United Russia loses seats, keeps majority

Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin look like pathetic image playboys 007s wanna bees instead come entirely across as country bumpkins where are their cravat.

United Russia stole enough votes to keep majority.

B92 describes the United Russia party as "pro-Kremlin." I should hope they are.

What are the other parties? Soros financed "anti-Kremlin" traitors?

@Lenard

Whats pathetic is you coming on here as an internet warrior spreading your anti-Serb and now anti-Russian hate. Maybe you should get a job, at least Putin and Medvedev have jobs, and extremely good ones too.

"The results of the polls have already sparked a wave of strong criticism from the Internet users citing massive fraud and violations."

That's for sure. The most bizarre thing is that, of all parties, even United Russia claimed that their voters were threatened and hindered, and that's the reason why they got less than 50% of the votes. Amusing.

Michael, there are only two parties in general in Russia. Putin/Yeltsin's guys, and the communists. There are two more parties in parliament but they always vote in line with whatever Putin's party wants. So they're fake parties.

So you see, the pro-West guys do not exist. They are on the ballot but they get like one percent of the vote. Stop living in the delusional world that there is much choice in Russia. The oligarchs are very powerful, and since Yeltsin's time in bed with them, they have gone even more in bed with Putin. Robbers of the country... they stole billions and billions, and so this yeltsin system continues since yeltsin left power.
The communists meanwhile are the only opposition in any way. Though their party name is kinda weird as they do not support communism. :P

The propoganda coming out of the western media about a 'stolen' election is a joke. Putin is seen as a big threat, and a man who will not let the west rape Russia of all of its vast resources, and that is why there is this smear campaign going on. Yesterday they had demonstrations of a few thousand people in Moscow (which is nothing), and watching and listening to the media you would think there were half a million people in the streets! Not only that, the nationalist Liberal Democratic party increased their popularity and got more votes.

Nenad, I hate to disappoint you, but if you think Al Gore would have prevented the Iraq and Afghanistan quagmire, think again. It makes no difference who is in power in the US, whether Republican or Democrat, the US is controlled by the military industrial complex - they have senators and congressmen in their pockets with their bribes and lobby money. They need war to feed the machine and keep the profits up. Democrats are just as much war mongers as Republicans - in fact it was Democrats who initiated and fully sponsored the genocide against Serbs (Operation Storm) and the illegal war crime of bombing Serbia for 78 days. Your view is very, very naive. The US is controlled by corrupt lobbyists, and is not a real democracy.

Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin look like pathetic image playboys 007s wanna bees instead come entirely across as country bumpkins where are their cravat.
(Lenard, 5 December 2011 12:13)

I think your compadre here the country bumpkin is hiding the kravats that you looking for. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n6E36yF2GM

I’m amazed at how systematically the west has managed to brainwash people to think that it really has a democratic system of government.

I don’t favour dictatorships but to claim that Russian is less democratic than most western countries is ridiculous.

Ask the question how many parties does the US have in it halls of power? Two. And how long have they been sharing power? 220 years. So since 1776 we have had the Republicans or Democrats ruling the US and they call it a democracy.

Recent controversial elections had shown that George Bush did not win the Presidency, but it was Al Gore. To stop Al from setting up shop as the real president, they just threw millions at him to the point that this man is unbelievably rich today.

In fact those same elections disclosed just how they are manipulated. In some poorer areas there was a lack of polling booths while they also used mechanical devices to punch holes in the ballot paper – late 20 century and they use 19 century equipment.

Who is actually in bed with the US ruling elite? Oligarchs?

No corporations; Does anyone recall Halliburton Corp???? so what is the difference – none.

No corporations; Does anyone recall Halliburton Corp???? so what is the difference – none.
(sj, 5 December 2011 23:23)

SJ,
This is almost a soley British project to get Russia moving back. Notice the opposition they are giving voice to are Communists. Remind anyone of the past here? Putin is a threat as he is already expanding soft power in Eurasia, alarm bells are ringing. Thats even before anyone mentions debt.

