The West and the Rest: The Changing Global Balance of Power in Historical Perspective

[JackGlastra420]

I don't fear China. China has monumental problems to face in the 21st century that the USA hasn't had to deal with in over a hundred years. Which isn't to say that we will remain top dog forever, but I don't think the Chinese are the threat to world peace that some would have you believe.

[VanillaSnow23]

As Napoleon Bonaparte once said....

[marioelie]

whether you agree with him or not, he is very logical and articulate

[0r14n583lt]

Chinese nationalism will lead to China's destruction. Examples: Rwanda, Serbia, Japan, Germany ...twice. If China wants to survive as a great power in the longer term, they will need to drop the nationalism. Nationalism is a cancer that kills it's host. 

[KarlMartell732]

@0r14n583lt

China could face dangerous environmental problems in future.

[Englandistrash]

can someone please ask this British bastard to shut up!

[akhalif68]

@Englandistrash I didnt realise he was a bastard even though he is a member of the Scottish aristocracy ??

[ogankitapci]

China has always been a great country ruled with great state craft and intelligence...WE westerners can not understand this easily, to understand China you must read between the lines and sentences...

[vtran31]

@ogankitapci when the mongols conquered us, we werent exactly great

[nlb1231]

This guys knows what he is talking about. Much respect.

[maryjaneissmiling]

China was not "brought low"??? The Japanese took away all their dignity!! Almost the whole of China was a colony of the Japanese! Chinese women were raped by Japanese soldiers in front of their husbands, lovers and brothers who just stood there watching the whole incident unfold before their eyes! Chinese men and women were forced into prostitution by the Japanese and many Chinese women posed for photographs with their skirts lifted up, exposing their genitals to Japanese soldiers!

[vtran31]

@maryjaneissmiling not exactly a colony. colonies indicate a long lasting hegemony. japan was repelled relatively quickly by kaishek

[curious007cur]

Slavery is the leading "app" in all Empires.

What Britian and its imperial neighbours did to africa is an example.

What America does to Haiti and Jamaica and other neighbours in the America using the IMF to economically enslave them is a more recent application.

Perhaps european nations are now feeling the effects of this application of the IMF and looting national treasures in Greece and Italy. Soon Spain etc will follow these haircutting measures of IMF lead technocrats from Wall Street.

[mobility987]

@curious007cur if slavery is the leading "app" than i wonder why Africa is not doing so well right now, Africa has had the most slavery by an enormous quantity over the rest of the world in the past 2-3 decades than anywhere else in the world and they're still not doing too well.

[curious007cur]

@mobility987

Which other countries has Africa enslaved my friend?

Either physically or economically?

Think before you comment next time.

[mobility987]

@curious007cur though a lot of african nations did belong to the british and other euro economies, they also got medicine, infrastructure, hospitals, irrigation and educational facilities out of it.. they are now performing (after being liberated from the west for 20-30 years) slavery to their own people.. so i wonder about that cheap labour; and what benefits have their economies undertaken (except not maintaining the economies that existed once the west left)

[andrewMLhero]

Did they have to place the microphone right next to the consumptive?

[TheCarolbhaskar]

USA needs to make friends with India... and leave their bad romance with pakistan for good.

[MrSeekerofjustice]

To be very frank, historically, it would be an insult to India to even utter China in the same breath as India! He is GROSSLY overestimating China's place in the ancient world. The first civilization was in India... from that time up until, and including the 17th century, India was, the centre of human existence, the wealthiest civilization and the world's leading civilization! These British bastards go out of their way to conceal the real version of history from the English speaking world!

[tovarishstulov]

@MrSeekerofjustice I would label that as a grossly unqualified pretension. I don't think that Scottish Niall has any reason to over or under-assess India prior to colonization. And as a point of fact, it wouldn't have been so easily colonized if it were the pinnacle of civilization you suggest. You might want to hide your overt nationalist bias with a bit of subtlety.

