployed overnight.

I do not even want to think about what would happen in the Koreas, or Africa.