Wow, this one's sweeping. When I watched the American people choose Trump - the worst American president ever - to occupy another term, I was almost certain I was watching a crumbling rottenness from within that would cause an implosion. How could a people so bereft of education consider such a choice? I saw this election as indictment upon their whole society. I still believe that the centre will collapse through gluttony and ignorance, but perhaps the "empire" is so widespread that it will continue its existence, albeit in another guise, As you say, the definition of empire itself is slippery. Maybe it's an old-fashioned term that no longer applies in an interconnected modern world?
When Sassanian Persia became a power facing the Romans, they split in half, adopted Christianity and ended up shrinking by half but they didn't go away. They just reformed in a multi polar world (damn I should have included that).
Wow, this one's sweeping. When I watched the American people choose Trump - the worst American president ever - to occupy another term, I was almost certain I was watching a crumbling rottenness from within that would cause an implosion. How could a people so bereft of education consider such a choice? I saw this election as indictment upon their whole society. I still believe that the centre will collapse through gluttony and ignorance, but perhaps the "empire" is so widespread that it will continue its existence, albeit in another guise, As you say, the definition of empire itself is slippery. Maybe it's an old-fashioned term that no longer applies in an interconnected modern world?
When Sassanian Persia became a power facing the Romans, they split in half, adopted Christianity and ended up shrinking by half but they didn't go away. They just reformed in a multi polar world (damn I should have included that).