Slavery gave a huge advantage to the Western nations. According to economists, free labour reduced input costs by over 20 percent. This margin alone sufficed to beat down the then more advanced economies of the East.
An aspect of the Anglo-American empire is that its drivers are a tightly knit circle of wealthy oligarchs, mostly bankers who are rarely seen in public. Unlike the political classes, they have no ideological underpinnings. This was proved when they backed the hard core communists against middle Russia during the Russian civil war in 1917. Again, they have no qualms about trading with the reds in China, as long as the Chinese buy their bonds and produce cheap trinkets for the Western masses.
This oligarchy has also despatched its young to die in numerous wars around the world. It is worth noting that while the elites of Russia, India and China have sent their boys to fight in wars, in the United States the rich sent their children of serving age to Canada or the Peace Corps to avoid being conscripted into the fighting military.
The wealthy in the Anglo-American world have a striking disconnect with their masses. In the United States, 5 percent of the population owns 60 per cent of the national wealth, making it the most unequal society in the world. Across the Atlantic, approximately 20 percent of the UK's population lives in poverty. Worse, Britain remains the most class-bound society in the world, with a permanent and growing underclass with absolutely no social or economic mobility.
EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
It is extremely likely the Western tycoons will try to cushion the impact of their fall by linking up with entrenched oligarchs in the emerging nations, perhaps by bribing key officials and leaders or by offering a share in the spoils.
There is already one clear example of that. In February 2011, Mukesh Ambani of India's Reliance Industries, one of India's most controversial monopolies, announced a multi-billion oil exploration deal with British Petroleum, which was exposed by Wikileaks as a prime mover of the Iraq war. The US-educated Ambani, who is worth $58 billion, said he was delighted to partner with "one of the finest deep water exploration companies in the world."
There are other weaknesses the West might exploit.
In 1991, the Russians looked on while the West pummelled their long-time ally Iraq into the Stone Age. Next, it was Slavic cousin Serbia that NATO bombed for 42 days. And now the leader of another Russian client state, Libya, is being bombed out of power.
In each instance, Russian inaction is inexplicable. A possible explanation is that there is a section of power brokers in Moscow that believes it can buy the West's goodwill by sacrificing some of Russia's key interests.
A similar tribe exists in India comprising a tiny elite that has been brainwashed into believing that in the Anglosphere lies their salvation. The current Oxbridge educated Prime Minister, an unelected and accidental elevation to India's top job thanks to dynastic politics, is one such example. This gentleman has gone to the extent of blathering off that British rule was good for India.
Factoring in elements such as Eurocentric Russians and Anglophile Indians, it would be impossible to write off the Anglo-American empire totally.
OTHER THREATS
The West is by no means the only game in town. Growing Islamic imperialism in a crescent stretching from Turkey to Indonesia will be a huge challenge. The large Muslim minorities in India, Russia and China are also getting radicalized, spawning terrorist movements.
Building a new world order will be an epic exercise. In that backdrop, mutual jealousies will appear minor irritants. India and China, for instance, may sort out their decades-old border dispute in the larger interest of cohesion.
How the BRICS deal with such issues will test the fabric of their alliance more than any confrontation with the West.
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