The west vs the rest (Global North vs Global South)

[ナルゴ]

For the past few generations, the world had been divided into the three-world model
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-world_model

1st world - Basically the western bloc, NATO, and other developed western-aligned economies
2nd world - Eastern bloc; USSR/Russia, China, and former soviet states
3rd world - Non-aligned countries; Former Yugoslavia, India, South East Asia, Latin America, African countries, etc

When the USSR collapsed, it was pretty much the 1st world led by the USA effectively having a hegemony over the world. Everyone started aligning themselves with the west. Trading with the west. Making military alliances with the west. For they were the indisputed leader in economy, military, and technology.

However it isn't the late 20th century anymore.
America has slowly squandered its wealth and reputation on back-to-back wars and shady activities to secure resources (mostly oil)
Europe which has largely propped itself up from cheap Russian energy and foreign manufacturing/production find themselves being geopolitically isolated and becoming ever more reliant on the USA.

The second world; especially China, has seen a massive resurgence. While they might not have the best of anything; they compete in some aspects with the west. Whether it be in trade, manufacturing, influence, or manpower.

But most importantly; the third world, which used to be synonymous with the underdeveloped world, has almost caught up in economy, technology, and influence with both the 1st and 2nd worlds.

Why does this matter? Because we're now seeing a clear divide. The west vs the rest as some call it. Where the "global south" is resisting influence from the developed countries of the west.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/26/world-west-danger-gaza-ukraine-food-global-problems
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/05/02/ukraine-russia-war-un-vote-condemn-global-response/

The world gave the west the benefit of the doubt. Do things their way, try democracy, try foreign western 'investment'. However to some, the results have not been as good as promised. This has led the rest of the world to think that maybe the west isn't thinking about everyone's collective interest, only themselves.

We can see this in UN votes. US and its allies in Europe voting one way, while the rest of the world votes the other way. There was even that controversial point in time during the Israel-Palestine conflict last year where the US was repeatedly vetoing ceasefires and humanitarian pauses. Which was ironically condemned by countries with their own spotty humanitarian reputations like Russia and china.

We can see this in the Ukraine conflict. Putin made the bet that Russia could deal with western sanctions because the rest of the world won't join in on it. He was right. Russia is now the most sanctioned country in the world but it is still chugging. Their exports of energy (nuclear and carbon fuels) and other materials were far too valuable to cut off. The majority of the world remained interested in either friendly or neutral relations with Russia.

We can see this in the Israel-Palestine conflict. The west underestimated the support that Palestine would get and now Israel finds itself in a volatile situation where it risks ruining relations with many countries if it continues to operate the way they do.

This transition, where the geopolitical center of power shifts from the USA to Eurasia was inevitable. Countries with large reserves of resources and manpower were going to develop eventually. Many of them were emulating western-style education and business after all. So world power was balanced out a bit.

That said, while the rest of the world has arguably surpassed the west in commodities production and manpower, the west still has the edge in advanced hardware manufacturing (especially chips), digital/online services/influence, and military might.

So what do Off-topic users think about all this?

[☎need4naiim☎]

I am siding with Edgar Friendly against the digital "loveable&serene" dictatorship of Dr. Raymond Cocteau.

I am forever against forced Veganism, forced "renewable energy", forced "Digitalism", forced "Social Credit Implementation", forced "ban on Sugar/Salt/Cholesterol/Meat".

For now, it is CH*NA who leads the forces wishing to bring up digital oppressed fascism by disgusting Social Credit Scores, disgusting AI Cameras everywhere, disgusting Worship of "squeaky clean" Legislators and Government, Cashless Society.

ANYONE who brings itself to a camaraderie with that above mentality is SURELY my enemy. As Edgar Friendly tells us:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gMI_26oljqs

[Rio]

Multi-polar world is better for humanity, as long as people stop waving nukes around.

[Mina]

The West is is the best.
Get here we’ll do the rest.
The blue bus is calling us…

[Le fishe au chocolat]

First: not all of former USSR countries are pro-Russian.

Second: "Third-world" countries aren't non-aligned countries. They don't belong to any military alliances but some of them belong to economic alliances.

Third: Latin America is various. Cuba is still a pro-Russian country, while the rest are influenced by the U.S. or China.

Forth: North Korea is a pro-Russian country.

Fifth: America and the Western have sold weapons for both sides in "HAMAS - Israel war", so they should have responsibility for the current situation.

Sixth: China actually isn't pro-Russian country. They do it all for benefits and profits. When Russia becomes less valuable, China will sell it out.

etc..

[Kamiyama]

The USA will become a third world country in the future.

I don't think the people in the USA"s positions of power have the intellectual capacity, responsibility, or aptitude to make the changes necessary to put our country back onto a path of prosperity.

They need to stop deficit spending. That means making hard decisions about our country's future. What do they need to keep, and what will they cut?

Out military needs to be cut. We have military bases all over the world, are almost constantly waging war, have more weapons than anybody else by far, and our military budget is more than the next 10 countries combined. We simply don't need all of that.

They need to sit down, and pick 1 military base to keep and eliminate 2 for every 1 they keep. They need to pick 1 plane and mothball 2 for every 1 they keep. Go through and do this for everything. Once the military budget has been cut in half (at least) then they can start cutting civilian sector spending.

