1- The Pig Who Gave Us The Dark Knight
2- The Horse Who Cured Diphtheria and Reformed Medicine
3- The Greyhound that Created the Church of England
4- The Cat Who Single-Handedly Wiped Out a Species
5- The Two Monkeys That Caused 250,000 People to Die
6- The Pig that Created European Democracy
7- The Dog that Saved Napoleon
All signs point to the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) having more power in the 21st century… and US dominance to end. But how much power will the US keep?
The National Intelligence Council’s Global Trends report, issued every four years to document looming problems, predicts a new global system will emerge where no single state dominates.
“By 2025, the U.S. will find itself as one of a number of important actors on the world stage, albeit still the most powerful one,” the report by U.S. intelligence agencies says.
China is poised to have more impact than any other country, but the report also foresees a rise by India and Russia.
If trends continue, the report predicts China will have the world’s second-largest economy by 2025, be a leading military power, while becoming the world’s largest importer of natural resources and also the biggest polluter.
What is striking, the report notes, is that none of the three rising stars adhere to a Western liberal model but rather a system of state capitalism, under which the government takes a key role in economic management.
The transition will leave a world system “almost unrecognizable” in comparison to today, the report says.
It says there will be an unprecedented transfer of wealth and power from the West to East, with rising oil and commodity prices in the Gulf States and Russia and lower production costs shifting manufacturing and service industries to Asia. While terrorism is unlikely to disappear by 2025, the report says its appeal could decline if economic growth continues in the Middle East.
The report also suggests al-Qaeda may “decay sooner” than expected after alienating supporters by killing Muslims in its attacks and failing to gain traction in large parts of the Islamic world.
With more than 1.2 billion more people in the world by 2025, natural resource issues such as energy, food and water will be the increasing focus of conflicts, the report says.
The effects of climate change will be uneven, but the report mentions Canada alongside Russia as two countries who will benefit from it over the next 20 years.
Read more.
Russia’s naval fleet is lining up alongside Syrian waters, to both defend Syria and block off any Israeli jets flying towards Iran. More here and here, via WRH:
The Russians are making clear their intentions of using the large Russian naval presence in Tartus as a deterrent to Israeli air strikes against Syria using the powerful anti-air missiles on-board the Russian naval warships. These missile systems can sweep the sky over most of Syria and knock down Israeli F-15 and F-16 fighters. This changes the balance of power in the air over Syria.
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Ten Russian warships have been deployed at the Syrian port of Tartus based on an accord reached by the two sides after the August south Caucases conflict.
Rear Admiral Andrei Baranov, head of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s operations directorate, said Friday the Russian engineering crew was at Tartus to expand the capacity of the harbor to host additional fleet vessels.
The teams will also be working on expanding Latakia, another Syrian port, possibly for aircraft carriers or guided missile cruisers, said Baranov.
When Israel egged on the USA to attack Iraq, it was hoping that the new American-installed puppet regime in Iraq would open up the Haifa-Mosul oil pipeline. It was also doing it to use Iraqi airspace to strike Iran. But now that the clueless and myopic neoconservatives managed to remove Sunni leader Saddam Hussein and replace him with a Shiite leadership loyal to Iran, using Iraqi airspace won’t be a “slam dunk”.
This is why Russia’s decision to shore up Syrian waters and create a buffer against Israeli missiles and places is a big deal. You might want to look at a map to understand why this is a big deal:
You know the warmongers in Washington DC are throwing around chairs. The only way now would be to fly north, via Turkey… which is not an obvious bet either. This might explain why in addition to having forces in Afghanistan, the US is now making forays into Pakistan.
This week, more and more people are waking up with the credit crunch hangover and realizing that the financial pillars of the US economy are indebted to foreign lenders. This is something we alluded to earlier, mentioning how China and Saudi Arabia were controlling the purse strings in the USA.
But joining the Chinese and Saudis, Singapore in entering the fray, too. Turns out they might inject some money into Merrill Lynch. They’re not alone: according to Fred Wilson, a prominent VC blogger whom I mention frequently on our business blog over at HipMojo.com noticed the trend, too:
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