New Mars Forums

Mizar is a very good double star

http://www.nao.ac.jp/pio/Stellar/Multip … /mizar.jpg
http://www.universetoday.com/forum/uplo … 200296.jpg
http://www.iolaks.com/softech/astro/ima … /mizar.jpg

and another good star for the Southern/Aussie sky is Alpha centauri

http://www.g2vstar.com/img/acentauri.jp … ntauri.jpg

Here's a Quote

China aims to send a spacecraft to the Moon in three years' time, the head of the country's space agency, Sun Laiyan, has confirmed to the BBC. as well as building their own orbiting space station

There are many other benefits from Space, better mapping of the Earths surface, increase in broadcasting, better productions of communication satellites, launch of commercial equipment, imporved aerospace designs, military and nuclear missile benefits and of course the more recent space-tourism. Trading space technology could China' s of securing a powerful position. China also desires the power and control over everyone else in the long term buck like the Spanish empire had influence or the USA had superpower status. At this point in time many of the developed countries are being stupid and abandoning their space programs and paying them minimal attention in terms of funding. A number of economists have said that whoever controls the infrastructure for public access to space will control the next century and the destiny of the globe. Back in 1999 people had an idea that China might begin to aim for Space, back then it first successful test of a spacecraft designed for manned fligt. While the same low power propulsion technology used in the maiden flight could also be used to alter the path of the defense missiles, military expert Song Yichang told the state-run ChinaBusinessTimes newspaper and suddenly the cash was flowing to and from the China military.

There are some who are aware of the potential of the Chinese. Recently the Pentagon has released its yearly report to Congress on the current and future military strategy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), including that nation’s active use of space. There are some who desire to fight for a couple of barrels of oil in the middle East and it looks like China is going to stay clear from this fight. It has been written while others fight for the last drops of oil, China will be trying to increase its might and look to other sources of power. China wants to get up to speed while all the other countries aren' t developing their space programs any further and, once the pendulum of space technology development has gained some momentum, it is likely China' s rate of development by that point will have made significant progress. For space, the Washington report underscores Beijing’s advancement of military space capabilities "across the board", including reconnaissance, navigation, communications, meteorology, small satellite technology, and human spaceflight in the future. There are other future plans too, like as part of on-going work in seek-and-hit space warfare -- termed "counterspace" in military parlance, China is expected to continue to enhance its satellite tracking and identification network is what has been written in the US .

There is also the fact that the global economy and other world affairs are starting to change. China had a wicked communist system, some terrible human rights abuses happened and the country was seen as a bad guy. However now in the last ten years China has changed hugely. To compare the system in China today to one 12 years ago , or to a time when China was ruled by the wicked Mao would be to almost compare Germany or Japan of the 40s to that of the system in the 60s. China is changing fast and it's economy is growing rapidly.

The global economy is facing big change and Bush isn't doing much with the American economy, all those jobs lost. The USA space program has also taken a hit since the unfortunate colombia incident, and the finance doesn't look so good however with some effort they should be able to reshape the program and get NASA back on the straight track. World economics have also become an important factor, China has looked to nations like Korea or Japan and seen the wealth these places can get by selling their designs and computer manufacturing abroad, it is very possible that China desires to have a more open and more powerful economy. Lately other nations in Asia have seen their economic problems increase, and Japan looks like it might back some huge cut backs on its space program and close of it's space plans. An unstaedy economy in Asia, or a dying pension system in Japan is what worries other countries, the Japanese look to stay out of the 10 year recession that dragged their economy down and it looks like space will no longer be an investment. China knows that it has the chance now to prove it could become the strongest and leading force in Asia for the next century.

