Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geography..

Ancalagon · Aug 24, 2011

An excerpt from an article I found interesting.

The Geopolitics of the United States, Part 1: The Inevitable Empire

Like nearly all of the peoples of North and South America, most Americans are not originally from the territory that became the United States. They are a diverse collection of peoples primarily from a dozen different Western European states, mixed in with smaller groups from a hundred more. All of the New World entities struggled to carve a modern nation and state out of the American continents. Brazil is an excellent case of how that struggle can be a difficult one. The United States falls on the opposite end of the spectrum.

The American geography is an impressive one. The Greater Mississippi Basin together with the Intracoastal Waterway has more kilometers of navigable internal waterways than the rest of the world combined. The American Midwest is both overlaid by this waterway, and is the world’s largest contiguous piece of farmland. The U.S. Atlantic Coast possesses more major ports than the rest of the Western Hemisphere combined. Two vast oceans insulated the United States from Asian and European powers, deserts separate the United States from Mexico to the south, while lakes and forests separate the population centers in Canada from those in the United States. The United States has capital, food surpluses and physical insulation in excess of every other country in the world by an exceedingly large margin. So like the Turks, the Americans are not important because of who they are, but because of where they live.

The North American Core

North America is a triangle-shaped continent centered in the temperate portions of the Northern Hemisphere. It is of sufficient size that its northern reaches are fully Arctic and its southern reaches are fully tropical. Predominant wind currents carry moisture from west to east across the continent.

Climatically, the continent consists of a series of wide north-south precipitation bands largely shaped by the landmass’ longitudinal topography. The Rocky Mountains dominate the Western third of the northern and central parts of North America, generating a rain-shadow effect just east of the mountain range — an area known colloquially as the Great Plains. Farther east of this semiarid region are the well-watered plains of the prairie provinces of Canada and the American Midwest. This zone comprises both the most productive and the largest contiguous acreage of arable land on the planet.

East of this premier arable zone lies a second mountain chain known as the Appalachians. While this chain is far lower and thinner than the Rockies, it still constitutes a notable barrier to movement and economic development. However, the lower elevation of the mountains combined with the wide coastal plain of the East Coast does not result in the rain-shadow effect of the Great Plains. Consequently, the coastal plain of the East Coast is well-watered throughout.

In the continent’s northern and southern reaches this longitudinal pattern is not quite so clear-cut. North of the Great Lakes region lies the Canadian Shield, an area where repeated glaciation has scraped off most of the topsoil. That, combined with the area’s colder climate, means that these lands are not nearly as productive as regions farther south or west and, as such, remain largely unpopulated to the modern day. In the south — Mexico — the North American landmass narrows drastically from more than 5,000 kilometers (about 3,100 miles) wide to, at most, 2,000 kilometers, and in most locations less than 1,000 kilometers. The Mexican extension also occurs in the Rocky Mountain/Great Plains longitudinal zone, generating a wide, dry, irregular uplift that lacks the agricultural promise of the Canadian prairie provinces or American Midwest.

The continent’s final geographic piece is an isthmus of varying width, known as Central America, that is too wet and rugged to develop into anything more than a series of isolated city-states, much less a single country that would have an impact on continental affairs. Due to a series of swamps and mountains where the two American continents join, there still is no road network linking them, and the two Americas only indirectly affect each other’s development.

The most distinctive and important feature of North America is the river network in the middle third of the continent. While its components are larger in both volume and length than most of the world’s rivers, this is not what sets the network apart. Very few of its tributaries begin at high elevations, making vast tracts of these rivers easily navigable. In the case of the Mississippi, the head of navigation — just north of Minneapolis — is 3,000 kilometers inland.

