Japan has 11.64% arable land, according to the CIA Factbook. Could only go so far.

However, when it did industrialize it's factories and technologies were new. It did scare the hell out of the United States, and as a matter of fact check what's happened to steel and the auto industry.

China's industrialization is also mostly new, and growth in India means "new", too. Their populations dwarf the US's and their educational system is taking advantage of the best the world has to offer - their students study everywhere.

As the US winds down, the dollar becomes weaker and the opportunities as the world's only superpower are squandered, as the third-world is forced to see another superpower counterbalance is created it will get worse, too.

And we've all know how the "mightiest military the world has ever seen" can be fought to a standstill by a ragtag bunch of part-time fighters who do not repeat do not have 4 years of training and a superpower's army, navy and air force fighting in front of them.

Nope. The future belongs to Asia and sub-Asia, with the help of Russia's technologies and the EU's financing.

Arf