The Chinese economy is an economy which has come out of very bad conditions. China was ruled under an iron fist, there was little freedom and the dictator Mao had a stronghold there with the military running the country. Today things have changed in China and the current climate can be compared to the growth and change that Japan had. After the war the nation of Japan was very poor, it had gone through big changes ruled by a wicked Imperialist leadership and its radical despots, the climate began to change in Japan and it moved forward politically and economically and now we see similar things happening in China. There is now talk that some China's largest maker in Shanghai, Beijing and HongKong are starting to buy into or purchase European/American companies, in business trade there is much info that Beijing is poised to buy IBM's personal computer manufacturing business and set up production in the Middle Kingdom. Some have said it is negotiating a possible deal to buy IBM's PC-making business for up to $2bn. New York Times said an IBM sale would be likely to include all of its desktop and laptop computers business, Chinese PC market is expected to grow about 20% this year and it is laready the world's second largest PC market.
However there is planety of other Market and economic movement the China company TCL International Holdings bought the television arm of France's Thomson to create the world's largest TV manufacturer which could be set to dominate the future. Chinese companies and the China government are watching to see how S.Korea and Japan copied many Western ideas in the 60s such as their production of radios, their copy of American/European automotive sectors and the TV business, the Chinese expect that they can repeat the economic growth of Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Japan but not make the same mistakes. The Chinese have already come out of the Asian economic crisis without a scratch, and production is set to rise inside the country, the Chinese also have a huge labour force and China is a market of over 1.3 billion people, there is also info that Shanghai Auto is buying 48.9 percent of South Korea's Motor Company and the Chinese are in talks with Britain's MG Rover towards setting up a venture. When it comes to space there are some facts one must acknowledge China is way behind NASA right now, it also hasn't done as much as ESA with its ion drive study and comet missions and lacks the experience of the Russians and their very good rockets. However China is growing rapidly and its space and NASA seems to be stuck in some trouble right now and hopefully NASA will be able to get its manned space program moving again.
During a recent Space gathering in India the Chinese annouced that they will launch its lunar orbiter Chang'e 1 to explore the Moon and study the thickness of its soil by the end of 2007, people suspect that China wants to do something big before the Olympic games.

Nations have also been realligned and we see the effects of a world market, the IMF and Globalisation. A key example of this type of idea of change could be the Euro and the EU, the EU is becoming like the US a formation of states bonded together under a common policy, a single set of rules and a currency. The European area has also begun to expand and has jumped from 15 nations up to 25, the euro has become a good strong alternative to the dollar while Europe still has many plans in aerospace designs, manufacturing and space goals with the ESA. The ESA is small now and has made mistakes but it also has made great projects and could also become much stronger in the future like NASA built itslef up, Europe has also created the idea of a European defence force a type of all area army much like NATO. Is this what the future could bring? A number of key superpowers having influence on the world, three different Superpowers like the EU, China, and the US. Is this what it means for China to be fast on track?

There is military potential in space. Without sattelites, our bombs and planes wouldn't fly to where we want them, our communications would be back to the 1800's telegraph line type systems, we wouldn't have the advanced reconnaisance or surveillance capabilites that we have today, so we wouldn't have a good idea what to bomb in the first place. To be able to gain these systems for your own country, or blow up the enemies sattelites is a huge deal.

China hasn't really become an Economic dragon yet, it has gone far since the days of Mad Mao and the wicked communists ways. The cities are open, the nation is open and free to many foreign companies and we can even see Mao's face on Coca cola posters. China has been changing much like Japan did or S.Korea, a big showcase was when in 1988 - the year Seoul hosted the Olympic Games
it was not long before this that the Koreans were very far behind with with some economic reform, internal changes and increase in production they became big international names making TVs, motorparts and electronic equipment, their names are everywhere Hyundai, Samsung, LG (Lucky Goldstar) and SK (Sunkyong) having been selling much. Look at how Chinese industrial production and political reform is going, the days where the words communist dictatorship were used to describe the nation have passed. The Chinese economy has been growing at a rate of about 9 percent per year since the beginning of 1980, is what is said by many Western economists. It is also a market of 1.3 billion people , this also means they have a huge labour force and can produce stuff quicly and cheaply. They have also said they are more open in their space quest and are will to work openly with the Western nations. More recently China has been working closely with the ESA's study of Earth's magnetosphere, going with Europeans Cluster / Double-Star mission.

Recently China has also been updating its missiles and other military designs. China has launched the first submarine in a new class of nuclear subs designed to fire intercontinental ballistic missiles. It was widely known China was building the new class of nuclear-missile submarine, called the Type 094 but the launch is far ahead of what U.S. intelligence expected. China recently deployed a new torpedo that can break the sound barrier underwater using a pricipal called supercavitation. The US and NATO torpedos max out well under 100 knots. China is working on a cruise missile version of that torpedo that can be launched far off the coast of the US, come screaming in at over Mach 1, and then 'pop up' out of the water at the last second and strike. The United states  the Pentagon said China's cache of ICBMs could increase to 30 by next year, the Chinese already have quiet a few Nuclear missiles so with the French and their atomic bomb testing and Russia doing new weapons the Chinese now have an excuse to update their systems. Some missiles and nuclear warheads the Chinese have already worked on are the, its been looking at MIRVs, ICBMs and studying the ability of Neutron bombs it maybe will change. China plans to triple its long-range missilesand & trying to make missiles like the CSS-4ADF-5A icbm , a DF-21A, the  CSS-6, a CSS-4, the DF-4, a  CSS-X-10  and the JL-21A it also has others that it hasn't given full info to the public about but you can read up on writings from US militray experts.
Some wonder if the US political moves have pushed some partners further away and maybe the EU in space closer to Russia and China. Maybe t already has. Imagine its 1974 not 2004 and Russia is planning to launch spacecraft from a FRENCH facility in South America and help the South Koreans build launch facilities. The Chinese are staring to learn this political game, that's why they want a part of the EU new network in space, the Galileo satelite system, that is why they have been calling for more international partnerships in psace and commercial launches and that is why they went for an ESA-China scientific collaboration in the the future missions and previous projects like Double-Star. There is much to be learned in space, and there is much political and scientific benefit outside of space. It is true that China is young and a whole lot can go wrong, but so far they are on the right track.