SJ,

Ironically, it was mostly because of an usually strong third party candidate, Ralph Nader, that George W Bush was able to steal (apparently) the 2000 election from Al Gore by just 554 votes in Florida. Nader took too many votes away from Gore. What a different decade it might have been for the US if Bush hadn't taken power...no invasion of Iraq, better reaction to climate change, possibly better management of the war in Afghanistan...maybe even successful handling of pre-911 intelligence which would have meant never having to go after Bin Laden with a full-scale military invasion. Gore most surely would not have enacted those ridiculous tax cuts that have cost the US economy trillions of dollars, and I'd like to think he would have invested greatly in gene technology and the upgrade of the US infrastructure.

Gore challenged the election result vigorously; recounts were underway in several Florida districts when the Supreme Court ordered that they be stopped by a party line vote of 5-4. Gore could do nothing but concede. The Republicans did not buy his silence, contrary to what you appear to assert. Gore, like all prominent US politicians, was already a very wealthy man. In fact, he comes from a very privileged family (his father was a senator, I believe).

I do agree that the US is far from being the democracy it claims, and that corporations control the political process. However, common people here seem to have more rights, such as freedom of expression. In places like Russia and China, one who challenges the government in public does so at his or her own risk. There have been numerous high-profile cases in recent years, and as one who apparently keeps up with the news, you'll know the ones I mean (Anna Polovskaya, Ai Wei Wei, etc). And we've seen similar incidents in Serbia - Slavko Curuvija, Dada Vujasinovic, Ivan Stambolic, the attempts on Vuk Draskovic...Zoran Djindjic? Such incidents are very rare in the US.

(Nenad, 6 December 2011 06:59
My mention about Bush is only an aside issue. The main point is how is it possible to have a democtratic system and never have any other party in power other than Democrats and republicans for the last 220 years?????? That is the question. Forget who gave out the tax cuts. How can you have democracy with only two parties??? When Gore Vidal was asked why he never voted – his answer was we have one conservative party with two branches so what is the point?
I know the Gore’s background and that he was already wealthy. My point is that if he had set up shop as the real President he could have brought the entire show to a standstill, but he moved on and as a reward he was paid off and there are many ways of being paid off. Some receive money up front other work for it. Al decided to work for it.
The problem is that many do not understand what it really means to be free, they just paraphrase spin. The corporations/wealthy elite control everything in the US and I mean everything. You would be fooling yourself if you think otherwise.
“ Such incidents are very rare in the US”.
Up to now they have been very rare in the US, but if you, Nenad, become a danger to the system in the US, they would liquidate you without a second thought and paint you as a terrorist or traitor. The reason why it has been rare is because the US has had a very good standard of living, but as that declines watch as your rights and freedom go the same way. In fact the US has all the laws already in place to turn it into a police state. There is legislation on the books that even Joseph Stalin could not pass during his time in the Soviet Union.
Your homeland security laws are exactly just that. If Vuk Draskovic...Zoran Djindjic did the exact same thing to the US as they did to Serbia they would now be rotting in some prison right now with little chance of ever seeing the light of day for the next 20 years.
“common people here seem to have more rights, such as freedom of expression”
It is a delusion. You only have what the authorities want to give you and they call it freedom and free speech.
Anna Polovskaya – there have been journalists killed in the US for similar things i.e following a story that involved corruption on a large scale and getting too close to the truth ended up dead. This is nothing new anywhere.

(White Russia, 6 December 2011 08:55)

The British are trying to relive the 19 century when they mattered; they are of little to no consequence in the big picture – they are on the same level as Serbia. The west hates Putin because he is a threat to their plans, whatever they are. So far everything they have touched ends up in complete disaster. The so called Russian democratic opposition is financed by the west. The communists, well they look back and see the days of glory, but they have had their time and failed. They can only hope to return to power if the situation turns very bad in Russia.
Putin is expanding Russia’s influence everywhere and he is making real gains unlike the US and their allies. Look at Iraq and Afghnaistan – two major disasters costing trillion and nothing to show for it. Libya is run by a council with various groups that have their own agenda. Sooner or later they will start fighting amongst themselves and you will have another mess. Not one has disarmed, nor ever will. The stupid Americans have brought fundamental Islamist to power in Libya.

aaayyy - yes, a typo on my part. I should have checked that. As you might guess, I also meant to say GREEN technology, not GENE technology.

sj, Dragan - I don't think either of you have spent much time in the US, so I'll forgive your overly simplistic view on political and economic affairs. As is it is with many matters in life, there is a grain of truth in the things you say, but it's just not that simple. How many political parties are active in the Russian government? And yet who holds all the power -- inside or outside the office of president? And while I agree that defense contractors are keen to see steady turnover of the military inventory, there are other ways of achieving that turnover that don't involve self-harm. Corruption is rife in any political system - that has been true since the beginning of time. However, some politicians are more talented than others, and guys like Clinton, Gore and Obama are light years ahead of players on the Republican side. I think someone like Romney is actually more talented than a lot of his Republican peers, but he'll never win the nomination because he's a Mormon.

