[Von Tonner]

Originally Posted by Skybird

You talked of the "most powerful individual in the world". thus my response.

As CINC, the president may be a powrful figure indeed. But still, be careful to call him the most powerful individual just becasue of thos circumstance. You overestimate the importance of military power. Fact is that the Us is more depending of foreign nations and interests than it could be pleased with to admit. since a while now there are first signs that the dollar will never be the important leading currency that is once was. OPEC openly speculates about abandoning it. china wants to avoid loosing billions from sticking to dollar reserves, and if it starts for real to transofrm it's reserves into Euros, there is nothing you can do abiut that but suffer the smashing consequecnes to your finacial system and economy. Your military helps you nothing in that. I honestly doubt that the US miulitary is able anymore to wage and win a major war within the Chinese sphere of influence anymore. the war in ieraq has not and will not been ended with a clear military victory. nor the war in Afghanistan. that should put your entzhusiams of military power into relation a bit. Fact is that there is a monumental debts level, and stellar budget defiict, major poarts of the Us economy having go0ne or are going offworld and folliwng the cheaper labour elsewhere, and steel industry beinh heavily overaged, the car industry as well, and the US due to the war production it lived by since end of WWII and never switched back to civilian standards being dependent on oumping more and more money into that defense sector, if no0fr no toher reason than to keep at least that part of the industry alive and healthy. This causes nevertheless massive hurtings to american overall budget. And all this whuile being heavily dependant on the good will of foreign nations to keep on transfering immense volumes of money into the finacial market of the Us where the money often just dissapears. But some gulf states, china, several european poltiicians have shown more and mor willingness to allow this going on forever. The corrent stockmarket crisis, which is far from being over: you better believe that, and the triggering mortage crisis did not really helpt to make this trend going reverse. the ameircan economy design is no longer capable to live all by it'S own effort and fiannce the state and the military all by it's own effort - and this dependency simply leaves the Us more vulnerable than prpoud americans thinking just in terms of who has the bigger battleship are likely to admit. Again, China is outmaneuvering the Us right now - and it even does not need it's military for that. If the american CINC is so powerful and military is all that counts - I wonder why this could be, then.

But these issues have been discussed repeatedly, and with no result. So people have to wait and see who was right in the late months of 2007, and early months of 2008.

Misguided judgement? Get back to your senses. Essentially you say this: their oil is all yours, and thinking different from the US being the navel of the earth is just a mental disease that you will cure with your big stick. that's exactly the kind of arrogant attitude that earns america so much sympathy all over the globe. And btw, if oil deals turn to be done in euros not dollars, this alone would deloiver the american economy and the finances a very massive blow. It means that you have no longer a concession to print money as you like, need and feel fit.

Ok Skybird lets put it simply. The US finds itself the villian of the world for whatever reason. Its citizens are starving, new born babies are dying, factories are shut down because of lack of power, the stock market has gone belly up, farmers can't farm - lack of fuel, it is under sanctioned UN sanctions (much like other countries have undergone, SA, Rhodesia etc) but hey, it has this military might BUT oh no commander in chief you can't send that nuke off because THEIR OIL IS THEIRS - let our babies die. Get real Skybird. When it comes to survival, morals, ethics, dipolmacy, what is right what is wrong has no place in this equation - whatever secures your survival as a race, nation, identity, existence as a group however you want or wish to define is RIGHT. And because of that simple truth, that is why homosapiens rule the world.

So to come back to the origial premise. The president of the US is the most powerful individual in the world is a fact. Simply because under his command is the biggest military might this world has ever seen, put their and maintained by US tax payers to ensure their survival regardless of whose oil it is. Survival is survival whatever the cost - failure to accept that simple truth relagates you and your like to the trash heap of history.