Peter Turchin: How 'elite overproduction' and 'lawyer glut' could ruin the U.S. The problem with the elites is they're not that elite, and growing numbers spur intense rivalries that spark ideological polarization and bitter political divisions. http://nationalpost.com/opinion/pet...-u-s/wcm/e19c3de6-a939-4124-a303-52ffe477b422 Barring natural disaster, Romans, The European Kings.. Venezuela in the Spanish speaking world recently, America in the English.. It is not inevitable at this point in time if actions are taken, again, like they were in the early 20th century.
Some do believe Feng Shui can really change fate! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui A building in Hong Kong with a hollow middle hole
During most of that time, China was not a unified state. It was comprised of separate, what they called "countries" which had their own king or duke and were often at war with one another.
I saw this topic and couldn't help but think of a book I finished last month. The author pretty much wrote the foreign policy bible that all international relations students read, reread, reread again, and maybe understand...this book is much more readable: Graham Allison, Destined for War: Can American and China Escape Thucydides's Trap? Basically Thucydides's trap is that two nations with genuine intent to avoid war, and competent statesmen acting on that intent, can nevertheless end up in a war. The context is of a rising power (whether world, or regional) displacing a declining one. In this case China displacing the US as a world power. One of the best books I've read recently...if not entirely optimistic in the conclusions it draws. For one thing, the US has long had a competence gap in foreign policy (this isn't political commentary on the current admin--though they're included--but on the system where the state department does not have the kind of career statesmen common to other nations, and nor do the ones they have have the skills of negotiating with the intent of consensus and compromise since it hasn't been needed).