Did you take out those red-blue 3D specs ? There is so much happening in this image, I wonder what those strange features are and how they were caused

great picture 

http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/mar … ...l_H.jpg

There has been much talk on the web about this spacecraft, I have gotten some quick info of other postings and space forums

QUOTE

It could be very good, it is a space craft with a 6 manned crew (2 pilots, 4 passengers) and a Launch mass of 14.5 tons. The craft might be a very nice and cost effective reusable re-entry vehicle something the shuttle always wanted to be but never actually was. This could become Russia's number one space ship and like the Soyuz, it has a rocket to pull the spaceship away from the launch vehicle in an emergency. What many whated to see was some agency develop a new space plane or a space craft with the wings that are retractable or a cheap craft that could go on a mission to the planets.
http://www2.arnes.si/~ssdszaj1/vesolje/ … ...per.jpg
Energia, the developer of the Soyuz spacecraft, has been working on a brand-new vehicle for some months and it looks like they have been doing a very good job. The giant Russian Energia rockets were great and today the Russian president has been putting more money into Russian Nuclear technology and its likely to put more cash into space before 2007 so Russia can celebrate the SputnikI launch of 57.
http://www.federalspace.ru/PictFiles/P_ … rkk_15.jpg
This craft might be a great help to Russia's space flights and has an Internal available volume 20 cubic meters. Russia had already NASA to take part in the Klipper project but did not receive an official answer, now it has built the craft on its own however the European Space Agency showed interest in the offer and might buy into it if Europe desires manned flights. The Russian craft kliper can be used for inplanetary flights, but maybe the Russians really only mean to the moon?
http://www.astronautix.com/graphics/k/k … iper04.jpg
The Russian spacecraft is a great design and consisted of three major modules. Klipper will be capable of flights to the ISS and interplanetary missions. Maybe the entry vehicle (CEV) would be used for LEO flights and as a entry vehicle for the Moon or Russian Mars crews when they get back. Scientists expect that the Kliper would be launched by the Russian Angara booster, an existing pad at Baikonur would be modified initially but it is not really known where the launch site will be. A Russian Kliper may launch from a pad at Plesetsk, or the new Soyuz pad at Kourou at a French facility in South America it could be modified eventually to accommodate the Onega.
http://www.federalspace.ru/PictFiles/p_ … rkk_18.jpg
The Russians seem to be one of the top players in making headway on developing the next-generation spacecraft. At the current rate of development, the United States will not have an alternative to the shuttle for another 10 to 15 years, if then. The Russians have had many good space plans Russians have what appears to be a sound, practical design for a vehicle . Now the Russians have been slogging away, in spite of being broke, building upon success after success. The craft has a maximum diameter of 3.06 meters and a Landing mass of 9.5 to 10.0 tonnes.
http://www.federalspace.ru/PictFiles/P_ … rkk_19.jpg
If the Europeans buy into this craft the Russians will no longer be broke and full of cash for their space programme, and having a European manned access to the station is really the only thing missing from European capabilities at the moment. An interplanetary CEV would be a fantastic thing, and this Russian design might be great. The Kliper will land with the help of a three main uncontrolled parachutes and several solid-propellant engines, which would be fired shortly before the touchdown. Space writers have noted that while in orbit, the Kliper would be capable of delivering crew and cargo to the space station or carrying two pilots and four passengers, including tourists, on an autonomous flight.
http://www.astronautix.com/graphics/k/k … ipercu.jpg
This Russian design has been quiet smart and Investment in the future is the key to choosing what the future of Space will be.

