[YAOT] US foreign policy (poll and discussion)

[dogscoff]

From where I'm sitting, the current US foreign policy in all matters (Iraq, environmental policy everything) seems to be "We're the US, we're bigger and therefore better than you, we'll serve our own interests and screw the rest of the world."

Now maybe it is more complex than that in reality, but that's how it looks and the rest of the world doesn't like it. I think we can expect a global swing in public opinion away from the kind of US-worship that has dominated for the Last 60 years, especially as the potential of the EU starts to be realised.

I'm not sure what Blair is doing lately- whether he's trying to keep America out of isolation or whether he's just sniffing for truffles up Bush's backside but either way I think he needs to embrace Europe and let the US do it's own thing.

Only when the world's consumers start rejecting McDonald's, Disney, Coca-Cola, MTV and the thousands of other flagship brands (and the associated lifestlye) of US economic superiority will America actually realise that maybe it's time to change its attitude. It's a hard lesson but they will have to learn it for themselves.

[Krsqk]

Only when the world's consumers start rejecting McDonald's, Disney, Coca-Cola, MTV and the thousands of other flagship brands (and the associated lifestlye) of US economic superiority will America actually realise that maybe it's time to change its attitude. It's a hard lesson but they will have to learn it for themselves.

That would more than likely precede a change in US policy. I don't think it's likely to happen, though; the rest of the world seems as enamored with the US lifestyle as the US is.

[dogscoff]

the rest of the world seems as enamored with the US lifestyle as the US is.

This has certainly been true for a while- since 1945, more or less. However, I think it's going to change. As the US becomes less popular for its policies and the rest of the world starts to catch up (and overtake) economically, people will look elsewhere for their cultural influences- either inwardly, reviving some of the culture that has been assimilated and homogenised into the Great Consumerism Collective, or they will find a replacement: The EU is one possibility, as european nationals start to rediscover one another in the light their new shared currency and start a wave of euro-trendiness. Various eastern cultures provide another (more probable) alternative, since their traditional cultures are even more fundamentally different.

Personally I really hope we start to see less emphasis on mindless consumption and blind obsession for "economic growth", which is by definition unsustainable on our finite planet. Now that we are starting to see technologies that can increase co-operation and efficiency and put more power into the hands of individuals, I think an alternative model of some kind should be viable.

BTW I don't blame the US for creating today's rampant consumerism, but it has championed it for the best part of a century and now it's time for a change.

[kalthalior]

So when will the rest of the world catch up with the US economically, Dogscoff? US GDP has gone from $6 trillion in 1995 to over $10 trillion in 2001, 30% of world GDP. The second largest economy is Japan's, at $3 trillion. Europe, as a whole, is around $8 trillion, and growth in the US is perennially at a higher rate. Also, what finite resources are you refering to? Both production and known reserves of almost every conceivable resource have expanded over the Last 50 years.
Example: oil production, in millions of metric tons -- 1950=523, 1973=2,858, 1998=3,450. Known reserves in 1950 were about 1 trillion barrels. That has quadrupled to 4 trillion barrels in 2000.

For nearly every other known mineral resource, there is a similiar story to be told.

[tesco samoa]

the rest of the world seems as enamored with the US lifestyle as the US is.

I think that 2 /3 's of the world feels that because of their broken backs that the us life style can occur.

But when you say US life style do you mean North American ??? For Canada and US is very similar. And i would almost say that Canada has a higher standard of living than the US. Not as high as finland but close....

[TerranC]

Originally posted by dogscoff:
Only when the world's consumers start rejecting McDonald's, Disney, Coca-Cola, MTV and the thousands of other flagship brands (and the associated lifestlye) of US economic superiority will America actually realise that maybe it's time to change its attitude. It's a hard lesson but they will have to learn it for themselves.

And therefore causing massive drops in american stocks, causing the new depression, where it will surely bring about chaos and unemployment, of all places, not just america, but Europe?

I don't what kind of world you live in, Dogscoff, but in this one, what happens in one market, impacts the other. And when a huge market such as the American market falls, the European and the Asian ones soon follow.

[ April 05, 2003, 05:05: Message edited by: TerranC ]

[TerranC]

- Military: The US has the largest, most powerful, and most widespread military in the world, possessing bases in many countries. They have been involved in many conflicts worldwide in this century, which has undeniably provoked anger in some circles. They have also played a major part in stopping the aggression of some pretty major threats in the two World Wars.

China currently has the largest military, or rather, the largest army. It's navy and it's Air Force is rather small and obsolete compared to the American navy and Air Force.