[COMMIE]http://media.stratfor.com/files/mmf/d/0/d0fdad0d63db767a71dd4d9fa894af95e305ee09.jpg[/COMMIE]The network consists of six distinct river systems: the Missouri, Arkansas, Red, Ohio, Tennessee and, of course, the Mississippi. The unified nature of this system greatly enhances the region’s usefulness and potential economic and political power. First, shipping goods via water is an order of magnitude cheaper than shipping them via land. The specific ratio varies greatly based on technological era and local topography, but in the petroleum age in the United States, the cost of transport via water is roughly 10 to 30 times cheaper than overland. This simple fact makes countries with robust maritime transport options extremely capital-rich when compared to countries limited to land-only options. This factor is the primary reason why the major economic powers of the past half-millennia have been Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Second, the watershed of the Greater Mississippi Basin largely overlays North America’s arable lands. Normally, agricultural areas as large as the American Midwest are underutilized as the cost of shipping their output to more densely populated regions cuts deeply into the economics of agriculture. The Eurasian steppe is an excellent example. Even in modern times it is very common for Russian and Kazakh crops to occasionally rot before they can reach market. Massive artificial transport networks must be constructed and maintained in order for the land to reach its full potential. Not so in the case of the Greater Mississippi Basin. The vast bulk of the prime agricultural lands are within 200 kilometers of a stretch of navigable river. Road and rail are still used for collection, but nearly omnipresent river ports allow for the entirety of the basin’s farmers to easily and cheaply ship their products to markets not just in North America but all over the world.

Third, the river network’s unity greatly eases the issue of political integration. All of the peoples of the basin are part of the same economic system, ensuring constant contact and common interests. Regional proclivities obviously still arise, but this is not Northern Europe, where a variety of separate river systems have given rise to multiple national identities.

[NAZI]http://media.stratfor.com/files/mmf/d/e/de5881d73ea2615897ac2f1bde6fe9c23c38c8cb.jpg[/NAZI]It is worth briefly explaining why STRATFOR fixates on navigable rivers as opposed to coastlines. First, navigable rivers by definition service twice the land area of a coastline (rivers have two banks, coasts only one). Second, rivers are not subject to tidal forces, greatly easing the construction and maintenance of supporting infrastructure. Third, storm surges often accompany oceanic storms, which force the evacuation of oceanic ports. None of this eliminates the usefulness of coastal ports, but in terms of the capacity to generate capital, coastal regions are a poor second compared to lands with navigable rivers.

There are three other features — all maritime in nature — that further leverage the raw power that the Greater Mississippi Basin provides. First are the severe indentations of North America’s coastline, granting the region a wealth of sheltered bays and natural, deep-water ports. The more obvious examples include the Gulf of St. Lawrence, San Francisco Bay, Chesapeake Bay, Galveston Bay and Long Island Sound/New York Bay.

Second, there are the Great Lakes. Unlike the Greater Mississippi Basin, the Great Lakes are not naturally navigable due to winter freezes and obstacles such as Niagara Falls. However, over the past 200 years extensive hydrological engineering has been completed — mostly by Canada — to allow for full navigation on the lakes. Since 1960, penetrating halfway through the continent, the Great Lakes have provided a secondary water transport system that has opened up even more lands for productive use and provided even greater capacity for North American capital generation. The benefits of this system are reaped mainly by the warmer lands of the United States rather than the colder lands of Canada, but since the Great Lakes constitute Canada’s only maritime transport option for reaching the interior, most of the engineering was paid for by Canadians rather than Americans.

Third and most important are the lines of barrier islands that parallel the continent’s East and Gulf coasts. These islands allow riverine Mississippi traffic to travel in a protected intracoastal waterway all the way south to the Rio Grande and all the way north to the Chesapeake Bay. In addition to serving as a sort of oceanic river, the island chain’s proximity to the Mississippi delta creates an extension of sorts for all Mississippi shipping, in essence extending the political and economic unifying tendencies of the Mississippi Basin to the eastern coastal plain.

Thus, the Greater Mississippi Basin is the continent’s core, and whoever controls that core not only is certain to dominate the East Coast and Great Lakes regions but will also have the agricultural, transport, trade and political unification capacity to be a world power — even without having to interact with the rest of the global system.

[NAZI]http://media.stratfor.com/files/mmf/1/9/195c5763ef421725cc8c4d16b276bd1d241e37f3.jpg[/NAZI]There is, of course, more to North America than simply this core region and its immediate satellites. There are many secondary stretches of agricultural land as well — those just north of the Greater Mississippi Basin in south-central Canada, the lands just north of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, the Atlantic coastal plain that wraps around the southern terminus of the Appalachians, California’s Central Valley, the coastal plain of the Pacific Northwest, the highlands of central Mexico and the Veracruz region.

