Does the prospect of becoming a lesser nation scare you?

Originally posted by Alfheim
C'mon man! That reminds me of when the former Italian Prime Minister made a joke about Nazis to a German politician. Its like focusing on something obvoulsy negative when their are lots of other positive aspects to Canada.

I dont have a in-depth knowledge of the native history in Canada but it does not seem as bad as it was in America.

I wasn't trying to be that extreme. Every nation-state in the world was built on blood so you do that with any place.

Originally posted by chithappens
I wasn't trying to be that extreme. Every nation-state in the world was built on blood so you do that with any place.

Yeah....

What

Originally posted by chithappens
What

Nevermind.....I just thought that it wasnt really worth bringing up..

Context easily gets lost so it was somewhat neccesary. Certainly is now since this entire topic has become a pissing match on whose state sucks the least.

Originally posted by chithappens
Context easily gets lost so it was somewhat neccesary. Certainly is now since this entire topic has become a pissing match on whose state sucks the least.

Meh.

I´m not a nation, but an individual person who happened to be born in a certain area which has a human imaginary border around it.

Best not to think of ones self as a Nation as it gives ground for generalization, and nationalism imo.

The world is our nation, and its about time we started looking out for each other not just for the ones who were born in our common imaginary borders.

Originally posted by Zeal Ex Nihilo
Would you mind pointing out a country like that?

It's up, up and away from here on.

Originally posted by Bicnarok
I´m not a nation, but an individual person who happened to be born in a certain area which has a human imaginary border around it.

Best not to think of ones self as a Nation as it gives ground for generalization, and nationalism imo.

The world is our nation, and its about time we started looking out for each other not just for the ones who were born in our common imaginary borders.

I don't know...

The living conditions of my neighbours have a much larger effect on my life than the living conditions of some African.

Abstract human concepts are more real to most people than "reality".

Alf: About Canada as a Superpower: Never going to happen, we don't have the population for the military. There are less than 40 million people in Canada.

Originally posted by Bardock42
Somalia.

It's up, up and away from here on.

you feel they've hit rock bottom?

Sounds like it.

ha, that'd be nice for the Somalis

What is? That they can't sink any lower?

That people are no longer butchered in the street over issues that stem from the bronze age.

Hm... for now. Or the virus has moved to Kenya.

I don't know, the last I heard was that Somalia was on the brink of Civil War with the Islamic Courts, and on the verge of being invaded by Ethiopia...

Has something changed?

and ya, terrible times for Kenya. They are normally much more stable, so maybe cooler heads will eventually prevail.

Originally posted by inimalist
I don't know, the last I heard was that Somalia was on the brink of Civil War with the Islamic Courts, and on the verge of being invaded by Ethiopia...

Has something changed?

and ya, terrible times for Kenya. They are normally much more stable, so maybe cooler heads will eventually prevail.

Thats a damn shame I hope this doesnt happen all over Africa I need to visit Senegal.

there are pockets of stability, but I'd keep up on the local news if I were traveling.

Places like the Ivory Coast and Kenya have historically been more stable in post-colonial periods, but with the general failure of democratic regimes to create economic change in Africa, there is a lot of unrest, even in formally peaceful regions.

Originally posted by inimalist
there are pockets of stability, but I'd keep up on the local news if I were traveling.

Places like the Ivory Coast and Kenya have historically been more stable in post-colonial periods, but with the general failure of democratic regimes to create economic change in Africa, there is a lot of unrest, even in formally peaceful regions.

I know its a shame.

Originally posted by inimalist
No, I'm actually well aware of that. They have massive problem's in the NE with tribal areas and Naxalites/Communists as well.

However, as bad as they are, there are domestic groups that are trying to change. At this point in time, the caste system is not as rigid as you make it sound, but there are those who are oppressed because of it.

The main reason I'd say India is my candidate, would be geopolitics. America or China or Russia have it great, they are large nations who are surrounded by nations who really couldn't do too much to them. China is possibly an exception, given Japan, India, and N Korea, but compare China to India, and again we get into the differences in human rights abuses, again the big issue being that in China, the state has so much control, it doesn't need to hide the things that even in India are considered government corruption.

If India became a major power, they are sandwiched between Pakistan and China. That to me seems like the best check on the international actions of a superpower. In a world under the influence of India, the military would almost have to play less of a roll.

Problem with India is that it's still in China's shadow compared to growth and India uses China for economical growth. Even if for some reason India would go beyond China it would still likely find China a very useful ally especially economically. And let's not forget the Chinese military is better then the one of India, so the danger of China becoming more powerful then India because of India or still making a huge impact on the world is pretty big.