The World 2050

[specific_name]

Superpowers: Russia and United States
Big Regional Powers: EU (as a de facto federal entity backed by the US), China (in central Asia and Pacific) and India. A power in South America will emerge, likely Brazil.

Conflict between US and Russia:

Russia regains former power and expands upon it. Will extend hegemony and influence into Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. Proxy wars will resume from where they left off.

The first fault line to develop will be between the federalized EU and the Russian controlled states of Eastern Europe. This will involve minor proxy warfare (20's) in the Balkans primarily.

The second front will open in the Middle East. US backed puppet regimes will come into conflict with Russian backed puppets. Iran will have undergone severe upheavals and become the primary epicenter of conflict (still proxy) between US and Russia.

Russia will come into conflict with China (which will be more powerful and centralized than it is now), the US will back China, using Japan and South Korea as a firing base. Russia will attempt to become a Pacific power and succeed in doing so by the 40's.


All of these conflicts will revolve around energy shortages and manipulation of resources.

The Middle East conflict will involve Russia's control of pipelines and other resources. This will be played out in the 20's along with the EU vs. Eastern Europe (Russian puppets) conflict.

The Pacific conflict involving China and Russia is rooted in the former's stronghold on world shipping which Russia must overcome in order to distribute its resources (largely untapped until its rise in the 20's). The US will attempt to preserve its own position in the Pacific by backing China and all the minor Pacific powers. The East Indies will come upper Japanese/American influence as a result. By 2050 Russia will be the chief trader in "old" resources. Meanwhile, the US and its allies will be forced to look elsewhere. Perhaps space or a new means of energy production.

Mid-Century will be a period of tension and apprehension. It will be clear that the US and EU will have to face Russia directly, as it will have failed to stop the nation's growth on all major fronts. The proxy wars of the first half of the century will give way to direct conflict as energy supplies dwindle. Russia will win the conflict, the EU and US will become regional powers that must do business with them in order to remain stable.

From this point onward a new power will emerge from the ashes and challenge the unitary superpower late century. India and a coalition of weaker entities will come together and slowly challenge the new order.

 edit: this topic ought to be in the 'what if' section.

[specific_name]

^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.

[specific_name]

I think some people here are laughing at my vision of the future as "crazy." When the tripartite world war breaks out, I won't have any free bunker space for these certain individuals.