Roger Cohen thinks China will inherit our role as the world’s hegemon around the middle of the century, because we’re sick and tired of making the sacrifices necessary to keep everyone in line. It’s a natural progression, as students of other empires could tell you. He’s probably right.
It occurred to me while I was reading the Cohen column that what he was describing as a geopolitical phenomenon was consistent with the aesthetic passage from classical to baroque. Anyone who has examined our culture critically can see how that could be the case.
Hey, it’s not so bad. “Game of Thrones” is great TV. It sure beats watching film of American soldiers dying in Iraq.