Why does the world bow to the USA?

[JockSporran]

The British Empire waved the white flag. The USSR waved the white flag. We let America sh*t on us. Why? They're only one country in a whole planet of nations. They're backward politically and have vast areas of wilderness. They don't have the biggest land army or the biggest nuke stockpile, so who the hell are they to dominate the planet? Why should the United Nations building even be in New York for chrise sake?

(I'm not trying to promote hate here, I just want to get a bit of response and debate. Nothing against Americans).

[dustypuss]

money

[JockSporran]

Zacsmaster - that's the spirit! No need for sarcasm, though. I'm not looking for agreement, I'm looking for argument and debate. Keep it coming. I'm serious here - I want answers.

[jno]

we do, the world doesn't. The Russians ignored them and invaded Georgia. Europeans refused their invitation to get involved in Iraq. It's convenient for us that they speak English. The alternative would be to ally ourselves more closely with Europe, but as they are damned Johhny Foreigners we won't.

The USA is currently the world superpower, so sticking with them does made a lot of sense, but as you say this is not irreversible. China will probably have greatere wealth in another 20 years or so, and then we may have to bow to them instead.

[BillySugger]

They're bigger than us

[rov1200]

Is it possible for a rich person to have no friends?

[jno]

Rich people often suspect none of their friends are real friends - and they're often right.

De Gaulle once said countries don't have friends, just interests. That's probably true.

[123everton]

De Gaulle knew more than most about what it meant to be unpopular and rightly so.
We ally ourselves with the Americans because we can trust them more than others, look at France they'll always let you down.
Politically I don't think they're backward many people want the U.K to have a president) I doubt they're much more illiterate then many of the people I see daily or on here for that matter.
Whether you like it or not the Americans are'nt that bad and historically they've only been our allies since the middle of The Great War before then they where either hostile or neutral in their attitude to us.
One of our oldest and most loyal allies is Serbia and look what we did to them, a state without oil, that posed no threat to us a conflict which served no national interest.

[kujawski]

and poland

[blackalbino]

its simple,some of the worlds countrys are like a bunch of skinny nerds in prison ,and the us is kind of like a real muscley dude in the prison shower that forces them what to do!