But all of these regions combined are considerably smaller than the American Midwest and are not ideal, agriculturally, as the Midwest is. Because the Great Lakes are not naturally navigable, costly canals must be constructed. The prairie provinces of south-central Canada lack a river transport system altogether. California’s Central Valley requires irrigation. The Mexican highlands are semiarid and lack any navigable rivers.

The rivers of the American Atlantic coastal plain — flowing down the eastern side of the Appalachians — are neither particularly long nor interconnected. This makes them much more like the rivers of Northern Europe in that their separation localizes economic existence and fosters distinct political identities, dividing the region rather than uniting it. The formation of such local — as opposed to national — identities in many ways contributed to the American Civil War.

But the benefits of these secondary regions are not distributed evenly. What is now Mexico lacks even a single navigable river of any size. Its agricultural zones are disconnected and it boasts few good natural ports. Mexico’s north is too dry while its south is too wet — and both are too mountainous — to support major population centers or robust agricultural activities. Additionally, the terrain is just rugged enough — making transport just expensive enough — to make it difficult for the central government to enforce its writ. The result is the near lawlessness of the cartel lands in the north and the irregular spasms of secessionist activity in the south.

Canada’s maritime transport zones are far superior to those of Mexico but pale in comparison to those of the United States. Its first, the Great Lakes, not only requires engineering but is shared with the United States. The second, the St. Lawrence Seaway, is a solid option (again with sufficient engineering), but it services a region too cold to develop many dense population centers. None of Canada boasts naturally navigable rivers, often making it more attractive for Canada’s provinces — in particular the prairie provinces and British Columbia — to integrate with the United States, where transport is cheaper, the climate supports a larger population and markets are more readily accessible. Additionally, the Canadian Shield greatly limits development opportunities. This vast region — which covers more than half of Canada’s landmass and starkly separates Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto and the prairie provinces — consists of a rocky, broken landscape perfect for canoeing and backpacking but unsuitable for agriculture or habitation.

So long as the United States has uninterrupted control of the continental core — which itself enjoys independent and interconnected ocean access — the specific locations of the country’s northern and southern boundaries are somewhat immaterial to continental politics. To the south, the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts are a significant barrier in both directions, making the exceedingly shallow Rio Grande a logical — but hardly absolute — border line. The eastern end of the border could be anywhere within 300 kilometers north or south of its current location (at present the border region’s southernmost ports — Brownsville and Corpus Christi — lie on the U.S. side of the border). As one moves westward to the barren lands of New Mexico, Arizona, Chihuahua and Sonora, the possible variance increases considerably. Even controlling the mouth of the Colorado River where it empties into the Gulf of California is not a critical issue, since hydroelectric development in the United States prevents the river from reaching the Gulf in most years, making it useless for transport.

In the north, the Great Lakes are obviously an ideal break point in the middle of the border region, but the specific location of the line along the rest of the border is largely irrelevant. East of the lakes, low mountains and thick forests dominate the landscape — not the sort of terrain to generate a power that could challenge the U.S. East Coast. The border here could theoretically lie anywhere between the St. Lawrence Seaway and Massachusetts without compromising the American population centers on the East Coast (although, of course, the farther north the line is the more secure the East Coast will be). West of the lakes is flat prairie that can be easily crossed, but the land is too cold and often too dry, and, like the east, it cannot support a large population. So long as the border lies north of the bulk of the Missouri River’s expansive watershed, the border’s specific location is somewhat academic, and it becomes even more so when one reaches the Rockies.

On the far western end of the U.S.-Canada border is the only location where there could be some border friction. The entrance to Puget Sound — one of the world’s best natural harbors — is commanded by Vancouver Island. Most of the former is United States territory, but the latter is Canadian — in fact, the capital of British Columbia, Victoria, sits on the southern tip of that strategic island for precisely that reason. However, the fact that British Columbia is more than 3,000 kilometers from the Toronto region and that there is a 12:1 population imbalance between British Columbia and the American West Coast largely eliminates the possibility of Canadian territorial aggression.
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http://www.stratfor.com/memberships...litics-united-states-part-1-inevitable-empire

The above reasons, combined with being the only power capable of controlling both of the world's two major oceans, possession of a large (and growing) population, a dearth of natural resources means that contrary to the all the doom and gloom the US is not going to wind up in shambles any time soon.

