Yogi Berra once said that predicting stuff was hard, especially about the future. Remember when the wise men predicted that Brazil would be the next rising star? Remember the think tanks publishing studies that showed the Soviet Union would soon overtake the United States? Can China and Islam co-exist? Does anyone else have a say in all this? It was said of the Great Khan that his power was so great that a virgin carrying a purse full of gold could travel the length of the Silk Road without harm. Can the Chinese make the same claim? There is a rise and a fall in the affairs of men. The Ottomans have come and gone, the Great Khan is no more, the legions have left Britain. What will be will be.

The statues crumble into dust
The dreams of conquest sour
To all the end comes, as it must
The year, the date, the hour
Set down by gods for whom the cause
Of death has no real meaning
The birth of China gives no pause
Despite the Western keening
The nations rise, the nations fall
Despairing, in confusion
It happens thus to one and all
Empire is illusion