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The borders of all nations are determined by some previous conquest and the great nations are the ones that were most successful conquering their neighbors, but
by travisoneill1 8y ago
The borders of all nations are determined by some previous conquest and the great nations are the ones that were most successful conquering their neighbors, but what made them able to do so where most could not? The ability to conquer obviously can't be taken by conquest. Only recently has IP been as or more valuable than natural resources, but the concept remains. Why has Nigeria stuck to stealing a few of our dollars instead of making a killing like China stealing our IP? Because they can't and China can. That ability is what makes it a great nation, and was necessarily developed before it was used.
- gammateam 8y agoThe point is that ALL superpowers and empires were created by some unilateral expropriation, and being able to defend that. I was looking for a counterpoint to that. The "any random country" comparison wasn't what I was going for
- D_Alex 8y agoEh, I'll give it a go, although I realize the goalposts have not been properly fixed here. You can argue about what a "great country" is, what "theft" is and what is a "valuable resource". No country is a saint, at least no large country. Anyway, I nominate Germany as a counterpoint to your thesis. Germany's greatness has not been built on theft, but on hard work and skill of the Germans. When Germany tried theft, or rather conquest, they failed badly, but when they got on with developing their own country rather than war, they succeeded pretty spectacularly. Do you agree...?
- gammateam 8y agoI proposed Germany in this same thread and it got shot down because they didnt pay market rate for anything Others said the Marshall Plan was a subsidy and they also defaulted in their debt So I would have agreed 22 hours ago but not now