Any Serb will, of course, see 1990s US military involvement in the Balkans as unlawful and genocidal -- and blame Clinton (and by association, to some extent Gore) due to his leadership role -- but that view is biased and not commonly held across the world. This isn't to say that international intervention was conducted in the best possible way, but contrary to what most Serbs believe (thanks to the propaganda of the Milosevic regime), it wasn't the West or anyone else who started the wars there.

Returning to what you call my delusional/naive view of freedom of expression in the US, you are wrong. The media is full of daily stories and talk show interviews about crime and corruption in the US government and people speak freely and without fear. Talking on your mobile or emailing someone about carrying out a terrorist attack is a different story, and lines probably do get blurred there, but most people know better or just wouldn't. The problem is that politicians almost always turn out rotten and people just keep voting them in, so you just have complaints ad infinitum. Maybe it's true that things are about to get much darker due to the decline in the living standard, but such a trend would not be uniquely American. Maybe this is just what happens to any society that has become too fat and entitled, and maybe becoming fat and entitled is an inevitable consequence of a period of greater wealth.

This is very good news for Russia as it not only forces United Russia to practice real compromise and conciliation, it also forces opposition parties to step up and be more responsible with their policies rather than squealing whatever they like from the sidelines knowing that they do not have to take any responsibility.

Myedvyedev's reforms on corruption and modernisation have taken root but are not expanding quickly enough. Critically a deal has been reached with Georgia, the last hold out, on Russia joining the WTO. The old business as usual is simply no longer an option, even for those near the top of the chain who are afraid of Myedvyedev's reforms. The alternative is stagnation and Russia not aligning itself with 21st century economics.

I know more about the US than you think. But it’s always the apologists or those that are have never been involved with the US Government that come out and state “overly simplistic view on political and economic affairs”. You would have to write a doctorate on B92 website to give detailed explanation.

The vast majority of life is simple, but when you want to hide something people make it complex. Forget about Russian democracy as it’s only existed since the 1990s and it may evolve or it might even regress. I’m talking about US democracy and 220 years of having the same parties in power. Gore Vidal was not a fool; he was an adviser to John Kennedy.

US democracy is like your football game. There are rules in how you play, but you must always stay within those white lines otherwise your out. Yes the media talks of corruption here and there, but if you started a party to turn the US into a proper democracy that same media will paint you as either insane or anti American; you name it they will do it. Any credible threat to the status quo will be dealt with quickly and the use of deadly force cannot be ruled out. If you think otherwise you’re kidding yourself. There are too many interests making big money to allow changes to the current system.

“Corruption is rife in any political system”. That is absolutely correct, in fact the greater the gain the higher the levels of corruption. What has separated the western system from the rest is the sophisticated levels of corruption in that while politicians are in power they do not put their hands in the till. However, as they do many favours for the Corporations, wealth elite, they are paid off after finishing their term in politics.

The US presidency is now more of an office than an actual Presidency. If you look at Roosevelt and look at Obama, there is a huge difference. Roosevelt was a real president while Obama is a shadow of the office in the sense that a lot of the power is no longer with the President. In fact there are government workers who have higher security clearances than the President today.

No I do not blame Gore for anything at all. Clinton took action in the Balkans because of US interest not out of any humanitarian reasons just like the US invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. In fact they were planning to invade Iraq during Bill’s term in office, but Bill was not keen as he could see Vietnam all over again.

Do you know that in China, a communist government, people speak freely about government corruption on the street? Are you aware that there are stories printed regularly in their media where they have caught some official taking bribes? But try and see what happens to you if you want to change the system. The US is not too different.

Like all empires, the US has had its day in the sunshine. In fact after some 400 or 500 years co the entire west is coming to an end and the east is taking its place.

Do you mean Anna Politkovskaya?

Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin look like pathetic image playboys 007s wanna bees instead come entirely across as country bumpkins where are their cravat.

@Lenard

Whats pathetic is you coming on here as an internet warrior spreading your anti-Serb and now anti-Russian hate. Maybe you should get a job, at least Putin and Medvedev have jobs, and extremely good ones too.

B92 describes the United Russia party as "pro-Kremlin." I should hope they are.

What are the other parties? Soros financed "anti-Kremlin" traitors?

Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin look like pathetic image playboys 007s wanna bees instead come entirely across as country bumpkins where are their cravat.
(Lenard, 5 December 2011 12:13)

I think your compadre here the country bumpkin is hiding the kravats that you looking for. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n6E36yF2GM

(Nenad, 6 December 2011 06:59
My mention about Bush is only an aside issue. The main point is how is it possible to have a democtratic system and never have any other party in power other than Democrats and republicans for the last 220 years?????? That is the question. Forget who gave out the tax cuts. How can you have democracy with only two parties??? When Gore Vidal was asked why he never voted – his answer was we have one conservative party with two branches so what is the point?
I know the Gore’s background and that he was already wealthy. My point is that if he had set up shop as the real President he could have brought the entire show to a standstill, but he moved on and as a reward he was paid off and there are many ways of being paid off. Some receive money up front other work for it. Al decided to work for it.
The problem is that many do not understand what it really means to be free, they just paraphrase spin. The corporations/wealthy elite control everything in the US and I mean everything. You would be fooling yourself if you think otherwise.
“ Such incidents are very rare in the US”.
Up to now they have been very rare in the US, but if you, Nenad, become a danger to the system in the US, they would liquidate you without a second thought and paint you as a terrorist or traitor. The reason why it has been rare is because the US has had a very good standard of living, but as that declines watch as your rights and freedom go the same way. In fact the US has all the laws already in place to turn it into a police state. There is legislation on the books that even Joseph Stalin could not pass during his time in the Soviet Union.
Your homeland security laws are exactly just that. If Vuk Draskovic...Zoran Djindjic did the exact same thing to the US as they did to Serbia they would now be rotting in some prison right now with little chance of ever seeing the light of day for the next 20 years.
“common people here seem to have more rights, such as freedom of expression”
It is a delusion. You only have what the authorities want to give you and they call it freedom and free speech.
Anna Polovskaya – there have been journalists killed in the US for similar things i.e following a story that involved corruption on a large scale and getting too close to the truth ended up dead. This is nothing new anywhere.

(White Russia, 6 December 2011 08:55)

The British are trying to relive the 19 century when they mattered; they are of little to no consequence in the big picture – they are on the same level as Serbia. The west hates Putin because he is a threat to their plans, whatever they are. So far everything they have touched ends up in complete disaster. The so called Russian democratic opposition is financed by the west. The communists, well they look back and see the days of glory, but they have had their time and failed. They can only hope to return to power if the situation turns very bad in Russia.
Putin is expanding Russia’s influence everywhere and he is making real gains unlike the US and their allies. Look at Iraq and Afghnaistan – two major disasters costing trillion and nothing to show for it. Libya is run by a council with various groups that have their own agenda. Sooner or later they will start fighting amongst themselves and you will have another mess. Not one has disarmed, nor ever will. The stupid Americans have brought fundamental Islamist to power in Libya.

United Russia stole enough votes to keep majority.

The propoganda coming out of the western media about a 'stolen' election is a joke. Putin is seen as a big threat, and a man who will not let the west rape Russia of all of its vast resources, and that is why there is this smear campaign going on. Yesterday they had demonstrations of a few thousand people in Moscow (which is nothing), and watching and listening to the media you would think there were half a million people in the streets! Not only that, the nationalist Liberal Democratic party increased their popularity and got more votes.

