As we live through the era of shock and awe, it is easy to dismiss these times as chaotic. They are disorderly but not chaotic. It is the natural cycle of change. It includes a quality of destruction and and leveling of the playing field. From all the noise and conflict will emerge a new power. It will take time and we won’t know who that will be at this time. While this is going on, we can expect disorder as being a new normal. Empires last, in general, approximately 250 years. This pattern is well documented throughout history. Some empires shorter, some longer but the average 250 years. The power of the world prior to the American Empire was the British Empire. No one could predict that America would come out of the woods as the next empire. It had been a struggling colony and didn’t really become the …