Uncle Albert · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Why in the hell do we not have a :tldr: smilie?

Scott Hamilton Robert E Ron Paul Lee · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

I have always felt we use our river ways improperly. For example, here in Memphis, we have one of the largest inland ports on the Mississippi River. I've heard they used to dock submarines here! However, when I've looked into container shipping rates from Japan to Memphis, they're hard to find - everyone wants to do intermodal shipping, from Japan to LA or Savanna, and then truck the rest of the way.

This is ridiculous - Memphis has a great freeway system, the largest air cargo volume in the world, and several of the largest railways in the country come through here with huge facilities to handle moving containers from train to truck to ship.

Further, while our rivers are navigable, I wonder if they will remain that way. The nation seems to be moving towards removing dams in the name of environmentalism. Many rivers doing great for shipping would not do so well without locks.

Finally, to hit the population issue. Lack of population is the reason the government accepts so many illegals. We would not have enough people otherwise - we have aborted too many babies (50+ million) and those in our society who are educated and have resources do not, as a group, have enough children. We're not facing a China level issue, but I hope we can remain competitive in leading tech sectors.

The pain of the recession is causing a lot of lash back, but long term, if we can control our energy destiny ourselves, we will be very competitive in manufacturing and food production. A strong world opens up wonderful export markets.

There is a danger in being too wealthy: The Spaniards spent their wealth away by hiring Dutch workers to do the things they did not want to do when they conquered the new world. We need to work smart - not pay lots, as a nation.

Great article, I enjoyed skimming it.

Ancalagon · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

apostle83 said: ↑

I have always felt we use our river ways improperly. For example, here in Memphis, we have one of the largest inland ports on the Mississippi River. I've heard they used to dock submarines here! However, when I've looked into container shipping rates from Japan to Memphis, they're hard to find - everyone wants to do intermodal shipping, from Japan to LA or Savanna, and then truck the rest of the way.

This is ridiculous - Memphis has a great freeway system, the largest air cargo volume in the world, and several of the largest railways in the country come through here with huge facilities to handle moving containers from train to truck to ship.

Further, while our rivers are navigable, I wonder if they will remain that way. The nation seems to be moving towards removing dams in the name of environmentalism. Many rivers doing great for shipping would not do so well without locks.

Finally, to hit the population issue. Lack of population is the reason the government accepts so many illegals. We would not have enough people otherwise - we have aborted too many babies (50+ million) and those in our society who are educated and have resources do not, as a group, have enough children. We're not facing a China level issue, but I hope we can remain competitive in leading tech sectors.

The pain of the recession is causing a lot of lash back, but long term, if we can control our energy destiny ourselves, we will be very competitive in manufacturing and food production. A strong world opens up wonderful export markets.

There is a danger in being too wealthy: The Spaniards spent their wealth away by hiring Dutch workers to do the things they did not want to do when they conquered the new world. We need to work smart - not pay lots, as a nation.

Great article, I enjoyed skimming it.
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Going to bed, so just a quick post.

First studies have shown that most people who have abortions early in life DO have children later on. So basically instead of having children younger they have them later in life. So the 50+ million number is bullshit.

Secondly, if you like this kind of analysis check out George Friedman's (the Founder and Chief Intelligence Officer of STRATFOR) book, The Next Hundred Years: A Forcast for the 21st Century.

Marso · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

It's bad ideology (liberal progressivism, political correctness, and multi-culturalism) that's killing us as a nation, not any dearth of national resources, inland waterways, etc.

You can have all the natural resources in the world, but if econuts block their usage because you might disturb the pristine, natural mosquito swamp that sits on them, they are of absolutely no use to you.

When you hold all value systems up as being equal in worth, then it means you have no values. Basically you are saying 'anything goes.' Civilization has been defined as good imposing itself on evil. Civilization isn't going to win just on the basis of being civilization- evil doesn't give up, and civilization can be beaten back. It's happening in many places throughout the world, and we are not immune.