NASA plans on having the shuttle back soon. People are saying that the shuttle might again become a major problem for NASA. There have also been remarks that NASA will lose valuable learning experiences allowing other nations to catch up and possibly surpass them all the while the private sector will continue to embarass NASA by doing it cheaper, faster, better.  Some people say shuttle really needs to be retired - but as NASA have missed the opportunity to develop something else in the two years the shuttle has been grounded (and of course pumped a huge amount of their budget into it rather than a 'replacement)Now it has been reported that nearly two years after Columbia shattered in the sky, NASA still has no way of repairing the kind of holes that could doom another shuttle, space agency officials acknowledged Monday in their latest status report on the return-to-flight effort.The development of patches for the shuttle wings and other vulnerable locations is proving far more difficult than imagined just months ago and, along with devising a way for astronauts to inspect their spaceship in orbit, represents "one of the most challenging and extensive return-to-flight tasks," the 268-page report said. The Space shuttle was originally supposed to push us out further into Space, it was to be cost effective, do wonderful groundbreaking science and fly every two weeks. It already had serious safety questions, it began costing over $450 million per launch, not enough science was done and it only went up about four or five times a year.

As the shuttle begins its return to Space there are people who have questions about the current space programe. NASA still has to get its management right, get the budget books in order and answer those questions of saftey. Some people like myself hoped that the Shuttle would be gone and NASA would have come up with a new and fantastic functional space craft.The shuttle will be kept very busy after its return to flight, there is much science to catch up on and experiments to do. There is also the current problem with Hubble and the possibility that shuttle will be used to do this work. The shuttle will also need many other trips and will be required for the ISS, estimates are that about 25 ( minimum ) shuttle flights will be needed for NASA to finish its work and the shuttle can then bow out of service by 2010. Some think that 25 flights and pushing the shuttle until 2010 could be quiet dangerous and risk lives. Some top scientists and astronauts have wrote ideas and talked on how the ISS station could have provided safe haven for the Columbia crew while everybody scrambled to launch a second orbiter to bring them all home safely. Some think that this plan of an ISS safe haven cold be very important for the shuttle return. The astronaut Buzz Aldrin who has been helping commercialisation, privatization of space-flight, push space-tourism, written much material and made very important comments on NASA has also had some good views on the current situation. Buzz has had many fantastic insights into the future of Space, the Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin has been calling for rejuvenated space efforts, steeped in market economics. Aldrin had said how the shuttle was expected to be a lot more robust but Buzz Aldrin told the reality of the shuttle in flight is that it is "not robust" on launch and "hazardous". Buzz, the second man on the Moon also explained what NASA will have to do saying we may need to have some risky shuttle flights for a limited period of time, or we are going to stand down and fly Soyuz spacecraft. Buzz has already explained how future shuttle flights should be required to be lofted into an orbit that is compatible with that of the space station, so if problems came up or inspections/repairs were needed, shuttle crews would find safe-haven at the station.

I hope everything works out fine and everything goes ahead safely, this shuttle business has a lot of people looking at NASA.

Why haven't the American public backed a new space craft designs, is it that it doesn't even really care about Space exploration anymore ??

very good images 

what a picture !!

http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/media/ir … 1058_1.jpg

Mimas against the cool, blue-streaked backdrop of Saturn’s northern hemisphere.

shadows cast by rings arc gracefully across the planet, fading into darkness on Saturn’s night side.

:band:

we might have got these ring shots before but the Tiff is even better,
Beware it's a big file with a lot of info

http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/media/ir … 1058_3.tif

Indeed, its very nice looking what a strange moon maybe the Cassini mission will reveal where its origin is from

The Cassini-Huygens probe seems to be doing well, and there is also some good news for those who want to know more about the complex nature of life. It seems water is not really needed, maybe Titans rich chemical mix in its hyrdocarbon atmosphere with propane , ethyne and ammonia will help us understand how the ingredients for life came about
and maybe push our understanding of the secrets of life in our galaxy even more.

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huy … D1E_0.html

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.htm … ?pid=15568

I hope the probe does well, it would be great ! However going to another moon or planet isn't easy, no body needs to hear about the risk and possible failures like the Mars polar lander and Beagle fail.

This mission has been doing great so far, let's hope it does great !!

:band:

:up:

nice info on the ion engine

Quiet a good angle on the view into the crater

http://www.esa.int/images/136-021104-05 … ater_L.jpg

We are the center of everything!

= = =

More seriously, I find little to argue with in your coments.

I agree that Europe will not coalesce into a powerful unified entity unless you perceive a threat to your cultural uniqueness coming from the United States.

yes there is much change happening across the globe

does this sound lika a new Star wars or Space wars ?

