Why I believe "the West" is obsolete...

If by the West we mean Western civilization, then I don't see how this is anywhere near the end or anywhere near obsolete. Civilizations tend to stand on three pillars: military, economic, and cultural. The US and Europe still have the lead on all three.

There isn't a formal military power that can stand up to the US and it's NATO allies in a fair fight; this is a widely acknowledged and given fact. They have the latest technology, the better training the most power projection capability, and so forth. The only chance you have in fighting them is getting into a protracted asymmetrical/insurgency with them (like Afghanistan and Iraq), and even then they will still drone half your forces into oblivion.

In terms of economic, the West also still has the lead. The US navy controls/secures the world's oceans and thus controls all the trade routes, allowing it to set the rules. It's economy is the largest in the world and the European ones tend to occupy near-top positions. Furthermore, they are service oriented economies that don't rely heavily on manufacturing and thus volatile commodity prices (whereas almost all of the BRICS rely on exporting/importing natural resources as a large chunk of their GDP). They have large access to capital and money to start new companies and ventures. There's even innovative dimension to it: almost all the top companies in the world are either American or European. We're all using computers that are running on Windows, iOS, or Linux. The jeans people around the world wear are an American concept. The list goes on.

And in cultural terms, there really isn't competition. The West stands for freedom of speech, democracy, human rights, and all of that. Of course there is trouble in how it's actually run/implemented, but it's still light years ahead of the others. What can Russia offer? An Orthodox-leaning dictatorship where democrats/gays/environmentalists/Muslims/feminists/etc are cracked down on and where politicians that aren't approved by the Kremlin don't have a chance? What about China? A one-party "communist" oligarchy with a heavily censored Internet, no toleration of any possible rival political/religious institution, promotion of one ethnicity (Han Chinese) over all the others? Meanwhile, Brazil and India are trying their best to emulate Western-style democracy and values (with varying degrees of success).

I can't see any of these being beat within the next 10, 20 years. If at that.

originally posted by: On7a7higher7plane
If the EU was too ambitious to become one it would likely over-extend itself and find its' precious Euro-system vulnerable to the real superpowers - UK, USA, China, Russia, India. I wouldn't think Germany wants to foot the bill for such a risky extension of the EU.

Exactly right. Good assessment.

Also, the growing sentiment against US imperialistic policies doesn't mean that we intent to replace one empire by another. We're done playing empire.

originally posted by: tencap77
And a closed loop comms system for Europe? that means your not "connectd " to the U.S. comms system, right? So you won't be able to call US? and we won't be able to call EU? See how that works? A little play on words for our former EU friends. So, you'll be unable to monitor our stock markets or stuff like that right? That is just so cool!

Haha... that was hilarious!

Really made my day, thank you!

a reply to: Davian

I don't think the EU is a significant rival to the US... we're very much reliant on each other

originally posted by: ColCurious
a reply to: Davian

The concept of "the west" is about values. I don't think those values are obsolete.

It seems like certain elements in certain places in the west are abandoning, or at least deteriorating those values lately,

Dang... come out and say it... the 2 top elements that have complete disregard for pre-Patriot Act American values are 0bama and Wall Street

0bama decrees with a 'Pen & Phone' while Congress feathers Its Nest
and Wall Street is as fraudulent as it comes/self-serving raptors that have 5 levels of deceit working at once


how can I get my hands on Yuan before that gold backed money gets sanctioned by the USFed

If by the West we mean Western civilization...

We do not, notice how I used "Quotations"? When I talk about the "West" I mean the government-established entity that has been masquerading about since the Cold War ended in 1991 as being said union of military and political interests. Basically, the brainchild of the Anglo-American Power Axis. Now, they see it as being obsolete. The developed nations of Earth no longer want anything further to do with the US, the EU in particular, feeling betrayed by their once-closest ally, the greatest liar of all liars, the greatest swindler of all swindlers, the regional Euroelite want blood. It's bubbling up, about to inundate, and if they keep trying to force the lid down on this thing via various proxy wars like the Crimean crisis, its gonna blow its top, and its gonna be bad.

originally posted by: JDmOKI
a reply to: Davian

I don't think the EU is a significant rival to the US... we're very much reliant on each other

en.wikipedia.org...

The US imports from the EU approximately 260,553.4 goods annually.
The EU imports from the US approximately 184,245.6 goods annually.
Russia exports to the EU approximately 198,342.6 goods annually.
China exports to the EU approximately 292,129.6 goods annually.

en.wikipedia.org...

As of 2011 EU - Chinese trade makes the EU and China each other's largest trading partners.

Source A
Source B

And guess who Russia's biggest trade partners are?
atlas.media.mit.edu...

China (8.5%), Netherlands (7.7%), Germany (7.1%), Belarus (6.8%), and Italy (6.6%)

The EU heavily relies on Russian natural gas and metal exports. And the sad thing is, the US and the EU don't rely off of each other, they don't even need to rely on us a whole hell of a lot with Russia and China at their back door. According to the stats above, we need them.

And whether we continue to be somewhat civil military allies, in spite of the disgusting lengths our idiotic administration has gone to SPYING on GERMAN CHANCELLOR Merkel and FRENCH PRESIDENT Holland (the two economic heavyweights behind the EU are France and Germany, in that order) relies on how good the Russian and Chinese economies look a few months from now, because if we go to war with Russia, we're gonna cut off our own nose to spite our face.

And our only real allies will from thereon be Israel and the UK's offshore buddies. The EU may not be a significant rival to the US and the UK as of this moment, but with Chinese and Russian governments helping them (who both currently are significant US rivals), they are well on their way indeed.

And, last but not least, if you think China and Russia aren't going to milk the PRISM scandal for what it's worth (connect the dots, WHY do you think the Ukrainian coup occurred? To benefit the US? LOL) then you are just being flat naive.