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An Empire Self-Destructs
An Empire Self-Destructs Empires are built through the creation or acquisition of wealth. The Roman Empire came about through the productivity of its people and its subsequent acquisition of wealth from those that it invaded. The Spanish Empire began with productivity and expanded through the use of its large armada of ships, looting the New […]
Falling From Grace
Falling From Grace Years ago, Doug Casey mentioned in a correspondence to me, “Empires fall from grace with alarming speed.” Every now and then, you receive a comment that, although it may have been stated casually, has a lasting effect, as it offers uncommon insight. For me, this was one of those and it’s one […]
If a Tree Falls in a Forest…
If a Tree Falls in a Forest… In the late eighteenth century, Bishop George Berkeley posed the question, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?” Since that time, generations of university philosophy professors have required their students to consider the question. Countless […]
Alfred McCoy, Living in a Quagmire World
Alfred McCoy, Living in a Quagmire World Americans have never liked to think of themselves as part of the West’s imperial history that began with the Roman empire and may now quite literally be ending, as historian and TomDispatch regular Alfred McCoy suggests, in a distinctly un-American moment. The author of a classic history of empire, To Govern […]
The World’s Top Industrial Countries Are in Treacherous Waters
The World’s Top Industrial Countries Are in Treacherous Waters Sometimes, after reading a slew of news articles from around the world, I feel confused and weary. But occasionally patterns seem to emerge. I say “seem” because the human brain is all too eager to see patterns where there are none (hence humanity’s fascination with false […]
Western Civilization has become a never-ending Jerry Springer episode
Western Civilization has become a never-ending Jerry Springer episode Early in the 2nd century AD, around the year 101, the Roman humorist Decimus Junius Juvenalis began publishing a collection of satirical poems poking fun at the Empire. Rome was already in serious decline by the time Juvenalis wrote his first poem. In the first century […]
Falling From Grace
Falling From Grace Years ago, Doug Casey mentioned in a correspondence to me, “Empires fall from grace with alarming speed.” Every now and then, you receive a comment that, although it may have been stated casually, has a lasting effect, as it offers uncommon insight. For me, this was one of those and it’s one […]
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Accelerating Imperial Decline
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Accelerating Imperial Decline Washington’s foreign policy towards Iran is driven by desperation rather than a reasoned understanding of a world in historically significant flux. That can lead only to a continuing succession of failures. The kinetic events of the past week in Washington, Tehran, and the Persian Gulf were nothing if not revealing. President […]
The Self-Destructive Trajectory of Overly Successful Empires
The Self-Destructive Trajectory of Overly Successful Empires It’s difficult not to see signs of this same trajectory in the U.S. since the fall of the Soviet Empire in 1990.A recent comment by my friend and colleague Davefairtex on the Roman Empire’s self-destructive civil wars that precipitated the Western Empire’s decline and fall made me rethink […]
Trump, Gorbachev and the fall of the American empire
Trump, Gorbachev and the fall of the American empire “The only wealth you keep is wealth you have given away,” said Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD), last of the great Roman emperors. US President Donald Trump might know of another Italian, Mario Puzo’s Don Vito Corleone, and his memorable mumble: “I’m going to make him an […]
Could Donald Trump be the Last World Emperor? States and Empires After the End of the Fossil Age
Could Donald Trump be the Last World Emperor? States and Empires After the End of the Fossil Age Empires are short-lived structures created and kept together by the availability of mineral resources, fossil fuels in our times. They tend to decline and fall with the decline of the resources that created them, and that’s the […]
The Dynamics of Decadence
The Dynamics of Decadence In the present era of decadence, Universal Basic Income (UBI) is the modern equivalent of Bread and Circuses. The dynamics of decadence are easy to understand: as affluence becomes the norm that is widely assumed to be permanent, shared purpose and sacrifice for the common good is replaced by self-absorbed decadence […]
The Telltale Signs of Imperial Decline
The Telltale Signs of Imperial Decline Nothing is as permanent as we imagine–especially super-complex, super-costly, super-asymmetric and super-debt-dependent systems. Check which signs of Imperial decline you see around you: The hubris of an increasingly incestuous and out-of-touch leadership; dismaying extremes of wealth inequality; self-serving, avaricious Elites; rising dependency of the lower classes on free Bread […]