As some of you know there is a lot of international and jointed efforts in space. The Cassini-Huygens mission was a joint venture between the Europeans and the USA, with NASA launching the Cassini craft and the Eu giving 1 billion dollars to the mission. Also the Russians and Americans have worked closely on the Space Station mission of the past, and now the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA) and ESA have worked together on the China-ESA Double Star project they were designed and lauch these spacecraft to study the Earth’s magnetosphere, in concert with ESA’s four spacecraft Cluster mission. The Double Star spacecraft are known as TC-1 and TC-2, or translating to English, as Explorer-1 and Explorer-2.

China last month became a partner in the Galileo program, which could help provide services such as communications for the 2008 Beijing Olympics but also has applications for strategic military use. According to a leaked US Air Force document written in August and obtained by The Business, Peter Teets, under-secretary of the US Air Force wrote: "What will we do 10 years from now when American lives are put at risk because an adversary chooses to leverage the global positioning system of perhaps the Galileo constellation to attack American forces with precision?" The paper also reported a disagreement between EU and US officials this month over Galileo at a London conference which led to the threat to blow up the future satellites. US officials have voiced fears that the rival system, which has also brought on board Russia and Israel in addition to China, could compromise US and Nato military operations which rely on GPS for navigation and combatant location and might also interfere with a classified Pentagon positioning system known as M-Code.

At one point, Washington suggested that Galileo was an unnecessary rival to GPS that merely duplicated the US system.

Analysts said the US threat to Galileo's future system exposed the true military value of the global navigation systems.

Previously, officials touted only the commercial benefit of Galileo, which is expected to tap into a burgeoning market for satellite positioning systems that doubled from 10 billion euros in 2002 to €20-billion in 2003. Brussels has also argued Galileo will create 150,000 new jobs across the European bloc.

The Business warned in an editorial that technological choices - Galileo versus GPS - now would fuel more international political division. 'They made it clear that they would attempt what they called reversible action'. It warned that Britain, Washington's staunchest ally in the Iraq war, would once again find itself trapped between the two camps - and that as a result "the Anglo-American alliance is quietly splitting behind the scenes". China Tuesday slammed as "absurd" the idea that its satellite cooperation with Europe could have military uses.

As for reports that this plan will be devoted to military use, I think this kind of accusation is quite absurd and ridiculous," foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a regular briefing. Galileo, a constellation of 30 satellites and ground stations due to go into operation in 2008, is being launched by the European Union and the European Space Agency to tap into a growing market of global satellite positioning.

China last month became a partner in the Galileo program, which could help provide services such as communications for the 2008 Beijing Olympics but also has applications for strategic military use.Zhang was asked to comment o­n a report in British newspaper The Business Weekly o­n Sunday that the United States could attack the planned network if it was used by a hostile power such as China.

Space Wars ?? 

What is it they say a picture says a thousand words? We have already seen the big spending cuts planned for NASA, and the rise of China as a space power with the Chinese having large industrial and economic growth. The Europeans also seek to re-align themselves expanding trade, knocking down borders and a move to become an Economic superpower to rival the US.

Already there are many investing in Europe and some see the EUs currency the Euro as a strong alternative to the unsteady dollar. Even though places luxembourg and Norway don't have major populations. 1/2 a million and 4.5 million it doesn't mean that these guys aren't players on the economic stage. Just because they aren't overcrowed nations with millions of old folks doesn't mean they are not important. Have you failed to notice since the introduction of the Euro, many European nations have grown rapidly, the Bush economy started to slum in 2001 around the time the euro arrived. Some in the USA have been watching the Europeans change their policy with anxiety, a European rulling and support from the WTO that prevented US automakers from going about thier business, it cost the steal industry millions and sent US automobile workers back on the welfare Q. Sometimes Bush likes to talk tuff but Who else apart from these Euros have been able to bark orders to the USA to tell the Americans what economic laws and automobile policies that they can and cannot make? Bush likes to talk tuff but when it come to these guys he backs down very quickly and it could mean the end of the US steel industry, no more jobs producing chemical malleable alloys in the USA....Where the hell have all the American jobs gone !? The US should watch out for Europe as it is not as loud as other nations but its is growing quickly and quietly , they r currently forming a new army know as the Euro rapid reaction force a kind of black ops type group.

