Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Most influential people in modern politics

ctembreull · 07-26-2003, 03:36 PM

As an addendum to my earlier post, considering the last 50 years (okay, I'm going back a BIT farther than that), I would have to say Emperor Hirohito is the most influential political actor in the world.

Logic: Hirohito (for all his weakness and ability to be swayed by pressure from his own government) was the originator of the plan that brought the U.S. officially into World War II. Had Pearl Harbor never happened, the geopolitical face of the world would quite likely be very different today. Mind, this is all a theoretical exercise, but let's posit that Hitler would have eventually lost Europe (thanks to the Soviets, who got to Berlin before we did), but the Eastern Bloc may have stretched as far west as Switzerland, and as far south as the Middle East. That means a significantly reduced or nonexistent NATO, and a big jump ahead for the USSR in terms of money and geopolitical power. That means that Reagan would either have plunged the world into World War III with his recklessness, or the Cold War would still be going on today.

Let's further examine the Pacific Theater - Japan would have won that conflict easily without the U.S. there, so we would have to deal with a real Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity sphere - and that means a much less powerful China, a USSR without the mineral resources of Siberia, and quite possibly a United States without Alaska and its oilfields.

The upshot of this is that we *did* enter World War II, and we greatly influenced its outcome. Every manifestation of American power in the time since has been an outgrowth of that successful war, as well as a good number of domestic social advancements. Imagine: no baby boom, and then begin extrapolating.

Hmm.

Yeah, I'd say Hirohito. Surprise!

07-26-2003, 03:36 PM	#18 (permalink)
ctembreull Crazy Location: Silicon Valley, CA, USA, Earth	As an addendum to my earlier post, considering the last 50 years (okay, I'm going back a BIT farther than that), I would have to say Emperor Hirohito is the most influential political actor in the world. Logic: Hirohito (for all his weakness and ability to be swayed by pressure from his own government) was the originator of the plan that brought the U.S. officially into World War II. Had Pearl Harbor never happened, the geopolitical face of the world would quite likely be very different today. Mind, this is all a theoretical exercise, but let's posit that Hitler would have eventually lost Europe (thanks to the Soviets, who got to Berlin before we did), but the Eastern Bloc may have stretched as far west as Switzerland, and as far south as the Middle East. That means a significantly reduced or nonexistent NATO, and a big jump ahead for the USSR in terms of money and geopolitical power. That means that Reagan would either have plunged the world into World War III with his recklessness, or the Cold War would still be going on today. Let's further examine the Pacific Theater - Japan would have won that conflict easily without the U.S. there, so we would have to deal with a real Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity sphere - and that means a much less powerful China, a USSR without the mineral resources of Siberia, and quite possibly a United States without Alaska and its oilfields. The upshot of this is that we did enter World War II, and we greatly influenced its outcome. Every manifestation of American power in the time since has been an outgrowth of that successful war, as well as a good number of domestic social advancements. Imagine: no baby boom, and then begin extrapolating. Hmm. Yeah, I'd say Hirohito. Surprise! __________________ Mac "If it's nae Scottish, it's crap!