Which countries have the best land/positioning?

I see a lot ifs, ands, and buts. The fact is the US is on top of that list hands down. All the others mentioned are dependent on the US to keep them comfortable in this world. The US is forunate because it hasn't had to deal with troubles in other countries nearby. That could change. My mother has lived in the same house for over 40 years in a working-class city. Prostitutes walk her residential street now and they use people's yards as bathrooms and garden hoses to wash-off. Never was like this before and I could only attribute it to the influx of big Mexican gangs. As the drugs wars in Mexico worsens, it can can only get worse for the US. If you want to take a look at Mexico, they should be at the upper ranks of countries. Their average income beats the vast majority of the world. But their government is corrupt and beyond the resorts designed for Westerners, they're like any violent Third World nation portrayed in the media. My mother lives across the street from an elementary school. One time a parent dropped her child off from a big SUV at the school but before she left, she threw all the trash that built up her car from like eating fast food onto the street. So she leaves and you see other parents gathering around it and picking through it like when you see seagulls at the dump swarm when a garbage truck comes and dumps its load. I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

s002wjh said:

i think the topic was best land/positioning. US has military presence all over the world is about superpower status. during 19th century, british did the same thing. canada is also on N.america continent.
in todays worlds, you can communicate anywhere in an instant provide if you have the proper device, and be in any place in the world within 24hrs. its not about isolation anymore, this is information age.
US or canada both has a good position with small population density, alot land, freash water, and other resource. both can access pacific and atlantic ocean.

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See UNASUR Data and you will see what i mean


The population of Mercosur's full members totals more than 270 million people. That group, including Venezuela, has a collective GDP of $2.4 trillion. It is now the world's fourth-largest trading bloc after the European Union (EU), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Whether any reduction in poverty can be linked directly to Mercosur trade policies is unclear. However, Brazil's deputy UN envoy, Piragibe Tarragô, said in late 2006 that poverty reduction within Mercosur countries "has been remarkable."



Mercosur, however, played a key role in the failure of the FTAA (Free Trade Agreement of the Americas). Spearheaded by the United States, the FTAA was intended to unite Latin America and North America in one broad trade accord. The Mercosur members and then-autonomous Venezuela rejected the agreement at the Summit of the Americas in November 2005 over concerns it would lead to increased inequality in the region (Guardian). Proponents of the FTAA have not been able to make any significant progress in forging that deal since.



The sixth anniversary of the FTAA rejection was celebrated in Mar del Plata
Télam. National News Agency of Argentina. Nov. 6, 2011. The sixth anniversary of the rejection to the U.S. sponsored FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) project, by the MERCOSUR countries at the Summit of the Americas, was celebrated yesterday with a rally held at Mar del Plata.

During the celebration, a homage was also paid to the late former President Néstor Kirchner, a key protagonist of that political decision. A proposal by Venezuela to hold every Nov. 5 an Anti-Imperialist Forum in Mar del Plata was approved during the rally.

Former Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana said that shortly before the opening of the Americas Summit, which was attended by the former U.S. President George W. Bush and most of the Chiefs of State of the continent, Kirchner had said that “we shall do nothing against the people’s interests. That is exactly how Kirchner was”.






UNASUR is a merger of two precursor South American tradings blocs, MERCOSUR & the Andean Community and is a concept modeled on the European Union. Aspiring to eventually create a common currency, passport and parliament by approxiamatley 2019.
The UNASUR Constitutive Treaty was signed on May 23, 2008, at the Third Summit of Heads of State, held in Brasília, Brazil. According to the Constitutive Treaty, the Union's headquarters will be located in Quito, Ecuador. The South American Parliament will be located in Cochabamba, Bolivia, while the headquarters of its bank, the Bank of the South are to be located in Caracas, Venezuela, with offices in La Paz (Bolivia) and Buenos Aires (Argentina). The Bank of the South is intended to be a credit instution with a simlar functional role as that of the World Bank.