You cannot raise an entire generation to believe in government dependence and expect to prosper as a nation. Small Government = Big Citizens and Big Liberty. Big Government = Small Citizens and Small Liberty. More and more people these days are extending their adolescence well into their 20's, accruing massive student loan debt, living on their parents' insurance and in their houses, and foregoing marriage and children. By the same token, they want to retire earlier, receive SS and have their medical care taken care of for them by the government. Those productive years in between that pay for this largesse are being pinched down and accepted by fewer and fewer people as time goes on.

None of the above listed problems have anything to do with the midwest river systems.

It's been said before, by myself and others, here and in other places: Bad ideology can fell a civilization as surely as any war or natural disaster. We are a nation that has fallen into bad ideology. Whether we can escape it or not is going to be up to the up and coming generation, and all indications are that they aren't going to be mentally capable of snapping free of it.

Paladin · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

I agree: we're situated on the most prime piece of real estate in the world. And the importance of navigable inland waterways cannot be overstated. The lack of them is one reason why the interior of Africa remains poor and undeveloped. Australia, big and wonderful country though it is, does not have the potential of the U.S.A., simply because there is nothing like the Mississippi River in its interior; it's populations will always be huddled very close to the coasts.

Edit: but Marso is quite right: geography alone =/= destiny. Culture matters.

KIRK1ADM · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

An interesting read. I think the author makes some interesting points.

Captain J · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

All this assumes the US never balkanizes. The worse things get economically and the more gov't control there is the more likely this becomes long term.

Paladin · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Uncle Albert agrees: did you mean to say "overstated"?
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That IS what I said. Why don't you learn to read?

Thanks for calling that to my attention.

Ward · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

edit - Anc: I think he's still got a point about abortions, though. They may be used to delay having that one or two kids that you were going to have anyway but it's undoubtedly also reducing the overall size of families as well. You can't have that many abortions, IMO, without leaving some people that never made it. It has also had a strong influence on our ability to accept so many low wage illegals. Let's face it, many who've been aborted would otherwise be struggling to make it and would be competing with the "wanted" and illegals for jobs and other benefits in this economy.

One aspect of the US that is left out in the analysis of power in your article, Anc, is that we made political choices that took advantage of that favorable geography. Manifest Destiny alone meant that we would unify from East to West and grab a good chunk of the favorable terrain mentioned here from North to South. As well, the Union victory in the War of Northern Aggression practically guaranteed that political unity for the next couple of centuries afterwards.

I'm not ready right now to write a dissertation on how the government model we chose led to economic success but we could've royally (pun intended) screwed it up before we even got a good start with bad choices.

Jenee · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Marso said: ↑

It's bad ideology (liberal [...]
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Didn't need to read anything after that.

Anyone who thinks one polical side is "better" or "worse" than the other - as far as damage to polical system goes - is doesn't know enough to be making any such judgements.

KIRK1ADM · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Jenee said: ↑

Marso said: ↑

It's bad ideology (liberal [...]
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Didn't need to read anything after that.

Anyone who thinks one polical side is "better" or "worse" than the other - as far as damage to polical system goes - is doesn't know enough to be making any such judgements.
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Any side, I don't care which side it is that desires to ignore the Constitution, look for ways around it, or believes that it allows for the government to involve itself in aspects of our lives that are defined in the Constitution is "worse". Those are the people that need to be voted out of office. Unfortunately, that seems to be all we get from either of the two main political parties right now.

Marso · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Captain J said: ↑

All this assumes the US never balkanizes. The worse things get economically and the more gov't control there is the more likely this becomes long term.
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When the US balkanizes, those rivers will make GREAT natural borders.

Zombie · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Marso said: ↑

It's bad ideology (liberal progressivism, political correctness, and multi-culturalism) that's killing us as a nation, not any dearth of national resources, inland waterways, etc.
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Exactly. We are been hamstrung by the left.

You can have all the natural resources in the world, but if econuts block their usage because you might disturb the pristine, natural mosquito swamp that sits on them, they are of absolutely no use to you.
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"http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/dear-environmental-community-please-shut-up/

The Calico project -- which Tessera Solar sold to K Road Power last month -- was improperly approved, alleges the suit, and could harm plant and animal species in the area. Last month, the Quechan Tribe won an injunction to halt the Imperial project, another Tessera power plant, on the grounds that it could impair the habitat of the flat tailed horned lizard."

