OPINION OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! (White Giant)

Where did you get your numbers from? I've found this list, but it's GVA which takes into account tax and subsidies (Economy of UK regions). The Office of National Statistics seems particularly fond of this measure.

Anyway, the decision will be political rather than economic.

Re: The global ramifications. That is pretty startling. The Crown Dependencies would remain as such. Alex Salmond (First Minister of Scotland) favours becoming a Dominion like Canada and Australia so that wouldn't be affected. The NHS is devolved to Scotland already (from before the establishment of their parliament) and I suspect Scotland would retain the Pound Sterling. Given that much of our economic activity is already regulated by the EU, I don't think industry and commerce would be overly affected. Neither side would be likely to imp

THAT would be freakin awesome looking! The british flag with a (golden?) dragon in the middle! It would be like "yeah, we're the UK, don't mess with our fire breathing dragon!"

Zetitec: About the Chinese sub shadowing the US carrier group, I DO remember that.

The media was all abuzz about that. However, the Chinese govnt may be spending twice as much on their R&D for their military as we are, but does that mean their as efficient? The American defense contractors are incredibly efficient at what they they do. My brother was in the Navy about 8 years ago, and worked for Spay-war up until last year.

He was talking a bit about some of the Top Secret projects he was able to see. Well, all he said about 2 of them was they they were pretty damn cool, and other nations better not even THINK of messing with us, or our allies....so yeah, I'm not terribly worried about that aspect a whole lot. The Russians

Ok. Where to start on this discussion?

As a 100% American Scotsman, the entire clan picked up and emigrated to the colonies in the 1740's, I say with pride that we are only good for fighting, screwing, and inventing ridiculous sports. Despite the history, Scotland is firmly bound to the UK. Though my people may be stupid enough to talk about independence, eventually the whiskey runs out and we sober up.

The scary thing about the Chinese is their progress in areas that exploit American vulnerabilities. They have demonstrated the ability to destroy satellites, adios GPS navigation and targeting guidance. Also, they are likely the world leaders of the next generation of warfare, cyberwar. They have been caught with their hand in the cookie jar many times in that arena.

Why would China seek conflict when their economy is booming and they would seem to be on the verge of reestablishing the middle kingdom as a preeminent world po

Wales isn't on the Union FLag because it technically isn't a nation. It's a principality of England.

In regards to comparing Japan in 1933 to China now:

In 1933, you remember, the entire world's economy was pretty much dead. Japan was still an Imperial nation, who wanted to just go about land-grabbing. Also, there was no such thing as nukes back then. You seem to forget the knowledge of the power of nuclear weapons that people have. That power is incredibly enourmous. There is no way China, in it's right mind, would want to risk such a catastrophe. Remember how Russia "blinked" during the Cuba missile crissis? That was because they were just as afraid of war as Americans ever were. I believe the Chinese are just afraid of it as well.

Now, considering that people cannot live in fear forever, either 1 of 2 things will happend:

1: The superpowers of the world (USA, Russia, China, perhaps the EU) would come to terms, and begin to establish a more peaceful world, or...

2: We'll end up blowing eac

Jeez, go away for a bit and miss a bunch! Just to touch on the interesting prospect of the Scottish Kingdom devolving from the UK. I need to spend some time over in the UK outside of London again. I wasn't aware that the idea was even being considered. I would hope that the idea is similar to the Quebecquois in Canada, something they continually grumble about, but don't really intend to do.

I have some very fond memories of Scotland. The first out of country trip my girlfriend and I took was to the UK. We based out of a resort in Stratford-upon-Avon, and the only mistake we made was renting a car (as Americans WILL do!) instead of getting a two week BritRail pass. We drove up to Scotland (yeah, from the Midlands, on the back roads)and checked out Stonehenge, then motored over to Edinburgh. Got there just as dark was falling so we decided to park the car and find a pub for some dinner. Walked around, got lost, suddenly came

I would hope that the idea is similar to the Quebecquois in Canada, something they continually grumble about, but don't really intend to do.

Well, they've been grumbling about it for decades and have got their own parliament out of it. The Scottish Nationalist Party finally won a majority (though not a controlling majority) at the last election and have promised a referendum before 2012. They don't have enough support in the parliament to push it through, though, and it won't be legally binding as constitutional matters are still under the control of Westminster.

That said, if the Scots voted for independence, there would be a lot of pressure on Westminster to accede to the demands.

the only mistake we made was renting a car (as Americans WILL do!) instead of getting a two week BritRail pass.

Our rail network is much better than in the States, but leaves a lot to be desired af

Thank you Robert for contributing the details about Chinese history and Eastern cultures.

The point being folks, that in real world discussions of this type, the planning process revolves arounds THREATS and RESPONSES. This is how militaries function at the strategic level.
Who are our potential enemies?
what are their current and projected capabilities?
What are their plans and intentions that we can determine from their weapons programs, training regimens, and force structure.
Order of Battle?
Etc., Etc., Etc.

We then make the same assessments of ourselves and plan responses for all manner of possible conflicts and political crises. So when NCA calls a theater CINC and asks "what can we do about this?", that general or admiral can turn to his J3 and get firm, preplanned answers in the form of up to date operations plans. So goes the theory anyway.