Argentina is developing a nuclear-powered submarine for its navy - sparking fears that the country is getting ready to ramp up its interest in the Falkland Islands even further.
Defence Minister Andrea Puricelli said President Cristina Kirchner had personally requested the project which will add nuclear propulsion to a submarine already under construction


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The Brazilian government has started work on a submarine programme which will include the construction of South America's first nuclear subs.

The move will boost Brazil's claim to be the strongest force in the region, and strengthen the country's military assertiveness.

This new-found power may harm Britain in the event of another flare-up over the Falklands, according to U.S. news agency


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RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil is set to import more from China than ever in 2011, with total imports from the country amounting to US$21 billion so far this year, an increase of 35 percent, figures from Brazil’s Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce (MDIC) show.


China's Minister of Commerce, Chen Deming, discussed Brazil-China business relations with his Brazilian colleague Fernando Pimentel in May 2011, photo by Antônio Cruz/ABr.
Nevertheless, Brazil’s solid global position as a worldwide exporter of iron ore and foodstuffs – such as soy beans, coffee, sugar and meat – underlines why, in terms of total exports, Brazil still sells more to China than it buys, with sales totaling $29 billion to August this year.

That trade surplus may show Brazil in a good light in terms of exports, but the numbers mask the fact that that there is actually a record trade deficit in terms of manufactured goods, according to a study by influential business group FIESP (Federation of Industries of São Paulo State



China has in recent years become Brazil's largest trading partner, overtaking the United States, and in 2010 was the largest investor in the South American nation, pumping in some $30 billion.

For China, Brazil is an important source of raw materials -- oil, iron ore and soybeans account for 80 percent of Chinese imports and 90 percent of its investments in the largest Latin American economy.

Soy from Argentina, copper from Chile, iron ore from Brazil: China's seemingly insatiable appetite for Latin America's raw materials is credited with fueling blistering economic growth for both.





whereas beef-loving Brazil and cow-revering India have the greatest number of cattle.






Water abounds in South America. The continent has as much as 28% of the world's freshwater resources but only 6% of the world’s population


Brazil Is World's Ethanol Superpower

While Mr. Bush set 2025 as the target date for replacing three-fourths of the oil imported from the Middle East with American ethanol, Brazil already satisfies nearly half of its domestic passenger vehicle fuel demand with ethanol.



Electric vehicles to swamp Indian & Chinese markets






Rumors that Russia and Brazil might join forces on a fifth-generation fighter plane first appeared last spring, and have not been refuted. Since Russia and India are allegedly ready to create a joint venture to manufacture the T-50 planes, Russian-Brazilian cooperation in this field is now a very real possibility, especially considering the two countries' friendly relations.

Since the mid-1990s, both Argentina and Brazil have made major gains in
agricultural production. Soybean production in both countries has more than tripled
since 1990. In fact if both countries’ outputs are combined, they surpass the United
States’ production of soybeans. Brazil's output of corn increased to a record 53
million tons in the crop year of 2007-2008, but has dropped in the 2008-2009 crop
year due to drought. Mercosur produces a total of almost 20% of the world’s beef,
mostly coming from Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

India is also moving to Latin America




China's ability to feed a fifth of the world's population will become tougher because of land degradation, urbanisation and over-reliance on fossil-fuels and fertiliser, a United Nations envoy warned today as grain and meat prices climbed on global markets.

The space cooperation between Brazil and Ukraine has taken another important step. It was extremely productive meeting held on Tuesday, September 13, 2011, the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) between, headed by its chairman, Marco Antonio Raupp, delegation visits and SDO Yuzhnoye Company of Ukraine, led by its director general, Alexander Degtyarev. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Institute of Aeronautics and Space Department of Aerospace Science and Technology (DCTA), the Secretariat of Strategic Affairs (SAE) and Alcântara Cyclone Space Company (ACS

The project costs U.S. $ 487 million and is funded by both countries, half and half. The ACS will coordinate the preparation and launching of the rocket in 2013 from the Alcantara Launch Center, in Maranhão, and will have experts from both countries.


why Brazil can exploit well its land resources is it has the technology to do it



and Argentina is the same


UNASUR is well positioned to become a super power by 2030 by geography alone

WHy the US is losing its position as superpower.