A fucking lizard.

And this crap happens all the time.

Farmers in California are suffering for water over some stupid fish.

Whether or not one thinks we should be drilling in ANWR in Alaska the plant there wouldn't even make a dent on the native population of animals. Yet that is one of the arguments against it.

What good is having resources if you can never access them?

You cannot raise an entire generation to believe in government dependence and expect to prosper as a nation.
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We will start seeing riots soon just like in Greece and the rest of Europe.

And it will be spectacular. We will make Europe look tiny. But that's America. Always late to the party but when we show up that's when the real fun starts.

Paladin said: ↑

I agree: we're situated on the most prime piece of real estate in the world. And the importance of navigable inland waterways cannot be overstated. The lack of them is one reason why the interior of Africa remains poor and undeveloped. Australia, big and wonderful country though it is, does not have the potential of the U.S.A., simply because there is nothing like the Mississippi River in its interior; it's populations will always be huddled very close to the coasts.

Edit: but Marso is quite right: geography alone =/= destiny. Culture matters.
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I wonder, and the answer is probably no, but if Australia couldn't dig a big freaking lake like the Panama Canal?

Probably still cost too much.

And Africa? Too busy killing each other.

Marso · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

One further note:

The bigger the FedGov becomes and the more it tries to centralize every facet of government, the more inevitable balkanization becomes. As a nation we are actually very heterogeneous by region, and one area's problems tend to differ significantly from the problems in other areas. Given that the best government is that which governs least and most locally, a bigger, more centralized FedGov cannot but help to fail to solve regional problems, and becomes more and more useless to the people who are breaking their backs to fund it.

The more you tighten your grip, statists, the more states will slip through your fingers...

Zombie · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Marso said: ↑

Captain J said: ↑

All this assumes the US never balkanizes. The worse things get economically and the more gov't control there is the more likely this becomes long term.
Click to expand...

When the US balkanizes, those rivers will make GREAT natural borders.
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Many a war will be fought over them too....

Marso · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Zombie said: ↑

Marso said: ↑

Captain J said: ↑

All this assumes the US never balkanizes. The worse things get economically and the more gov't control there is the more likely this becomes long term.
Click to expand...

When the US balkanizes, those rivers will make GREAT natural borders.
Click to expand...

Many a war will be fought over them too....
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I've told many people that I think the next actual war fought on North American soil will be over water.

Uncle Albert · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Just keep your greasy meat hooks away from the Ogallala aquifer.

Zombie · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

It will be the first conquered. And you will end up in the American version of Jaynestown.

Get back in the box!

Asyncritus · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Paladin said: ↑

And the importance of navigable inland waterways cannot be overstated. The lack of them is one reason why the interior of Africa remains poor and undeveloped.
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For much of Africa, yes. But the Congo basin has thousands of miles of waterways, most of which could very easily be made navigable. From a geographical and geological point of view, the country is filthy rich.

Yet it remains one of the poorest countries in the world.

Government matters. A lot.

Paladin · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Zombie said: ↑

I wonder, and the answer is probably no, but if Australia couldn't dig a big freaking lake like the Panama Canal?
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Hmmm...maybe.

But, because Australia is bowl-shaped--low in the center, high at the edges--this would result in saltwater (seawater) flowing in and filling some internal lake. You wouldn't have a continuous current like you do with the Mississippi, which is draining snow melt and such from the entire continent. I imagine that the canal would have to be very, very deep as it got towards the coasts.

Zombie · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Interesting....

I didn't know it was bowl shaped.

Zombie · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Marso said: ↑

Zombie said: ↑

Marso said: ↑

Captain J said: ↑

All this assumes the US never balkanizes. The worse things get economically and the more gov't control there is the more likely this becomes long term.
Click to expand...

When the US balkanizes, those rivers will make GREAT natural borders.
Click to expand...

Many a war will be fought over them too....
Click to expand...

I've told many people that I think the next actual war fought on North American soil will be over water.
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If we invested in nuclear power we could have the energy needed to clean up water and make it drinkable....

Marso · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Zombie said: ↑

Marso said: ↑

Zombie said: ↑

Marso said: ↑

Captain J said: ↑

All this assumes the US never balkanizes. The worse things get economically and the more gov't control there is the more likely this becomes long term.
Click to expand...

