London is an island in the British Isles, celebrating Brexit with gin, tonic and champagne, while Scotland and Ireland plan to Leave the United Kingdon to Remain in Europe. The working class that feed London are in revolt.
Others have predicted (a decade ago) the fall of the nation-state and the rise of the city state to replace it. City states are easier to defend than nations and they breed innovation and nurture trade.
The world’s mega cities have economies larger than most nations and are the hubs of commerce that fuel the globalisation that disenfranchises the working and middle classes that support Western democracy.
In these megacities, life is cheap, slavery is rife and global commerce is not always top of everyone’s mind.
To survive, these cities must maintain their food, water and energy supplies and sufficient infrastructure to remain connected to their sources of revenue.
Theory has it that these Cities will battle directly with the mercenary armies of global corporations to demarcate the ungoverned spaces between them.
BrExit brings this future one step closer to realisation.
I repeat: London is an island in a hostile United Kingdom. Scotland and Wales will vote to Leave the UK so they can Remain in the EU.
By the time that is untangled Wales will join a plethora of other subnations that enjoy ersatz independence until a new overlord decides they are worth incorporating and taxing.
In this, Crimea is two steps ahead. Russia will not hesitate to reincorporate the near, loose pieces as Europe falls apart.
China will continue its imperial project in Africa and the securing of its new silk road(s). It will bring the US to its knees financially with a gold backed currency and its trillions of dollars in US bonds.
Thus the nation state may collapse, but the Imperial project is not dead. The major change as a result of BrExit is that the corporations of the West will be forced to recentre themselves in Asia and South America as the military ambitions of the US implode with its southern border. This means lots of failed states or independent states in previously fairly orderly Western enclaves: The Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the Pacific.
While the realities of this power shift sink in for the West, huge opportunities exist in South America and South East Asia. Neither are directly in the path of clashing empires and are largely sheltered from the fall out across the North Atlantic.
South America is poised for greatness but is crippled by internal chaos (largely due to US interference).
India has no choice but to lock in the coastal connections to its West and expand its trade with South East Asia. South East Asia still reels from a century of geopolitical chess (largely due to US interference) and has a major opportunity to bounce back. Indonesia is the third most populous nation in the world and remains vigorously expansionary.
We must re-read and reappraise the work of Sayyid Qutb to understand the impact of Islamism on these events. We must also understand the realities of Peak Oil and Climate Change.
We are heading for the rapids and it pays to understand the rivers that feed this cataract.
Hang on. It is going to be some ride.