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25 most important countries

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  • #31
    By RSA do you mean South Africa? And if so, why not just say South Africa?

    I also think that your list is full of misconceptions and wishful thinking.
    John Brown did nothing wrong.

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    • #32
      Originally posted by Heresson View Post
      Saudi Arabia is high on this list because of its immense oil deposits


      In bbl
      Saudi Arabia's oil reserves: 266,700,000,000
      Canada's: 178,100,000,000

      For comparison:
      Venezuela: 99,380,000,000
      Russia: 79,000,000,000
      USA: 21,320,000,000
      China: 16,000,000,000
      "The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
      Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "

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      • #33
        Asher: now multiply by current world price and you get that SA's reserves are equal to ~1.5 times US GDP for one year

        Oil is overrated in terms of the wealth/power it provides.
        12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
        Stadtluft Macht Frei
        Killing it is the new killing it
        Ultima Ratio Regum

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        • #34
          Originally posted by KrazyHorse View Post
          Asher: now multiply by current world price and you get that SA's reserves are equal to ~1.5 times US GDP for one year

          Oil is overrated in terms of the wealth/power it provides.
          I'm just illustrating inconsistencies in his methodology.
          "The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
          Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "

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          • #35
            I'm not disagreeing with you.

            I was attempting to make your criticism stronger.
            12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
            Stadtluft Macht Frei
            Killing it is the new killing it
            Ultima Ratio Regum

            Comment


            • #36
              Under what possible metric is ****ing Italy anywhere close to being one of the ten most important countries on Earth?
              "My nation is the world, and my religion is to do good." --Thomas Paine
              "The subject of onanism is inexhaustable." --Sigmund Freud

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              • #37
                Pasta?
                "The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
                Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "

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                • #38
                  Silly list but maybe we can actually standardize it a bit. There's no way to really measure diplomatic power or cultural influence, but we can easily measure economic and military strength. Here's the top 25 by GDP and military spending, courtesy of the CIA World Factbook:

                  GDP (in millions USD):
                  1 United States 14,430,000
                  2 Japan 5,108,000
                  3 People's Republic of China 4,814,000[2]
                  4 Germany 3,273,000
                  5 France 2,666,000
                  6 United Kingdom 2,198,000
                  7 Italy 2,090,000
                  8 Brazil 1,499,000
                  9 Spain 1,466,000
                  10 Canada 1,335,000
                  11 Russia 1,232,000
                  12 India 1,095,000
                  13 Mexico 1,017,000
                  14 Australia 930,000
                  15 South Korea 809,700
                  16 Netherlands 799,000
                  17 Turkey 608,400
                  18 Indonesia 514,900
                  19 Switzerland 484,100
                  20 Belgium 461,500
                  21 Poland 423,000
                  22 Sweden 397,700
                  23 Saudi Arabia 384,000
                  24 Austria 374,400
                  25 Norway 369,000
                  Military expenditures (and as % of GDP):
                  1 United States 663,255,000,000 4.3%
                  2 China 98,800,000,000 2.0%
                  3 United Kingdom 69,271,000,000 2.5%
                  4 France 67,316,000,000 2.3%
                  5 Russian Federation 61,000,000,000 3.5%
                  6 Germany 48,022,000,000 1.3%
                  7 Japan 46,859,000,000 0.9%
                  8 Saudi Arabia 39,257,000,000 8.2%
                  9 Italy 37,427,000,000 1.7%
                  10 India 36,600,000,000 2.6%
                  11 South Korea 27,130,000,000 2.8%
                  12 Brazil 27,124,000,000 1.5%
                  13 Canada 20,564,000,000 1.3%
                  14 Australia 20,109,000,000 1.8%
                  15 Spain 19,409,000,000 1.2%
                  16 Turkey 19,009,000,000 2.2%
                  17 Israel 14,309,000,000 7.0%
                  18 Greece 13,917,000,000 3.6%
                  19 United Arab Emirates 13,052,000,000a 5.9%a
                  20 Netherlands 12,642,000,000 1.4%
                  21 Poland 10,860,000,000 2.0%
                  22 Colombia 10,055,000,000 3.7%
                  23 Republic of China (Taiwan) 9,866,000,000 2.1%
                  24 Iran 9,174,000,000b 2.7%
                  25 Singapore 7,966,000,000 4.1%
                  "Flutie was better than Kelly, Elway, Esiason and Cunningham." - Ben Kenobi
                  "I have nothing against Wilson, but he's nowhere near the same calibre of QB as Flutie. Flutie threw for 5k+ yards in the CFL." -Ben Kenobi

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                  • #39
                    Very interesting. Europe spends more on military than I expected.

                    Also,

                    1. why on earth is Greece even on that list in the first place, and
                    2. why do they devote more of their economy to military than any other European nation on the list?
                    Captain of Team Apolyton - ISDG 2012

                    When I was younger I thought curfews were silly, but now as the daughter of a young woman, I appreciate them. - Rah

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                    • #40
                      Unsurprisingly, most countries appear on both lists. As far as I can tell, Mexico, Indonesia, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, and Norway are the economic powers that don't have correspondingly top 25 military budgets and Israel, Greece, the UAE, Iran, Colombia, Taiwan, and Singapore are more militant than economic. I may have missed some though.