But they don't want to do that. Ever since WW2 they've lived in this bizarro world where they could buy all the things. We fought a two front war and won. The USA was the only nation in history to ever do that. If they want planes for at home, for war overseas, for our allies, and for all our carriers, they just buy them all. Why prioritize things when you can just spend infinite money and buy everything? That's how our military does things and it's the most wasteful mess of financial spending on planet Earth.

We don't even know the half of it because of dark projects. Money gets siphoned into the military industrial complex through all sorts of back doors. What our government puts on paper isn't even the beginning.

What did 0bama spend 9.4 trillion dollars on? It certainly wasn't our economy because it tanked the whole time he was in office.

https://i.ibb.co/0tzwN0g/olegacy.jpg

If he spent 9.4 trillion dollars actually helping the American people, we would all be a lot better off right now.

I think most of that money went into dark projects. Weapons, bombs, machines of destruction. The military industrial complex.

[ナルゴ]

I do think the USA might decline into a regional power in the future. Still a major power, but not the world police it is now. As with the Roman empire and the Spanish empire, the US economy is getting destroyed by rampant inflation and their military is getting stretched thin. It has to tread carefully and not think it can push its weight around like it did in the late 20th century.

[Competizione]

Opprinnelig skrevet av ⛧:

Multi-polar world is better for humanity, as long as people stop waving nukes around.

Too bad most people owning nukes are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ insane, like cancerboi in Russia and Winnie the Pooh

[Fajita Jim]

Opprinnelig skrevet av padmé:

The West is is the best.
Get here we’ll do the rest.
The blue bus is calling us…

Morrison?

[Kamiyama]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Nargo:

I do think the USA might decline into a regional power in the future. Still a major power, but not the world police it is now. As with the Roman empire and the Spanish empire, the US economy is getting destroyed by rampant inflation and their military is getting stretched thin. It has to tread carefully and not think it can push its weight around like it did in the late 20th century.

The problem with comparing the USA to the Roman Empire is the Roman Empire was in Europe and had plenty of neighboring military powers, one of which being the Goths who overran the Empire and sacked Rome. Their corruption led directly to a military defeat and collapse of the Empire in a rapid and dramatic fashion.

The USA isn't going to be invaded by anybody. Canada is practically pacifist and Mexico doesn't have the military to take us on, even in our weakened state. Anyone else would have to send an army across an ocean and they wouldn't make it.

So the USA doesn't have that hard fail scenario. There's nothing stopping us from becoming ever more corrupt, ever more incompetent, and ever more stupid.

We're just going to keep spiraling the drain forever. The rest of the world will pass us by, and yes we will keep falling on every chart that measures cost of living, individual income, prosperity, and eventually, even GDP.

We'll keep falling until we're at the bottom of the barrel. I'm convinced of this.

In order to reset we need a fail scenario. But we have the CIA, NSA, and FBI as well as a modern propaganda machine with the MSM in complete control of the feds. They are careful to identify and destroy anyone who would threaten the system.

Hell just look at the recent Boeing whistleblower who was assassinated.

They've spend what over 10 years trying to get Assange for his role in Wikileaks?

They've meticulously removed all threats that would cause our empire to fail. So it's a long slow painful wasting death by corruption instead and nothing will stop it.

[gugnihr]

This world suck, it always sucked and it will always suck. We in the West in the last few decades have been given the opprtunity to live in something that was 80% a fairy tale, and while it still sucked because of that 20 % of ugly reality that even here in the 1st world we were unable to avoid, it was a lot less bad than true 100% reality is so I am just thankful for that, I lived in such privileged conditions that most of the people in human history could not even imagine, I lived in very peculiar circumstances that allowed us to live in a something that for the most part was a fantasy.
Now it's starting to fall apart, well, of course, how long do you expect a fantasy can go on? Reality will always be more powerful, fairy tales will always be unsustainable in the long run, but thankfully I was born decades ago here in the 1st world so I had the opportunity to experience something much better than this ugly, horrible world has to offer, it was a lie, I don't care, life sucks anyway I was just lucky enough to have at least a lie to put in front of real life to hide at least a bit its ugly face. The fairy tale is coming to an end but at least I was able to live it as long as it lasted. This world is ust ♥♥♥♥, nothing will ever work to really improve our conditions because life itself is just ♥♥♥♥ (literally, if you think about it). My only thought is just focus on escapism and if given the opportunity, like we were given decades ago, on hedonism, nothing else matters in this ugly disgusting world, if you are unlucky enough to be born at least hope and pray that you will have a way to hide reality and separate yourself from reality because reality is just ugly and there is no real way to fix it. This is my advice, good night.

[Mina]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Fajita Jim:

Opprinnelig skrevet av padmé:

The West is is the best.
Get here we’ll do the rest.
The blue bus is calling us…

Morrison?

yes

[SirKnechtalot]

Like russian "elections" being the will of the people.

[qb]

i think its not honest to divde into west or south most of countries are in master slave state where developed ecomies exploit poor economies to provide them with either resources or manpower wthout which "developed" or democratic economies wousd struggle to exist, so effectively democracies use autocratic regimes for sustaining themselves or ther "democracy".

[SirKnechtalot]

U f en drunk?

[Hammer Of Evil]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Nargo:

So what do Off-topic users think about all this?

i didn't read it, looks like a chat gpt thing lol.

but if you wanna summarize it in 20 words or less, sure i'm here for it.