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The Strongest Super power in History
- Thread starter mgargan1
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You've got to be kidding. Those manky tresses half the team have? Ugh_Matt said:
There's a good reason Del Piero & Cannavaro shaved their heads
88.7% of statistics are made up. Everyone knows that._Matt said:
@ Applespider - yeah to all that but what have they ever done for us?
Jaffa Cake said:
Oooops, my bad. I believe beer was invented by the Babylonians.
Ergo Babylon = Greatest Empire of All Time™?
[Edit:] Yup! The Mesopotamians invented the stuff.
According to this the earliest recorded mention of beer is from Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. However, they reckon "it is likely that beer-like beverages were independently invented among various cultures throughout the world."whocares said:Oooops, my bad. I believe beer was invented by the Babylonians.
Ergo Babylon = Greatest Empire of All Time™?
See, we're comparing all these different nations and empires and arguing over which is stronger or more powerful – but it turns out that mankind's greatest ever creation was a triumph we can all share in. Gives you a warm fuzzy feeling of togetherness, doesn't it?
Jaffa Cake said:See, we're comparing all these different nations and empires and arguing over which is stronger or more powerful but it turns out that mankind's greatest ever creation was a triumph we can all share in. Gives you a warm fuzzy feeling of togetherness, doesn't it?
Reminds me of a greeting card I bought recently with a comedian's quote on it.
Although surely you still need the wheel to deliver the pizzas on those little scooters...
which takes us back to the Italians
Applespider said:Wonders whether to post my backup photo of gorgeous Italian men modelling D&G underpants?
Oh why not... Now if only it was lifesize...
the guy in the middle with the beard is on the Italy world cup team
dynamicv said:
This is true, however, since this thread is about empires and superpowers, I still think the US wins. We are not self sufficient, but neither is anyone else at this point. Globalization has made us depend on eveyone else, and since everyone depends on everyone (America needs chinese labor and chinese labor American business, we Venezuelan oil but Venezuela needs our money etc...) the country with the biggest economic empire, I would argue, is the country on whom the most people depend. Since the US is the biggest consumer of just about everything- from oil to electonics- most companies and their countries depend on us more than any other country to buy their product. No rich Americans, nowhere for the BMWs to be shipped: no BMW.
Felldownthewell said:
i think there is little doubt that today the US are dominant economically and militarily, but that doesn't necessarily make it the 'strongest' ever, in relative terms.
I think in terms of sheer size and military superiority to everyone else, at least in a relatively short period, the Mongol empire, from genghis khan to kublai khan is basically unrivalled; it included most of asia and eastern europe, and only because of fortuitous circumstances they didn't conquer the whole of europe and northern africa
if we include duration/impact my vote goes to the romans
Don't panic said:
No arguement there- I was speaking simply about economic and military dominance of TODAY, which does not amount to an empire by any means. And I agree, the Romans have had the most influence and general strength (Strong government, armies, supportive populace, beautiful cities and amazing technology for the time), but Mongolian empire was vast. However, they were more into the "burn, pillage, and keep going" strategy, which may be why they couldn't keep the empire under control for as long as, say, the Romans did.
pretty much.Felldownthewell said:
still, they lasted about one century and of course they fell to civil war.
they retreated (undefeated) from europe apparently because the general had to go back to participate to an election for the next khan.
BakedBeans said:
Jokes? The American Special Forces are the most elite fighting force the world's ever known.
I might have misunderstood you though...
Mike Teezie said:
Total rubbish... you might get that crap fed to you by your news channels but the SAS and SBS are far far better, that is why they do all the mission critical work and the delta force are controlled by them. Hell they are just about the worst i can think off, the Israeli special forces are far better.
I heard someone going on about how they would prefer to be on the side with the f-22s... my brother in law is on the very first squadron for the typhoon (or euro fighter if you like), they put them up against the f-22s and the americans have now stopped that practice as the typhoons had them locked on at 40 miles away.
I am just sick of the american over inflated ego, It will be there down fall
BakedBeans said:
Might I add something to that? Its not just ego.. its also plain old American lack of quick thinking i.e. being retarded
NK: Launches nuke on SFrancisco - 5 million ppl dead
30 mins later..
Officer to Bush - "Sir, NK just launched a nuke.. SFrancisco is out"
Bush reading "My Pet Toad" to kids in school - "Er.. oh thats bad. Is Texas safe though? I never liked the ups and downs of Frisco anyway.. hyuk hyuk"
Officer - "Sir, we need to respond. What should we do?"
Bush - "Eh? Uhm.. duh.. er.. I don't know. Call NORAD.. aren't they they nukyular guys? Oh and my wife Laura. We'd better escape to our ranch and make sure the ponies are allright"
(5 minutes later)
NORAD responds - " Are you sure? Is this real world? Is this a drill?"
Officer - " Positive. Real world. This is NOT a drill" (repeat 2 times)
*Poof* NORAD just got hit by a nuke from NK
You can have the highest spending on the US military, but if you have the collective intelligence of a dimwit.. you really can't do much against anybody.
