The World 2050

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Much of Eastern Europe collapses. Several countries grab up the land (Germany, Poland).
English is the de-facto language of the world, but many European and Asian languages still have a strong foot hold.
North Korea attacks South Korea, taking it. The USA does not interfere, fearing Chinese trade sanctions if they attack North Korea.
A third party rises in America, funded by a relatively unknown (in the political sense) businessman. He pumps BILLIONS into this party, and it wins several elections in the mid 2030's and early 2040's. The Republican party merges with this party.
This new party manages to avoid a debt collapse, by cutting several programs, such as social security and Medicare. This sparks outrage, and there are several minor protests, but it eventually dies down.
India attacks Burma, Vietnam and Thailand, capturing almost all of South east Asia. Pakistan takes advantage of this military absence, and captures some of India, installs a pro-Muslim government, and quietly retreats, giving the land back in peace negotiations. India retains much of Asia. India and Pakistan are theoretically one nation, since the same political party rules both nations, but they never merge.
Water purification from the oceans becomes a reality on the large scale.
The moon is seized by various nations who originally signed the space treaties, but no one takes action, as each country wants a piece of the resources for them self. There is still no wide spread colonization of the moon, although nations have established small bases capable of sustaining 10-15 indefinitely.

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I honestly don't think Japan with have a problem with food for a while, though births might go down. They're fairly rich for a country of their population.

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That seems more like a catastrophic global warming scenario than anything. I somehow think that won't happen.
Anywho, you said Antarctica melted, but the USA still has cities there?

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That is true, but will it not be swamped by the rise in sea levels you predicted?

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Much of Eastern Europe collapses. Several countries grab up the land (Germany, Poland).

No.  I could see the European Union collapsing or the Eurozone becoming a political entity and the rest of the EU becoming a free-trade zone, but what you say will not happen.  Hopefully we will be around in 2050 to discuss this.  In Germany they actually say that in a few years there will be more Turkish speakers than German speakers and you think they will actually conquer countries they have nothing in common with?

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You mean like how East Germany would attack West Germany?  Impoverished North Korea will collapse at some point and be absorbed by South Korea.  And why the hell would China who is quickly becoming ultra-capitalist care?

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Why would India do that?

You are surely correct on the Germany thing, the Muslim population is booming. But yes, they will accept new "states" into their country from the fragments erupting from the civil wars and political strife that erupts in Europe. Regardless of the ethnicity of the inhabitants, every country desires power.
If North Korea was to attack South Korea, China would surely take North Korea's side.
http://www.cfr.org/publication/11097/chinanorth_korea_relationship.html
They always have, and its a trend I can see continuing far into the future, especially if it is a means to grow their power and the power of their allies throughout the region, and to seize an ally from the USA, a competing superpower.
India desperately needs resources to sustain its booming population. Why not seize the militarily inferior, fertile lands to your East?

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^Where did you get those facts from?

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^That's pretty dismal...
^^I honestly cannot see Russia, a country of 100 million, taking down China, the European Union, and the USA. Those three groups spend roughly 5x more than Russia on their military, and have 15-20x the population. It won't happen unless some Russian puppet states officially rejoin Russia and provide formal military support. Even then, it's iffy.

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^That's pretty dismal...
^^I honestly cannot see Russia, a country of 100 million, taking down China, the European Union, and the USA. Those three groups spend roughly 5x more than Russia on their military, and have 15-20x the population. It won't happen unless some Russian puppet states officially rejoin Russia and provide formal military support. Even then, it's iffy.

If my scenario came true, it would cover a period of 30+ years. So it's possible that this balance of power can change. I was thinking of Russia's untapped resources in Siberia as I was writing this. Assuming that energy becomes a serious problem in the future - as in world realignment serious - we could see previously strong nations become dependent on ones that are weaker now.

Should energy become a key component of the economy in the future, the Middle East would rise to power, and would trash Russia should there be a war there.

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Just to get this started again, what are people's views on the former British dominions, ala Canada and Australia? Will increased liberalism bring prosperity or tension?