When the US balkanizes, those rivers will make GREAT natural borders.
Click to expand...

Many a war will be fought over them too....
Click to expand...

I've told many people that I think the next actual war fought on North American soil will be over water.
Click to expand...

If we invested in nuclear power we could have the energy needed to clean up water and make it drinkable....
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Bad ideology has squashed NUC power in this country.

sandbagger · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Marso said: ↑

Captain J said: ↑

All this assumes the US never balkanizes. The worse things get economically and the more gov't control there is the more likely this becomes long term.
Click to expand...

When the US balkanizes, those rivers will make GREAT natural borders.
Click to expand...

Republic of West Florida Forever!

Dayton Kitchens · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Captain J said: ↑

All this assumes the US never balkanizes. The worse things get economically and the more gov't control there is the more likely this becomes long term.
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U.S. balkanization is effectively impossible.

To balkanize you need serious regionalism and we don't have that in the United States. People of vastly different views and cultures are really mingled.

Texas for example has one of the most conservative regions of the Bible Belt in East Texas and it also has Austin which has been called "San Francisco of the south".

Starchaser · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

A corrupt central government (like we have now) can bring it to a crashing halt.
And when the people dont give a fuck to question its authority, it's doomed to fail.

Paladin · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Dayton3 said: ↑

Captain J said: ↑

All this assumes the US never balkanizes. The worse things get economically and the more gov't control there is the more likely this becomes long term.
Click to expand...

U.S. balkanization is effectively impossible.

To balkanize you need serious regionalism and we don't have that in the United States. People of vastly different views and cultures are really mingled.

Texas for example has one of the most conservative regions of the Bible Belt in East Texas and it also has Austin which has been called "San Francisco of the south".
Click to expand...

I disagree. All that's required for balkanization is for there to be sufficient majorities in favor of secession. Like all political matters, it's a numbers game. While it's true that, even in the reddest of the red states, the Democratic candidate gets 40% of the vote (and the Republican candidate in the bluest of the blue states), that's still a minority.

I imagine if you looked closely, you'd find that even right before the Civil War, there were Southerners who valued preserving the union, as well as Northerners who didn't give a hoot one way or another about slavery. It's reductive to think that all those on each side were in complete lockstep philosophically; that's NEVER true.

This country became polarized to the point of war/secession once before; there's nothing to guarantee that it could not happen again.

In fact, there've been several articles recently that talked about the ongoing movements of Americans to places that are more ideologically comfortable for them. That trend could be both a cause and symptom of approaching balkanization...

Marso · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Hmm. Serious 'regionalism.'

Most of the population SoCal, Arizona, NM, and South Texas more closely identifies with Mexico than the United States. They also believe that they are 'winning the peace' in terms of slowly reclaiming land that once belonged to Mexico and was wrongly taken from it. Call it 'Aztlan.' These people fly the Mexican flag over their homes and place of business, on US soil, and English is the 'second language.'

In the Southeast you have a population that still harbors a grudge over the Civil War a century and a half later, calling it "The War of Northern Aggression" or "The First Half."

In 'flyover country' you have what's left of conservative, whitebread America wondering what the fuck happened to the coasts and the border, not to mention the Constitution. They are also warily eying states like CA and NY and wondering when those problems will become theirs when the Feds finally bail them out.

In places like Dearborn, you have a clear Muslim majority building mosques and lobbying for the adoption (or at least tacit recognition) of Sharia.

Politically, civil discourse has broken down. The divides have become too deep, and compromise is no longer possible when the left (and the Neocons) clearly wants to keep driving the nation straight off the cliff with entitlement (and other Big Gov't) spending that is clearly, mathematically, irrefutably unsustainable.

These United States are NOT a homogeneous entity by any means. We are fractured, polarized, and pulling in about four different directions on the rope.

I think if you ask a lot of native Hawaiians, they'd love nothing better than to expel the Haolis and go back to ruling themselves. Same for a lot of Texans, for that matter.

Zombie · Aug 24, 2011

Re: Another reason the US is going to stay the most powerful nation in the world - Geograp

Texas is going to need the assistance of the other southern states to expel Mexico.

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