Kennedy's overstretch thesis, in detail, is as follows: As defense spending increases, this reduces the investments in economic growth, which eventually, "leads to the downward spiral of slower growth, heavier taxes, deepening domestic splits over spending priorities, and weakening capacity to bear the burdens of defense."


Net Result: Social Service Underinvestment, Weaker Economy, Weaker U.S.

Further, as noted, the defense overspending has led to a "civilian / social service" deficit -- including under-investment in infrastructure, education, and health care -- and as consequence, the economy has suffered, resulting in lower GDP growth.

AssassinsMace said:

I see a lot ifs, ands, and buts. The fact is the US is on top of that list hands down. All the others mentioned are dependent on the US to keep them comfortable in this world. The US is forunate because it hasn't had to deal with troubles in other countries nearby. That could change. My mother has lived in the same house for over 40 years in a working-class city. Prostitutes walk her residential street now and they use people's yards as bathrooms and garden hoses to wash-off. Never was like this before and I could only attribute it to the influx of big Mexican gangs. As the drugs wars in Mexico worsens, it can can only get worse for the US. If you want to take a look at Mexico, they should be at the upper ranks of countries. Their average income beats the vast majority of the world. But their government is corrupt and beyond the resorts designed for Westerners, they're like any violent Third World nation portrayed in the media. My mother lives across the street from an elementary school. One time a parent dropped her child off from a big SUV at the school but before she left, she threw all the trash that built up her car from like eating fast food onto the street. So she leaves and you see other parents gathering around it and picking through it like when you see seagulls at the dump swarm when a garbage truck comes and dumps its load. I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Click to expand...

While i do not defend the Mexican criminals or excuse them since most mexicans do not like them due to the violence they generate, you have to understand what the US has now is not caused by Mexico but by the US it self.


The US like South America has excellent geographical situation, lots of resources a dynamic culture and society, it also has its vices and short comings that Geography won`t fix.

The America all in General are scarsely populated, Canada or Argentina are good Examples, in fact the US has the largets population in the Americas, but it is only 1/4 of China`s with twice the land if we consider NAFTA only Canada and US+Alaska.

Brazil`s is as large as China but only has 1/6 of the population.

Argentina as large as India but only has 1/28th of India`s population.

Mexico is 3 times larger than Japan but with the slightly less population.

The rest of american coutries are tiny, most of them are in the 30-10 million range.


However the US has created its own problems, Mexico has a share of resposability in the violence generate by the mexican drug gangs but without the weapons, market and US criminal gangs the Mexican criminals can not operate.

Rival prison gang members, including warring white supremacist and Hispanic groups, are brokering unusual criminal alliances outside prison to assist Mexican drug cartel operations in the U.S. and Mexico, federal law enforcement officials say.

We live next to the world's largest drug consumer, and all the world wants to sell them drugs through our door and our window. And we live next to the world's largest arms seller, which is supplying the criminals," Mexican President Felipe Calderon told CNN en Español Friday.


A US Congressional report suggests some 70% of firearms recovered from Mexican crime scenes in 2009 and 2010 and submitted for tracing came from the US.

The report indicates Mexican drug cartels are arming themselves with US military-style weapons.



The US has created its own problems by being a large drug market, and in mexico many people is dying just to keep the vices of a segment of the american population.

In reality is a problem that has to be solved by both nations, Mexico is not the root of the problems of the US, its the US own society that has allowed that to happen.

besides in Mexico not every one is a criminal, we have good people and we are the only latin american nation exporting high tech to Asia instead of only raw materials

Already, one of Mexico's top exports to Asia are electronic components, and larger items like cars and airplanes are developed atop a broad base of manufacturers of small components.

