Centre shifting in global order

A bow hunter once told me that killing an animal with an arrow was one of the most humane forms of the sport - because the blow is so devastating that the target will initially not realise it is mortally wounded.

- Brendan Seery

I was reminded of that this week when watching left-wing US economist Richard Wolff on YouTube, detailing what he says is the decline of the "American Empire".

One of the characteristics of the collapse of an empire is the fact that its rulers and many of its inhabitants ignore the signs and do not realise - and do not accept - that they are mortally wounded.

Fair enough, it is simple to dismiss Wolff as a Communist because of his leaning towards Marxism, but also on the video platform this week I watch US Senator Bernie Sanders - a one-time presidential prospect for the Democratic Party - saying much the same thing, that the United States of America is going down the toilet and that democracy there faces the biggest threat it has since independence in 1776.