Nenad, I hate to disappoint you, but if you think Al Gore would have prevented the Iraq and Afghanistan quagmire, think again. It makes no difference who is in power in the US, whether Republican or Democrat, the US is controlled by the military industrial complex - they have senators and congressmen in their pockets with their bribes and lobby money. They need war to feed the machine and keep the profits up. Democrats are just as much war mongers as Republicans - in fact it was Democrats who initiated and fully sponsored the genocide against Serbs (Operation Storm) and the illegal war crime of bombing Serbia for 78 days. Your view is very, very naive. The US is controlled by corrupt lobbyists, and is not a real democracy.

aaayyy - yes, a typo on my part. I should have checked that. As you might guess, I also meant to say GREEN technology, not GENE technology.

sj, Dragan - I don't think either of you have spent much time in the US, so I'll forgive your overly simplistic view on political and economic affairs. As is it is with many matters in life, there is a grain of truth in the things you say, but it's just not that simple. How many political parties are active in the Russian government? And yet who holds all the power -- inside or outside the office of president? And while I agree that defense contractors are keen to see steady turnover of the military inventory, there are other ways of achieving that turnover that don't involve self-harm. Corruption is rife in any political system - that has been true since the beginning of time. However, some politicians are more talented than others, and guys like Clinton, Gore and Obama are light years ahead of players on the Republican side. I think someone like Romney is actually more talented than a lot of his Republican peers, but he'll never win the nomination because he's a Mormon.

Any Serb will, of course, see 1990s US military involvement in the Balkans as unlawful and genocidal -- and blame Clinton (and by association, to some extent Gore) due to his leadership role -- but that view is biased and not commonly held across the world. This isn't to say that international intervention was conducted in the best possible way, but contrary to what most Serbs believe (thanks to the propaganda of the Milosevic regime), it wasn't the West or anyone else who started the wars there.

Returning to what you call my delusional/naive view of freedom of expression in the US, you are wrong. The media is full of daily stories and talk show interviews about crime and corruption in the US government and people speak freely and without fear. Talking on your mobile or emailing someone about carrying out a terrorist attack is a different story, and lines probably do get blurred there, but most people know better or just wouldn't. The problem is that politicians almost always turn out rotten and people just keep voting them in, so you just have complaints ad infinitum. Maybe it's true that things are about to get much darker due to the decline in the living standard, but such a trend would not be uniquely American. Maybe this is just what happens to any society that has become too fat and entitled, and maybe becoming fat and entitled is an inevitable consequence of a period of greater wealth.

Michael, there are only two parties in general in Russia. Putin/Yeltsin's guys, and the communists. There are two more parties in parliament but they always vote in line with whatever Putin's party wants. So they're fake parties.

So you see, the pro-West guys do not exist. They are on the ballot but they get like one percent of the vote. Stop living in the delusional world that there is much choice in Russia. The oligarchs are very powerful, and since Yeltsin's time in bed with them, they have gone even more in bed with Putin. Robbers of the country... they stole billions and billions, and so this yeltsin system continues since yeltsin left power.
The communists meanwhile are the only opposition in any way. Though their party name is kinda weird as they do not support communism. :P

I’m amazed at how systematically the west has managed to brainwash people to think that it really has a democratic system of government.

I don’t favour dictatorships but to claim that Russian is less democratic than most western countries is ridiculous.

Ask the question how many parties does the US have in it halls of power? Two. And how long have they been sharing power? 220 years. So since 1776 we have had the Republicans or Democrats ruling the US and they call it a democracy.

Recent controversial elections had shown that George Bush did not win the Presidency, but it was Al Gore. To stop Al from setting up shop as the real president, they just threw millions at him to the point that this man is unbelievably rich today.

In fact those same elections disclosed just how they are manipulated. In some poorer areas there was a lack of polling booths while they also used mechanical devices to punch holes in the ballot paper – late 20 century and they use 19 century equipment.

Who is actually in bed with the US ruling elite? Oligarchs?

No corporations; Does anyone recall Halliburton Corp???? so what is the difference – none.

"The results of the polls have already sparked a wave of strong criticism from the Internet users citing massive fraud and violations."

That's for sure. The most bizarre thing is that, of all parties, even United Russia claimed that their voters were threatened and hindered, and that's the reason why they got less than 50% of the votes. Amusing.

SJ,

Ironically, it was mostly because of an usually strong third party candidate, Ralph Nader, that George W Bush was able to steal (apparently) the 2000 election from Al Gore by just 554 votes in Florida. Nader took too many votes away from Gore. What a different decade it might have been for the US if Bush hadn't taken power...no invasion of Iraq, better reaction to climate change, possibly better management of the war in Afghanistan...maybe even successful handling of pre-911 intelligence which would have meant never having to go after Bin Laden with a full-scale military invasion. Gore most surely would not have enacted those ridiculous tax cuts that have cost the US economy trillions of dollars, and I'd like to think he would have invested greatly in gene technology and the upgrade of the US infrastructure.