Despite the recent downturn in the U.S. and European economies, Mexico's trade balance was positive for six consecutive months from January to June 2011, the first time since 1997. It reached $1.46 billion in March, the highest monthly level for as far back as the government database reaches: 1993.

According to the ECLAC study, from 2007 to 2009, Mexico's top five exports consisted of electronic micro assemblies, which comprised 14.0% of the country's exports to China; copper concentrate, 10.0%; telecommunication equipment, 4.7%; semiconductor devices, 4.2%; and office machine parts, 4.0%

Wow, you just like arguing.

All I said is the fact that the drug wars have moved from places like Colombia to Mexico now. The troubles in Mexico are going to possibly affect what has been taken for granted in the US. All your other points are pretty moot and have nothing to with what I was talking about.

AssassinsMace said:

Wow, you just like arguing.

All I said is the fact that the drug wars have moved from places like Colombia to Mexico now. The troubles in Mexico are going to possibly affect what has been taken for granted in the US. All your other points are pretty moot and have nothing to with what I was talking about.

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I am not defensive, i am just saying that for the US to get out of these troubles you need to face the reality you created that situation and the solution is work as civilized people, togather.

A nation can have lots of resources, but the human factor is what changes everything.

In Geography South America is as bless as the US, but they did squander their resources for so long, now they have discovered how to take care of them and is as a comunity.

Brazil never will be able to face the US without gthe aid of Argentina in terms of economic power, they know they will never be able to do it under the conditions they have now.

The US is losing many advantages due to the mistakes and short comings of your own society, you can not blame China for the lack of exports of US products or the social desintegration because of Mexico, you have to face the reality you are resposible for your own country.

The world is moving ahead, the cold war is over, new nations are emerging and old are in decadence.

But for the US in order to survive you will need Latin America, but as partners, Brazil knows that, that is the reason you will need as a nation to sign a deal with South America that is convinient for them too.


the US is not only blessed by the resources you have but it was blessed by the people that made the US great, but if that people lose the sense of responsability and blame others then you nation will waste all the resources nature gave you.

Well you didn't understand the context. The only thing I was "blaming" was about the prostitutes and the influx of Mexican gangs as the cause. I was just showing the state of the city where my mother lives which means going down. I wasn't assigning blame about what's going to happen in the future. I was merely stating what can change for the US position on top in context with the question in this thread. If you don't understand this, you are being defensive. I read all your platitudes and anyone can say the same for themselves or for someone else you didn't note not just for the ones you point to.

AssassinsMace said:

Well you didn't understand the context. The only thing I was "blaming" was about the prostitutes and the influx of Mexican gangs as the cause. I was just showing the state of the city where my mother lives which means going down. I wasn't assigning blame about what's going to happen in the future. I was merely stating what can change for the US position on top in context with the question in this thread. If you don't understand this, you are being defensive. I read all your platitudes and anyone can say the same for themselves or for someone else you didn't note not just for the ones you point to.

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Do not misunderstand me, i said Mexico shares some resposability, why? because Mexico should feed better its own people so less people get engaged in criminal activities.

I understand if Americans get upset at Mexicans if their neighborhoods have such problems, and i agree in that part with you, i disagree in the fact you do not blame your own society for the use of drugs among a segment of the US society, in Mexico many people are really angry at the US because the guns come mostly from the US and we have violence in our streets so american drug adicts can use drugs in the US.

The solution to the drug problem is a shared resposability, you have to acknowledge the problem is your culture, you have american gangs, you have increased poverty and there are many drug users in your country plus a lot of guns.
You are blessed as nation in terms of resources but you will waste them if you do not acknowledge your own failings.

Mexican gangs are relatively new, the reality is you have always have gangs in the US and they are a source of crime now specially when your economy is not doing well.

Blaming mexican gangs is looking for an easy scapegoat without seen the problem is caused by more poverty caused by your own economic policies and your society tht had the hippie movement that started the use of drugs on the USA.

