Re: Discussion topic - rewriting (future) history....?

>Just to chip in a little on an area that I'm seeing rather a lot of 
>these days, and say "Hi!" to everyone on the list:
>
>--- On Thu, 10/20/11, Tom B <kaladorn@gmail.com> wrote:
>>  3. Fix the demographics a bit - pure math says the NAC
>>  should beat the heck out of the ESU and take its lunch
>>  money (based on modern day population and GDP).
>
>Project GDP forward enough, though, and you do have China overtaking 
>the US -- particularly if the US gets "stuck" at its current output 
>for a long time, though that would also have follow-on effects 
>slowing down China.
>
>It does make the Russia-centric ESU a bit odd; as others postulated 
>here, perhaps that is explained by Russia linking more tightly with 
>China to supply energy and other raw materials (nickel, etc.) and 
>gaining a larger voice because of it (though I think historically 
>speaking, countries that are "just" raw material suppliers end up on 
>the down side of any such relationship).
>
>Technology wise, that advantage may follow over to China as well, 
>but there are a lot more "twitchy" effects with things like that. 
>For all the numbers that people love to throw around about how well 
>high school students do in China (or Asia) vs. the US, and how many 
>college degrees China is granting in Engineering, the fact is that 
>when you get into the details that's comparing apples and lychee, 
>which I can get into if people want but otherwise no worries. 
>Suffice it to say, creativity-wise the US is still far, far ahead, 
>though if we standardize our school testing down the line we might 
>just shoot ourselves in the foot by enough to lose that lead, too.
>
>Fwee... back to work for me. ^_-
>
>--Aaron

Re the Russo-centric ESU, I think that may be a bit of a misreading 
of the canon - remember that the ESU was originally formed after 
China invaded large parts of Central Asia, and for a good while after 
that the ESU was very Chinese-dominated. It is only in the latter 
part of the canon timeline that the Russian elements of the ESU have 
seen some real resurgence, and by the GZG "present day" I see it as 
very much a balance between the Russian and Chinese influences - 
hence the eclectic mix of ship class names!  ;-)

Jon (GZG)