With all due respect to my American friends.. let me show you the difference in speed that an order to a server would take (in India and here in the US.. and I love american food btw):
Indian restaurant - "Yes sir, what would you like to order?"
Me -"I'll have a chicken biryani, some raita, mango pickle, tandoori naan and a coke"
Server - "Ok sir, it will be ready in 10 minutes, thank you"
At in-n-out in california
Me- "Hi, can i have a double meat with onion? Thats it"
Server - "Do you want cheese on that?"
Me - "No. A double meat.. not a double cheeseburger."
Server - " Do you want fries?"
Me - "No. Just the double meat burger with onion. Thats it"
Server - ' Would you like to drink anything with that?"
Me (getting impatient) - "No, thank you."
Server - "Ok. So a double meat with onion? Right?"
Me - "Yes."
Server - "Ok, will you be eating that in your car?"
Me (thinking to myself - no ill be eating it in my spaceship) - "Yes"
Server - "Ok that will be $3.. I'm sorry but did you want cheese on that?"
I think there's a flaw or two in this narrative. I'll amend for reality.
Not wanting to be down on our American friends, but could it be the reason all those long range weapons were developed is that your fighting forces aren't actually that good close up? Real life isn't like Hollywood. If it were, we could sort out Afghanistan by sending in Bruce WillisMusic_Producer said:
dynamicv said:Jesus, haven't you lot ever played Civilization (sic) III?
I have, but that is besides the point
.I think that the EU is the current world superpower. When it comes to economic power, culture and good carsm the EU can't be beat.
My vote goes to Christianity.
Controlled/superceded/altered many a country and Empire.
To possibly misappropriate a cliché - the pen is mightier than the sword.
While countrys and Empires may threaten you body/life with the sword or the Atom Bomb, powerful religions can threaten you with essentially unprovable eternal damnation - and convince you that the sun revolves around the earth - they can threaten the mind in this life, and the soul in all lives...
Game. Set. Match.
Islam comes in second...
Controlled/superceded/altered many a country and Empire.
To possibly misappropriate a cliché - the pen is mightier than the sword.
While countrys and Empires may threaten you body/life with the sword or the Atom Bomb, powerful religions can threaten you with essentially unprovable eternal damnation - and convince you that the sun revolves around the earth - they can threaten the mind in this life, and the soul in all lives...
Game. Set. Match.
Islam comes in second...
Applespider said:
... there's a chip shop somewhere missing the contents of its deep-fat fryer ...
(actually, looking at the Argentinian, Brazilian and Italian football teams' hair, there's many chip shops missing the entire contents of their deep-fat-fryers. *yuck*)
BakedBeans said:
I don't have to get it fed to me by anyone, least of all the media. I'm around it all the time. My little brother is a green beret, or at least will be on December 1st when he gets tabbed.
Delta, the worst? What gave you that idea? Where do you get the idea that Delta is controlled by the SAS? Now, granted, since the start of the Afghanistan and Irag wars, some of Delta has been largely relegated to doing things that normally regular marine or Army units would do, like room clearing - but I don't know where you got the idea that anybody controls Delta but Delta. And I certainly don't know what gave you the idea they are the worst SF unit.
Make no mistake, the SAS and SBS are both amazing SF units. I would absolutely put them on par with our American SF, so don't get your pannies in a bunch about my over-inflated American ego.
Now most of the books I've read say that by the by, the Green Berets are the smartest, most lethal, efficient fighting unit around. And that the SAS is right up there with them.
But it's largely comparing apples and oranges, if you really get down to it.
Why all the hubris towards American SF? It's not like I got my info from the Chuck Norris movie Delta Force. I'm not some goon saying "American SF can whoop your SF!"
We won't fall militarily. If we fall, it will be economically.
BakedBeans said:
good points...even eric haney, founding plank member of america's top military counter terrorism force, delta force, looks up to the SAS...us army colonel beckwith, also a founding member of delta, got the unit started after he trained with the british SAS
but even the regular us army, not special forces, is probably the most formidable force in history (compared to its current foes)...they had very little trouble dismantling saddam in the first gulf war and the second and both times iraq had a major military presence with combat experience...but as far as occupying a conquered enemy, i bet we can all think of armies that did a far better job than bush/rumsfeld and company
Well, that is an improvement over "most elite force the world has ever known"
I don't know who wrote the books you have read but i am willing to be it was an ex us army/navy/airforce guy.
The general consensus is that delta are pretty much a joke and that the who american army isn't the brightest bunch of sparks. Im not saying it because i don't like america or anything (i have many times thought about moving there) but the forces are widely known to be poor comparatively.
the sas and sbs (the sbs more so) are "were its at"
I don't know who wrote the books you have read but i am willing to be it was an ex us army/navy/airforce guy.
The general consensus is that delta are pretty much a joke and that the who american army isn't the brightest bunch of sparks. Im not saying it because i don't like america or anything (i have many times thought about moving there) but the forces are widely known to be poor comparatively.
the sas and sbs (the sbs more so) are "were its at"
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