looking ahead...

from Stagger On, Weary Titan:

...None of this is to suggest that the United States will decline and fall tomorrow. Far from it. After all, the British empire lasted for another 40 years after 1905. In fact, it grew to its largest extent after 1918, before it signed its own death warrant by expending its blood and treasure to defeat Adolf Hitler (not the worst way to go). Similarly, one may anticipate that America's informal empire - its network of military bases and semi-protectorates - will continue to grow. The United States, like Edwardian Britain, still has formidable resources of economic, technological and military power, cultural attractiveness and, not least, the will to stay on top. As one British music hall ditty at that time proclaimed:

And we mean to be top dog still. Bow-wow. Yes, we mean to be top dog still.

You don't have to go very far to hear that refrain in Washington today. The Bush administration's national security strategy makes no bones about the goal of maintaining military supremacy. But whether the 'American century' that began in 1945 will last until 2045, 2035 or only 2025, its end can already be glimpsed on the horizon.

If you are, by any chance, of that persuasion that would instinctively find this a cause for rejoicing, pause for a moment to consider two things: first, that major shifts of power between rising and falling great powers have usually been accompanied by major wars; and second, that the next top dog could be a lot worse.

So this is no time for schadenfreude. It's a time for critical solidarity. A few far-sighted people in Washington are beginning to formulate a long-term American strategy of trying to create an international order that would protect the interests of liberal democracies even when American hyperpower has faded; and to encourage rising powers such as India and China to sign up to such an order. That is exactly what today's weary Titan should be doing, and we should help him do it.

This is the end of an excellent, forward looking (and historically comparing) article that should be getting more attention. There are plenty of reasons to think that the world will look vastly different in 2050, or at least be in the midst of serious crises. Many Christians may welcome those crises as the 'Armageddon' of their imaginations; when life continues, how will the gospel, which has become a perverted gospel of health & wealth, of success, if you will, how will the gospel survive? The death knell of such a fabrication should be celebrated - but will the real message of Jesus Christ have enough disciples to be spread again? Perhaps then it will be easier to focus on justice; would that faithful people would turn in this direction now! Such a turn might even soften the blow of whatever change is around the corner. 2050 is not so far off; 2025 barely a blink or two away. How can people of faith prepare?