the Russian President Vladimir Putin served notice that Russia intended to remain a major nuclear power by deploying a new weapon in the coming years....a new weapon that other states lack and are unlikely to develop in the near future. Europe has alos taken down most of its borders, it no longer is divided and has a European reaction army being built. The Euro zone has become an area of strong internal trade and the EU has began to rival the US as an economic superpower, with many now investing with the Euro rather than an unstable dollar. Some wonder if the US political moves have pushed some partners further away and maybe the EU in space closer to Russia and China. Maybe t already has. Imagine its 1974 not 2004 and Russia is planning to launch spacecraft from a FRENCH facility in South America and help the South Koreans build launch facilities. The Chinese are staring to learn this political game, that's why they want a part of the EU new network in space, the Galileo satelite system, that is why they have been calling for more international partnerships in psace and commercial launches and that is why they went for an ESA-China scientific collaboration in the Double star project. There is much to be learned in space, and there is much political and scientific benefit outside of space

It's often said that fast-growing China is the 'next superpower'. Yet recent articles - and a World Economic Forum poll of up-and-coming global leaders - identify Europe as possibly the dominant economic power of the next decade.

The Americans work on the job, while the Europeans work at their leisure. Another reason sometimes given for the higher quantifiable material prosperity of the USA is that the American works more. According to this hypothesis, poor development in Europe is connected, not so much with bad economics as with Europeans themselves opting to work less. Viewed in this light, Europe’s lower level of material prosperity results from its own choice to have more leisure. In order for the differences in work input to pose a real problem for comparisons of per capita GDP between the USA and Europe, at least two conditions have to be met. Is Europe and the Euro working to its fullest?
WOON WUI TEK unearths five Euro-boosting arguments

Europe and the Euro by 2020-2030 it will have doubled in population and incorperated most of the old Warsaw Pact and will stretch from Iceland to the Pacific it will match China and India for population and oustrip them combined for resources. But will it have solved it's unity . problems? the EU would have to expand a lot to rival China/India's population. All of Europe is just short of 700 million.
Worlds Apart on the Vision Thing
Americans are used to thinking of their country as
the most successful on Earth. That's no longer the
case: The European Union has grown to become the third-largest governing institution in the world.
Though its land mass is half the size of the
continental United States, its $10.5-trillion (U.S.)  gross domestic product now eclipses the U.S. GDP,
making it the world's largest economy. The EU is
already the world's leading exporter and largest  internal trading market. Sixty-one of the 140 biggest companies on the Global Fortune 500 rankings are
European; only 50 are U.S. companies.

When it comes to wealth distribution -- a crucial
measure of a country's ability to deliver on the
promise of prosperity -- the United States ranks
24th among the industrial nations. All 18 of the
most developed European countries have less income inequality between rich and poor.  There are now more poor people living in America than in the 16 European nations for which data
are available.Europeans often say Americans "live to work," while
they "work to live." The average paid vacation time in Europe is now six weeks a year. By contrast, Americans, on the average, receive only two weeks. When one considers what makes a people great and what constitutes a better way of life,

Europe seeks to unite financially not only so it can act as a fiscal countermeasure to the United States, but also as a military one. It is building the most modern and dynamic military in world history. Small, rapid units capable of moving into the theater of war quickly and quietly and at little cost, an independant GPS system (soon to be operational) and a powerful nuclear deterrant (operational).BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - The European Union declared Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) guilty of abusing its "near monopoly" with Windows to foil competitors in other markets and hit the software giant with a record $613 million fine Wednesday.

The EU's antitrust authority said that "because the illegal behavior is still ongoing," it was also demanding changes in the way Microsoft operates in Europe, with the aim of improving competition globally. Those sanctions go well beyond the 2001 U.S. antitrust settlement.

At the heart of the case, as it was in the US case, was the fact that Microsoft imbeds features into the operating system. The big one for the EU is Windows Media Player. The big one in the US case was Internet Explorer.

The subject for debate is based on this statement:

QUOTE :
Microsoft was also found guilty of monopolistic behavior in the U.S. case, but the EU order strikes deeper by aiming at the heart of Microsoft's business strategy - regularly adding new features to Windows to help sell upgrades.
The Redmond, Wash.-based company argues such "bundling" benefits consumers. But rivals call it unfair competition, given that Windows runs more than 90 percent of personal computers worldwide.So the EU is picking on the poor helpless MS company? Does that ring true to you? If the mobs of lawyers that MS employs could not convince a judge of thier side, I have to believe that the judge was correct in his ruling.

EU Enlargement: Good for the US?
Russia also seeks to be a superpower, but has little ability to grow at the rapid rate of China or the EU. Some have suggested that the Russians will operate in concert with the EU when it comes to regional military matters, and will most likely happen, as it has in the past.
The European Commission has recommended opening talks on the admission of Turkey to the EU - but Ankara must meet stiff conditions, EU officials say.

