In the 1980s, the future was Japanese. In the 1990s, it was going to be shaped by the Asian Tigers. In the 2000s, it was to be China in collaboration with the other letters of the BRICS.
Predictions about the American decline are not new. Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger observed: “The US cannot afford another decline like that which has characterised the past decade and a half… Only self-delusion can keep us from admitting our decline to ourselves.” That was in 1961. Like the demise of Mark Twain, the news of the end of the American century has been greatly exaggerated.
Image: Image: Chaitanaya Dinesh Surpur