Gore challenged the election result vigorously; recounts were underway in several Florida districts when the Supreme Court ordered that they be stopped by a party line vote of 5-4. Gore could do nothing but concede. The Republicans did not buy his silence, contrary to what you appear to assert. Gore, like all prominent US politicians, was already a very wealthy man. In fact, he comes from a very privileged family (his father was a senator, I believe).

I do agree that the US is far from being the democracy it claims, and that corporations control the political process. However, common people here seem to have more rights, such as freedom of expression. In places like Russia and China, one who challenges the government in public does so at his or her own risk. There have been numerous high-profile cases in recent years, and as one who apparently keeps up with the news, you'll know the ones I mean (Anna Polovskaya, Ai Wei Wei, etc). And we've seen similar incidents in Serbia - Slavko Curuvija, Dada Vujasinovic, Ivan Stambolic, the attempts on Vuk Draskovic...Zoran Djindjic? Such incidents are very rare in the US.

This is very good news for Russia as it not only forces United Russia to practice real compromise and conciliation, it also forces opposition parties to step up and be more responsible with their policies rather than squealing whatever they like from the sidelines knowing that they do not have to take any responsibility.

Myedvyedev's reforms on corruption and modernisation have taken root but are not expanding quickly enough. Critically a deal has been reached with Georgia, the last hold out, on Russia joining the WTO. The old business as usual is simply no longer an option, even for those near the top of the chain who are afraid of Myedvyedev's reforms. The alternative is stagnation and Russia not aligning itself with 21st century economics.

No corporations; Does anyone recall Halliburton Corp???? so what is the difference – none.
(sj, 5 December 2011 23:23)

SJ,
This is almost a soley British project to get Russia moving back. Notice the opposition they are giving voice to are Communists. Remind anyone of the past here? Putin is a threat as he is already expanding soft power in Eurasia, alarm bells are ringing. Thats even before anyone mentions debt.

Do you mean Anna Politkovskaya?

I know more about the US than you think. But it’s always the apologists or those that are have never been involved with the US Government that come out and state “overly simplistic view on political and economic affairs”. You would have to write a doctorate on B92 website to give detailed explanation.

The vast majority of life is simple, but when you want to hide something people make it complex. Forget about Russian democracy as it’s only existed since the 1990s and it may evolve or it might even regress. I’m talking about US democracy and 220 years of having the same parties in power. Gore Vidal was not a fool; he was an adviser to John Kennedy.

US democracy is like your football game. There are rules in how you play, but you must always stay within those white lines otherwise your out. Yes the media talks of corruption here and there, but if you started a party to turn the US into a proper democracy that same media will paint you as either insane or anti American; you name it they will do it. Any credible threat to the status quo will be dealt with quickly and the use of deadly force cannot be ruled out. If you think otherwise you’re kidding yourself. There are too many interests making big money to allow changes to the current system.

“Corruption is rife in any political system”. That is absolutely correct, in fact the greater the gain the higher the levels of corruption. What has separated the western system from the rest is the sophisticated levels of corruption in that while politicians are in power they do not put their hands in the till. However, as they do many favours for the Corporations, wealth elite, they are paid off after finishing their term in politics.

The US presidency is now more of an office than an actual Presidency. If you look at Roosevelt and look at Obama, there is a huge difference. Roosevelt was a real president while Obama is a shadow of the office in the sense that a lot of the power is no longer with the President. In fact there are government workers who have higher security clearances than the President today.

No I do not blame Gore for anything at all. Clinton took action in the Balkans because of US interest not out of any humanitarian reasons just like the US invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. In fact they were planning to invade Iraq during Bill’s term in office, but Bill was not keen as he could see Vietnam all over again.

Do you know that in China, a communist government, people speak freely about government corruption on the street? Are you aware that there are stories printed regularly in their media where they have caught some official taking bribes? But try and see what happens to you if you want to change the system. The US is not too different.

Like all empires, the US has had its day in the sunshine. In fact after some 400 or 500 years co the entire west is coming to an end and the east is taking its place.