Commission officials are reporting on the progress Turkey has already made, along with Bulgaria and Romania.
The final decision on Turkey rests with the leaders of all 25 EU member states in December - with accession years off.
The Commission's recommendation is a milestone in an increasingly impassioned debate.
The decision was reached by a "large consensus" among commissioners, one EU official said, but no vote was taken.
The EU see
ks to make uniform the types of social policies that have proven to be effective in some of the more progressive states in northern Europe (switzerland, finland, sweden, etc.). Zero unemployment, miniscule crime rate and universal healthcare, education and transportation are some of the nice things you get when your populace is willing to pay taxes at the rate of %40+ of their income.

The idea of the EU is that if you have a number of states which all have educated, healthy and employed citizens, the economies will grow at a less volatile and overall increased rate.
This reasoning is accurate.
In fact, the United States is the only G8 country to not have policies ensure the wellbeing of their citizens

It is no secret that many European leaders want the EU to develop into a counter-balance to US economic and political power in the world.

Views vary widely in Washington as to whether enlargement will help or hinder the EU in achieving this goal, and whether this is a positive or negative development for the US. The conventional wisdom in Washington is that enlargement will make the EU more unwieldy and prevent it from becoming a strategic counter-balance to the US, said Mr Kupchan.

Mr Tupy said that some in Washington think the US should try to remain the world's lone superpower. However, his view is that the US does not have the power or resources to maintain a "uni-polar world". "If Europe grows to be another pole in the world and also assumes some of the responsibilities, like dealing with issues at its periphery, we think that is a good thing," he said.

And with the new member states being friendlier towards the US, he sees less of a chance of Europe developing into anti-American power. Mr Kupchan believes that although the new additions will make the EU more unwieldy, it will also force forward reforms to give union a more unitary and centralised character.

And despite the more pro-American bent of the new members' governments, he said: "I think that the idea that the new members will make the EU more atlanticist are overstated." The centre of gravity in the EU will remain in Brussels, Berlin, London and Paris, he added.

...
With the recent enlargement of the EU, the union is now a 450 million people political and economical entity. If the EU progress the right way, and in the next 10 years swallows up all of Europe, do you think that it will become the new superpower in the world, or will it just counterbalance the US equally in magnitude, or will the US still be the sole superpower?

Personally, if the EU takes the right path and becomes trule a unified Europe, I would like to see it guide the world into it's own vision and see what would happen.
Superpower of what? Economic –yes! Military? Errrr… is it necessary?

I am not familiar with the political scene in Europe AT ALL, but I always thought the aim of forming a European Union led by the French and Germans was to use trade and interactions between civilians to break down national barriers in order to maintain peace among neighboring countries.

At first England hesitated to hop in partly because in the 90s the English economies (U.S., Canada, Australia and England) experienced the most growths among developed countries. I remembered I had read somewhere that the economy of German or France alone was much smaller than Japan’s. I think it’s smart for them to recognize the power of collectivism.

Asian Union? Maybe in the next millennium…

It is very noble for the Europeans to come up with such a concept as the European Union. Asian countries… errr… how long did it take them to adopt a parliamentary system? I don’t know much about history, but it seemed that these countries were forced to take up a constitutional system or something. Why couldn’t they think of that earlier? Maybe they thought it was an honor to be the servant of a lord or an emperor?

Countries like these don’t have major problems copying the science and technology of advanced democratic countries. But to copy the political philosophy of the E.U.? It involves a lot of thinking and analyzing… and an open mind. Liberal thinking under the educational system in East Asia is not emphasized as much as in Europe, is it?

Hmmm… I think it is easier to teach people Calculus, Chemistry, and Biology than to teach people how to think, although several Asian countries’ governments are pretty good at teaching their people to hate their neighbors. Or maybe they already hate one anther? Then it will be such a challenge for their governments to teach them how to love their neighbors. lol

I would say the E.U does have the prospects.