. “In the 1960’s the hippies, en masse, undertook the largest uncontrolled experiment with drug use in the history of mankind. In those days it wasn’t unusual to be handed a pill, and swallow it with the only instruction 'You’ll dig it, it’s groovy.' You trusted your fellow hippie and you wanted to get high and have a new experience. This was freedom. This was rebellion. This was cool. We discovered that Pandora’s stash box was full of drugs!” (Hippies A-Z)


In 1960, Elvis returned to the music scene from the US Army, joining the other white male vocalists at the top of the charts; Bobby Darin, Neil Sedaka, Jerry Lee Lewis, Paul Anka, Del Shannon and Frankie Avalon. America, however, was ready for a change. The Tamla Motown Record Company came on the scene, specializing in black rhythm and blues, aided in the emergence of female groups such as Gladys Knight and the Pips, Martha and the Vandellas, the Supremes, and Aretha Franklin, as well as some black men, including Smoky Robinson, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and the Temptations. Bob Dylan helped bring about a folk music revival, along with Joan Baez and Peter, Paul & Mary. The Beach Boys began recording music that appealed to high schoolers. The Beatles, from England, burst into popularity with innovative rock music that appealed to all ages. The Righteous Brothers were a popular white duo who used African American styling to create a distinctive sound.
There was a major change in popular music in the mid-1960's, caused in part by the drug scene. Acid Rock, highly amplified and improvisational, and the more mellow psychedelic rock gained prominence. When the Beatles turned to acid rock, their audience narrowed to the young. Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead grew out of the counterculture in 1967. The musical phenomena of the decade was Woodstock, a three day music festival that drew 400,000 hippies and featured peace, love, and happiness...and LSD. Folk music contributed to the counterculture.

Hippies were often vegetarian and believed in eco friendly environmental practices. They championed free love and sexual liberation, particularly for women. They also promoted the use of psychedelic drugs which they believed expanded their consciousness.




One of the most influential singers of the 1950s was Elvis Presley, whose "ducktail" haircut, black pants and open-necked shirts sparked a new trend in fashion. Teenagers listened to rock 'n' roll music on 45-rpm record players and transistor radios, and began to assert their independence from their parents. The 1960s saw social unrest and an emphasis on civil rights and ending violence. The music of that decade greatly influenced teens who developed their own hippie sub-culture, often referred to as "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll."




Read more: The Influence of Music in the 1950s and the Early 1960s | eHow.com

The number one problem with Mexico is its lack of a strong central government that can do whatever it wants to, which China is a classic example. There are too many loop holes, the government and its police force cant just arrest anyone they suspect. They should declare marshal law to solve the cartel problem.

CottageLV said:

The number one problem with Mexico is its lack of a strong central government that can do whatever it wants to, which China is a classic example. There are too many loop holes, the government and its police force cant just arrest anyone they suspect. They should declare marshal law to solve the cartel problem.

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you can not solve the cartel problem only with violence, you need strict gun control in the US, less drug addicts in the US and less poverty both in Mexico and the US.

Mexico`s true problem is corruption.

If we refer to geography as the topic is in this thread, Mexico is blessed in the fact it is we are well centered to do commerce, we have the largest market to the north in the world, free trade agreements with Europe and Japan but saddly a lot of corruption in fact we are more corrupt than China and we invest less in science as % of the GDP than China.


Corruption Rank 2010

China 61
Mexico 79

but we are a more democratic country than China
Democracy Rank 2010
Mexico 65

China 120


what Mexico needs is more science and technology and less corrupton to take fully advantage of our geographical location.
here is an example of wat i say these mexican cartoons are not censored by the government meaning some degree of freedom in Mexico but they show how the police can easily bribed to the point a drunk driver can esily bribe policy even by sharing beers or alcoholic beverages
[video]http://www.youtube.com/user/huevocartoonpuntocom#p/c/1E49DBBF191632C5[/video] [video=youtube;wwPbDkyPgy8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwPbDkyPgy8&feature=channel_video_title[/video]

I read somewhere that in Mexico, law enforcement and power is personified, a leftover from spanish rule.