The point I am making here is that this debate is n

I would LOVE to visit Scotland. From all accounts, it's an incredibly lovely country. I wish I could see it. My brother's wife (sister-in-law I guess you could say?) is from Edinbourgh. When they came to visit, she just kept remarking how Pennsylvania (my homestate) is so much like the country-side in Scotland (with quite a few more trees, of course)

In fact, while driving on I180 (a highway which goes through my hometown, Williamsport) she even remarked how she could swear she was driving on the wrong side of one of the highways that run through Scotland down to England.

[I]I agree with you on the construction bit, and on the fascination with Western culture among the young.[/I]

Which gives me hope of a good future for that nation. Maybe in 30 - 50 years, the more idealistic young people now will come to power in China, and begin to take on some Western morals, such as the

AAHH, about the energy thing. China is making a serious mistake with trying to copy our energy models. The use of Fossil Fuels is not sustainable. Many people across the US are making a push for more renewable resources. Many Western nations have already made that transition.

When fossil fuels run out:

Some argue we wont for hundreds of years, and others argue that we already are running out. From my point of view, I tend to agree more with the assessments of the latter than the former. I am now making more money than I ever have, and am struggling more than ever in putting gas in my car so to me, that is an indication that we must be running out. And whenever that happens, the countries that have not made the transition to green energy will be left in the dust.

That is one thing that angers me about this nation: we have the means/technology to begin switching to greener energy, but people refuse to do so for some completely, st

Will come back later for more discussion, but just HAVE to say "egg on my face!" with regard to Stonehenge! I COULD say I was just testing you Zetetic, but I'd be lying.

We did see Stonehenge on our two week trip, but we also saw some famous attraction in Scotland prior to going on to Edinburgh, but guess I'm getting old. It was 20 years ago or so, and we've been over there 10-15 more times (try to do a once a year) since then, so things tend to blur a bit.

Again, gracias for pointing out my error. I normally do a proofread and double check of facts before I post, but naturally the time I don't I get caught! Oh well, I guess a 90% is better than zero.

Looks like I end up with a double. MM, you and I are going to bang heads here a little. Not that I disagree with the thought of moving away from "dirty" energy into cleaner burning fuels, I do think so.

You are paying higher prices at the gas pump not because oil is scarce, it's not. The US, thanks to the environmentalists, has not built a new refinery in over 30 years. The current refineries are running at 100% capacity, and have been for years. When they have to shut down for annual maintenance, we have shortfalls. When they make the transition from gasoline to heating oil production and back again we have shortfalls. Just recently for the first time in its' history The US had to begin importing REFINED gasoline. That's asinine.

There has not been a new nuclear power plant built in this country in over 30 years. France has no energy problem because the vast majority of their electricity comes from nuclear power. If

Wind power has potential, but it is limited. Because the energy comes from the Kinetic Energy of the wind, if the wind speed halves, the energy produced goes down by a factor of 4 (energy is proportional to the square of velocity).

Geothermal is great, but there are few areas that are able to produce it.

Hydroelectric is excellent. Norway gets nearly all of its electricity from hydro and Switzerland gets a large portion (topped up by nuclear). It also has the advantage of almost instant supply. We have a number of hydroelectric dams in the UK and they are used to provide power when there is a sudden spike in demand. A hydroelectric dam can go from producing zero to full power in 30 seconds, whereas a coal plant can take up to a day. It's used when Coronation Street (very popular soap here in the UK, hate it myself) goes to an ad break (commercial break). There is usually a huge spike in demand as everyon

WOW! Lots to reply to!

I have to admit, I know nothing of commodities, or commodity exchanges. And I personally think it's all a huge scam anyways from, all accounts.

As for the use of gasoline/ethanol: What's assisnine is people who promote the production of ethanol from corn. As you said, corn is incredibly inefficient to use. Instead of corn, there's a type of grass, called switchgrass, that is HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY effective.

Corn requires very careful care, and maintenance. So much so, that the land that is needed to grow it is actually incredibly valuable. Whereas switchgrass can pretty much be grown ANYWHERE. Now what type of land in this country is not being utilized at all, in which there are literally millions of square acreage that could be used for one crop, and only one crop, called switchgrass? That land would happen to reside along all the highways of America. Well, mostly the eastcoast highways, in whic

Double post. Sorry, that last statement was meant for JMR not Zet. My bad.

As for the rail thing, the US has been beuilding more rail, because it's simply cheaper right now for large corporations, like Wal-Mart, to ship their products by rail, rather than by road. However, it will be much more difficult and expensive for our government to construct as extrensive a rail system as the UK has simply because the UK is only about the size, if not smaller, than the STATE that I live in. In other words, the US is at least 50 times the size of the UK, with much more varying landscapes than the UK has as well. So the use of road will forever be used more often than rail in this nation. Simply because the volume of a road can be many time that of rail.

I don't know where I was going with that, but I guess, mostly because I was afraid the English people on these boards would think Americans were morons for not utilizing the railroad as much