                      South Korea is fairly high on both GDP and military expenditures, but was not even mentioned by the OP. South Korea seems like a bit of a marginal power but it's definitely respectable. Also, Italy is surprisingly high (7th and 9th) on both lists. Italy deserves more credit than they get apparently.
                      "Flutie was better than Kelly, Elway, Esiason and Cunningham." - Ben Kenobi
                      "I have nothing against Wilson, but he's nowhere near the same calibre of QB as Flutie. Flutie threw for 5k+ yards in the CFL." -Ben Kenobi

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                      • #41
                        Korea was 14th in the OP list.
                        Captain of Team Apolyton - ISDG 2012

                        When I was younger I thought curfews were silly, but now as the daughter of a young woman, I appreciate them. - Rah

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                        • #42
                          Originally posted by OzzyKP View Post
                          Very interesting. Europe spends more on military than I expected.

                          Also,

                          1. why on earth is Greece even on that list in the first place, and
                          2. why do they devote more of their economy to military than any other European nation on the list?
                          1. turkey
                          2. see above
                          "The Christian way has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found to be hard and left untried" - GK Chesterton.

                          "The most obvious predicition about the future is that it will be mostly like the past" - Alain de Botton

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                          • #43
                            One cool thing that I've noticed is that the countries that only appear on one list, appear on the bottom of the list they are on... so the economically strong but militarily weak countries like Sweden, Norway, and Austria are towards the bottom of the top 25 economic while the strong militarily but economically weak countries like Colombia, Israel, Iran, Greece have bottom top 25 militaries. So pretty much, countries in the top 25 of both lists are that much better because they're having their cake and eating it too as opposed to other countries that are concentrating in one area and are in the 20-25 range for their strength.

                            I had to do it since the OP challenged us for our own top 25 lists. Not scientific but a little more data backed than his list:

                            I'm assigning a point for being in the top 25 of either list, 2 points for top 20, 3 for top 15, 4 for top 10, 5 for top 5:

                            10 point group:
                            US
                            China
                            France (!)

                            9 point:
                            Japan
                            Germany
                            UK

                            8 point:
                            Italy
                            Russia

                            7 point:
                            Brazil
                            Spain
                            Canada
                            India

                            6 point:
                            Australia
                            South Korea

                            5 point:
                            Saudi Arabia

                            4 point:
                            Netherlands
                            Turkey

                            3 point:
                            Mexico

                            2 point:
                            Indonesia
                            Switzerland
                            Belgium
                            Poland
                            Israel
                            Greece
                            UAE

                            1 point:
                            Sweden
                            Colombia
                            Taiwan
                            Iran
                            Singapore
                            Austria
                            Norway

                            It does seem silly to equate Italy and Russia though as equal in power The rest seem fairly spot on even if France is a little high and it's odd to group Sweden with Colombia in power.
                            "Flutie was better than Kelly, Elway, Esiason and Cunningham." - Ben Kenobi
                            "I have nothing against Wilson, but he's nowhere near the same calibre of QB as Flutie. Flutie threw for 5k+ yards in the CFL." -Ben Kenobi

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                            • #44
                              Originally posted by Heresson View Post
                              3) Why is Germany high?
                              Because it's the most important of european states, and one of few which has good export values. It has immense impact on world culture, etc. Perhaps I should've put China higher, but it'd be just an indication that quantity values more than quality.
                              immense impact on world culture?

                              A lot perhaps in Poland, but I'd wager Japan has quite a bit larger impact on culture than Germany. Plus they have a bigger economy. I'd definitely rank Germany below both China & Japan. I'm not sure which of those two would get second, probably Japan at this point but with China soon to over take them. Actually... based on the UK's activity in foreign affairs, and a much more relevant culture, I'm putting them ahead of Germany too.

                              So for a very half-assed attempt to do my own list:

                              1) USA (not declining)
                              2) Japan
                              3) China
                              4) UK
                              5) Germany
                              6) France
                              7) Russia
                              8) India
                              9) Brazil
                              10) Italy
                              11) Spain
                              12) Canada
                              13) South Korea
                              14) Saudi Arabia
                              15) Australia
                              16) Mexico
                              17) Turkey
                              18) The Netherlands
                              19) Israel
                              20) Pakistan
                              21) Indonesia
                              22) Iran
                              23) Poland
                              24) Venezuela
                              25) United Arab Emirates
                              Captain of Team Apolyton - ISDG 2012

                              When I was younger I thought curfews were silly, but now as the daughter of a young woman, I appreciate them. - Rah

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                              • #45
                                Originally posted by OzzyKP View Post
                                Korea was 14th in the OP list.
                                Oh you're right. I missed that. Maybe I was thinking he meant North
                                "Flutie was better than Kelly, Elway, Esiason and Cunningham." - Ben Kenobi
                                "I have nothing against Wilson, but he's nowhere near the same calibre of QB as Flutie. Flutie threw for 5k+ yards in the CFL." -Ben Kenobi

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