With all that's going on, we need at least some funding in propaganda so our population doesn't turn on us. It's what's been keeping our approval rating from imploding.

Believe it or not, it's actually 100% Canadian developed.

I tend to agree with everything you just said. Except to give regions away we have to first annex the region into our nation, which could take some time. Especially since the world seems to loathe our very existence right now. But, I'm all for being the U.S.' lacky if it means momentary invulnerability.

Once we have the regions under our control, it really wouldn't take much giving to get people back on our side. I estimate we can get three, maybe four countries allied with us for those regions. And if we're lucky, some debt assumption. I've also drastically increased our foreign aid to get our relations going in the right direction again. We managed to get out of the war, but the U.S. is still formally engaged.

[Edit]
We can also eventually get started on that.

Although the question arises of how in hell are we going to become a power comparable to the US and still be on their good side.

Maybe we can build ourselves to be not as powerful as them but still pretty powerful, and allow one or two other countries to get powerful as well but not as powerful as us. Then we ally with them against the US. And then we conquer those countries.

I didn't pay that close attention to the map, but the ABC (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao) and SSS (Saba, St. Maarten (think this was the one that's half french), St. Eustatius) islands aren't part of the state? (or are they too insignificant to be on the world map xP)

I would assume option 2, because I'm sure Bob would have noticed them.
Though, it's not like they actually contribute to much of the Netherlands' worth.
Perhaps in the drugs-supply chain we've got going, but beyond that? :P

How do we look imports/exports-wise? In order to gain some ground in that Sweden/Finland alliance, I'd propose maybe a free-trade deal with them since they are close and it won't cost us much to ship crap to them. Since we got booted from NATO, I'm willing to be a little vindictive and up the tariffs on their goods a bit to cover the loss.

As for our new "colonies," I support the idea to build them up and consolidate power as opposed to running rampant throughout the globe grabbing things we can't hold onto long enough to draw a profit.

That was before the world went apeshit.

I agree with everyone else that we to consolidate what we hold right now and then start plotting again. Hopefully by that time our favorability rating should have edged back up with everyone else.

First off: I'd forget about Caribbean conquests for now (unless you really do control the ABCs or whatever the hell those tiny islands are, in which case you'd have something of a staging ground.) Again, anything in the New World is too close to the United States for comfort. If the US were ever to declare war, you wouldn't have time to quickly flesh out a peace treaty before an invasion likely sacked everything you possessed near the United States. On the flip side, holdings in North Africa may well remain secure just long enough for you to make any concessions necessary to keep the US from kicking your ass before you actually have the resources to level the playing field.

In the meantime, however, the comment I've quoted has conjured another idea in my mind for a potential strategy: could we utilize covert operations to keep the United States in this conflict, forcing them to steadily drain resources and spread out into disparate territory? This would gradually weaken the United States and siphon its ability to deploy military forces elsewhere. We should consider using faked terrorist attacks to prevent any possibility of a ceasefire agreement anytime soon, while encouraging the US to take faroff territories. One idea, for example, would be to fake a New Zealand terrorist attack on the US, just to force the US to declare war on New Zealand, invade one of the furthest, isolated countries on the map, and station military forces there.

New Zealand? The land of Lord of the Rings and Flight of the Concords? Nuuuuuu.

In seriousness, that could be feasible, but aht about Australia and Oceania region. They are still relatively close.

In regards to giving up our territories in other places: Hell no. I'm not sure what strategy you're pushing right now, but if it's oil then you really, really want to hold on to Saudi Arabia. You can give them our South American holdings if you must (if we ever get around to annexing them), but I'd recommend to keep and consolidate what we have. It's not worth much, but as far as staging areas go, it'll be invaluable later. Admittedly, what we hold of India might be worth quite a lot, should we gift-wrap it and present it to the nato, so that could be one option. Alternately, could we give what we own of the Indian main land back to India, in return for whatever parts of Africa they took?

The problem with getting the US involved in more wars is that it probably wouldn't hurt them too much, while giving them more and more territory. Yes, it'll be draining to hold that territory, and it'll weaken them, but it then belongs to THEM. Meaning that eventually, we'll have a map where every country is either highly developed or belongs to the US.

Maybe not that drastic, but my point is that our strategy consists of picking off smaller, valuable countries off 1-by-1, and it'd be mildly annoying to have the US get there before us, so to speak.

Besides, I thought we needed our covert forces to focus on taking the rest of the African West Coast? We can go for North Africa afterwards, but I don't think they're very resource-rich, and Europe might get anxious if we were to turn our attention there.

I agree to the Free-trade-area with Sweden and Finland, though it'll get in the way of us taking them and their oil later.

So, to sum it all up:
1: Consolidate
2: Focus covert, diplomatic, economic and military resources on taking the rest of Western African coast.
3: Use leverage which we'll hopefully have to clear the way for taking the rest of the middle east.

But that's what I've been preaching for a while now... -.-

How's our military? What casualties did we take?

Are there means to weaken the USA, without taking a huge risk of them squashing us like bugs, or them recreating a British Empire-size emperium? Preferably weakened to the point that they can be conquered by a coalition of other nations.
Because, well, being a lapdog is sort of safe at the start, i guess, but that doesn't mean we should stop aiming to be more important than we are now.

Other point, do Sweden and Finland have oil as well? Thought that was a Norwegian thing.