The Roman Empire never really collapsed. The values and culture of Rome went global and morphed into the Western culture. The expansion of the Western Rome-like culture is expanding. Soon Iran will join this culture in an official capacity.
It's true that not everything about Rome was lost.
But I don't know how you can say it never really collapsed.
The city if Rome itself took 1000 years before it could sustain a million people again.
Empires always collapse. They are like large-scale military Ponzi schemes. As soon as there are no new conquered territories, the booty dries up. They don't ever create, they only take.
Maniacal global, expansionist, wannabe controllers tend to be divorced from the reality of what makes a thriving, sustainable society. Their nihilistic outlook prevents them from appreciating this.
They're essentially control-freaks. Just witnessing individuals around them
not dependent on them is enough to drive them nuts.
A sustainable flourishing society cannot be centrally-planned. Only truly grass-roots economies are sustainable.
Morally homogenous groups that form on the basis of a well-defined moral core is the way to go. And this is no novelty. We have proved this over and over again. We just haven't learned to protect the group from infiltrators yet. That's the lesson we in the West need to learn... how to say NO to the nihilistic among us.
So, yes..... this Anglo-American empire is on a crash course, too.
p.s. RSA's Rainbow project was a blueprint for how this nihilistic bunch wants to run the world. The Springboks is a huge part of distracting the masses from the failure inherent in central-planning. It's the circuses part of the 'bread and circuses' of Rome.
I get it if you are a Springbok fan, it's very much needed distraction, because one tends to feel a bit helpless when looking at the overall trajectory.