[MrSeekerofjustice]

@tovarishstulov

The whole of India was never colonised. That is British propaganda! Only 60% of India was colonised by the British as a result of their cunning, manipulative and deceptive ways! The Indians and the Britishers fought side by side, before they stabbed the Indian kings in the back! Did you know that? The wealth in India before colonization was more than twice the wealth of the British Empire (excluding India, i.e.,). These quotes will help you make up your mind!

[MrSeekerofjustice]

Where can we look for sages like those whose systems of philosophy were prototypes of those of Greece: to whose works Plato, Thales and Pythagorus were disciples? Where do I find astronomers whose knowledge of planetary systems yet excites wonder in Europe as well as the architects and sculptors whose works claim our admiration, and the musicians who could make the mind oscillate from joy to sorrow, from tears to smile with the change of modes and varied intonation?

-James Todd (US pioneer)

[MrSeekerofjustice]

@tovarishstulov

I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges, - astronomy, astrology, metempsychosis,.. It is very important to note that some 2,500 years ago at the least Pythagoras went from Samos to the Ganges to learn geometry...But he would certainly not have undertaken such a strange journey had the reputation of the Brahmins' science not been long established in Europe...

- Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire (French writer and philosopher)

[MrSeekerofjustice]

@tovarishstulov

Whatever sphere of the human mind you may select for your special study, whether it be language, or religion, or mythology, or philosophy, whether it be law or customs, primitive art or primitive science, everywhere you have to go to India, whether you like it or not, because some of the most valuable and instructive materials of the history of man are treasured up in India and India only.

- Friedrich Maximilian Mueller ( German philologist )

[petrfiddle]

I enjoy Niall Fergusons historical analysis.. the one point no one made..is there a limit to growth in China, that is if the Chinese are expecting to live the American lifestyle, we are headed for trouble. In fact as Jared Diamond points out, the American lifestyle is not even sustainable for Americans. The Chinese leadership knows one thing, as long as there is growth and employment and food things are ok, but they also know that Dynasties can come and go quickly.

[curious007cur]

Clap trap.

Mentions Chinese progress and overtaking of America.

(overlooks their economic slavery)

Doesn't mention Indian progress.

(british guilt perhaps)

Overlooks the IMF crushing of "developing nations" in Africa and Latin America and accounts for "$3 a DAY" wages that the USA, Britian, France etc "capitalize" on. And thus now overlooks a similar "app" applied to the Euro Zone.

[andrewMLhero]

@curious007cur China was an example, you dolt. Jesus...

[GluttonForSex]

Why, oh why, can't I shake this funny feeling that the criticism of Niall Ferguson mainly revolves around him having left his white wife for a Somali black woman? :-)

[curious007cur]

@GluttonForSex

It represents his lack of morals perhaps?

He doesn't seem to be too put out by the west's "colonization" or "oppression" or "piracy" of other nations.

Slavery is an aside for Ferguson ... though a main stay of British and then American progress. (?)

[GluttonForSex]

@curious007cur A white man marrying a black woman does so "out of a lack of morals"?

Are you a white supremacist?

[killerbee2k]

I dont think there was anything political about his love for Ayaan Hirsi Ali, but both left wingers and racists see the world through race and gender warfare so I'm not surprised at the general left and racist part of the right hating Niall for his personal life.

[stephentsang2000]

Chinese bad loans were meticulously calculated (Chinese are mathematical geniuses) and were intentionally loaned out to stimulate the economy on one hand, and spur the invention of new industries on the other, at a risk which China is well prepared and afford to take. The looming of Chinese loan was an intentional policy and the burst of it is already under calculation before the policy had even started.

[KiloSierraAlpha]

Niall Ferguson = Rothschild shabbos goy.

SHAME!

[TheBENGALHANNIBAL]

CHATHAM HOUSE= TERRORISTS!!!

[geir44]

A fabolous economist and historian.

[misterMagoo4]

His book , Civilisations, is trite. Better to read Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond....much better insight into these issues.

[imil90]

@misterMagoo4 Geography played a role yes..but what Ferguson suggests is also invariably true.. the west was superior in many many ways for a long time, its just an unavoidable fact.

[lthp]

Exceptional scholar. I shall enjoy the book.

[hayden50]

@lthp it's a must read book ,all the best.....