Jintao>President Obama; Merkel>PM Cameron

[AndyDT]

https://www.forbes.com/wealth/powerful-people/list

China more influential?
Merkel more powerful than Cameron? Germany's economy is bigger but does Germany have more influence?

[rumborak]

Well, she governs 30% more people than Cameron, and a GDP that is also 30% greater than that of the UK.
And not only that, she is very active in the European Union. Cameron really only has the UK.

rumborak

[emindead]

It's Jintao, not Jinato.

[AndyDT]

Well, she governs 30% more people than Cameron, and a GDP that is also 30% greater than that of the UK.
And not only that, she is very active in the European Union. Cameron really only has the UK.

rumborak

Cameron has the EU, Commonwealth and Atlantic relationship plus the biggest military budget in the EU. At least until recently. I agree she wields more influence in the EU but does that make her more powerful globally?

[rumborak]

Well, she governs 30% more people than Cameron, and a GDP that is also 30% greater than that of the UK.
And not only that, she is very active in the European Union. Cameron really only has the UK.

rumborak

Cameron has the EU, Commonwealth and Atlantic relationship plus the biggest military budget in the EU. At least until recently. I agree she wields more influence in the EU but does that make her more powerful globally?

Cameron has the EU? In what way? The UK has been driving a semi-isationalist policy and trying as much as possible to stay out of the EU's path. And this is kinda the ticket they got for that.
And the Commonwealth, really, I never hear about the Commonwealth in the news, ever. The European Union, constantly, but the only Commonwealth I ever hear of is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

rumborak

[AndyDT]

I think you'd have to be pretty isolated to not hear of the Commonwealth Games which has recently finished. Cameron's just signed a defence treaty with France in case you forgot. Isolationsist policy? The UK's maintained sovereignty over the pound and it hasn't caused some of the problems that Germany faces.

[rumborak]

I think you'd have to be pretty isolated to not hear of the Commonwealth Games which has recently finished.

Nope, haven't heard of it. And I read American and German newspapers. Anybody else in this thread ever heard of the Commonwealth Games? (I assume it's cricket and soccer?)

The UK's maintained sovereignty over the pound and it hasn't caused some of the problems that Germany faces.

Hehe, you mean this "problem"?

https://www.magazine-deutschland.de/en/artikel-en/article/article/gutinformierte-kreise-regierung-erwartet-34-prozent-wachstum.html

or this one?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/7423138/Europes-banks-brace-for-UK-debt-crisis.html

Oh wait, that's the UK.


Andy, I don't want to get into a pissing contest with you. But I think you have to be delusional to say that the Commonwealth has as much international influence as the European Union. Outside its member countries, the Commonwealth is an almost unheard-of entity. The EU is in the news almost daily in the US.
BTW, I'm not saying that the totality of Commonwealth countries don't have as much influence as the EU. But, the Commonwealth is not the EU; it's a very loose collection of countries that have nowhere the cohesion and political will as the EU.

EDIT: I just checked out the Commonwealth Games on Wikipedia:

the Games include sports particularly popular in the Commonwealth, such as bowls, netball, and rugby sevens.

Wot?

rumborak

[AndyDT]

Sorry but the Commonwealth Games received daily coverage on CNN's website. I also posted it here.

Germany  to my understanding spent much of the 1990s stagnant economically and has had to bail out Greece.

The UK is growing faster than expected as well.

If you doubt the importance of the Commonwealth, consider how Britain, America and Germany to name but three are jostling for influence in India e.g. Obama's visit, Cameron's visit recently - the biggest delegation since independence apparently.

[Perpetual Change]

I didn't know the Commonwealth games were happening either.

[rumborak]

I talked to a Canadian yesterday. He too said that the Commonwealth never gets mentioned, except when the Commonwealth Games come around.

rumborak

[AndyDT]

It's not a vanity organisation on the whole but I'd say it is very influential and potentially very powerful.

[PlaysLikeMyung]

Yeah I knew the Games were happening, but it was hardly reported on in America. Probably because they don't feel it's "newsworthy"

[rumborak]

Actually, from what I read about the Commonwealth Games, the stadiums were essentially deserted, and India had school children and unemployed people fill the ranks?

rumborak