Thank you for sharing this informed and insightful assessment of the systems-based properties governing the rise and fall of empires. While the US is in many respects a false meritocracy as you suggest, with its own recent toxic cult of Trumpian fascism and Idiocracy among Republicans threatening its viability from within, I am reassured (by Trump’s recent indictment as well as the failure of his attempted coup d’etat) that our historical commitment to enlightenment ideals like the rule of law and democratic institutions gives the US (and NATO as well) a resilience that will outlast the other empires— unless, of course, the global predicament of fossil fuel dependence and ecological collapse from rapid climate destabilization spells the endgame for all of us…