But their not a national union yet, one nation, thus they will never agree to a "full extent" on economic, military, or foreign policy issues as seen by Iraq, atleast well into the forseeable future. You can't just say the E.U has this many soldiers and what not, when you have 25 different nations, with different priorities and capabilities for their own, while the U.S. and say China are one single identity. Their is cultural, linguistic, historic, and even current differences in economic, military, and foreign policy issues as said, besides nations with differing levels of acceptance towards to just how far the E.U. should transverse.

quote:

The European Union wasn't meant to heal the sick; it was designed to create wealth. Founded in 1951 as a trade alliance, the EU has grown cautiously, from a cozy group of six at the beginning to 15 member states in 1995, all of them in Western Europe. By integrating their economies and lowering tariffs, these countries created a common market for goods and services, achieving unprecedented levels of prosperity. They also raised the standard of living in poorer EU regions through development grants and subsidies, along with the demand for resources and cheap labor. Today Europe Inc., headquartered in Brussels, is poised to become a global behemoth—a market of 455 million people with a combined GDP of 10 trillion dollars, making it a rival to the United States as a political and economic superpower.

The EU are:
No score for this post August 28 2004, 11:20 AM 

The largest economically (in potential the largest trade market in the world) but, there are political differences between nations, the UK/USA "bridge" is bugging the will of some EU leaders to get a more independent political approach and the all of the EU armed forces is not united at 100%.
I've been hearing talk from both sides of the Atlantic that vary, some saying it will be the next superpower, others saying that it's too diverse to work good, some some it will collapse soon, and even some saying it will be the "Fourth Reich"

European Commission President Romano Prodi also produced a plan for Europe's future, largely geared toward increasing the non-elected Commission's powers.  Prodi proposed a direct EU-wide tax and that the economic government be delegated to the Commission, along with the European Central Bank.

The aim of the single market is to create an economic superpower able to compete with the US and Japan.  It is intended to remove national differences by standardising rules on tax, health and safety, financial institutions and so on.

Like the Empires of the past the Roman, the Chinese dynasty, the Greek is the , Hitler's empire , Napoleon from Frace EU - Another Empire on the way to being built or is it another thing, some don't really know what to say ?

Pillaging Iraq in pursuit of a neocon utopia

from Harper's Magazine

QUOTE

GW

He was reelected because USA is a very, very religious country.

In the past the USA was the country with opportunities. The land with freedom. The land with human rights. The land that all europeans looked forward to.

Today USA is going backwards. It is being more and more religious.
George W. Bush want to stop stem cell research because this can help people who are handicapped, to walk again. But hey, isn't it a good thing handicapped people can walk again? No, not if you are for George W. Bush. Then it is definetly not good. Becuase if God has decided you should not walk, mankind should never try to make it better. If God has decided that you have to be poor and live a terrible life, nobody should change that. It is God's will.

Any republican president isn't actually a president. They are infact the opposite of what they call themselves... you see... "Republican" means someone that is against monarchy. Monarchy is ruled by a king. A king is someonoe with a great power and working for God.

George W. Bush is not the president of the United States. He is the King of the United States. He is working for God.

The number of U.S. citizens visiting Canada's main immigration Web site has shot up six-fold as Americans flirt with the idea of abandoning their homeland after President George W. Bush's win 

"When we looked at the first day after the election, November 3, our Web site hit a new high, almost double the previous record high," immigration ministry spokeswoman Maria Iadinardi said on Friday.

On an average day some 20,000 people in the United States log onto the Web site, http://www.cic.gc.ca]www.cic.gc.ca -- a figure which rocketed to 115,016 on the Wednesday after the election. The number of U.S. visits settled down to 65,803  still well above the norm of 20,000.

Tuesday 16 November 2004, 2:50 Makka Time, 23:50 GMT

television pool report by US network NBC has said that a US marine had shot dead an unarmed and wounded Iraqi prisoner in a mosque in Falluja.

The Iraqi was one of five wounded prisoners left in the mosque after US marines had fought their way in on Friday and Saturday. There was no immediate comment from the Pentagon on the report.

US forces launched an offensive one week ago on Falluja, and claim to have gained overall control of the city, although resistance fighters dispute this.

The pool report by NBC correspondent Kevin Sites said the mosque had been used by fighters to attack US forces, who stormed it and an adjacent building, killing 10 fighters and wounding five.

Sites said the wounded had been left in the mosque for others to pick up and move to the rear for treatment. No reason was given why that had not happened.

Images too graphic

A second group of marines entered the mosque on Saturday after reports it had been reoccupied. Footage from the embedded television crew showed the five still in the mosque, although several appeared to be already close to death, Sites said.

He said one marine noticed one of the prisoners was still breathing.

A marine can be heard saying on the pool footage provided to Reuters Television: "He's [expletive] faking he's dead. He faking he's [expletive] dead."

"The marine then raises his rifle and fires into the man's head. The pictures are too graphic for us to broadcast," Sites said. No images of the shooting were shown in the footage provided to Reuters.

The report said the marine....

and on you can read more on this stroy online

interesting point