Malcolm X, Scott Baio, Yao Ming...

My old dormitory friend, a bright young Albertan I'll call "Jacoba" (because that's, um, her name) who is currently articling her brains out in a law firm somewhere, made an interesting point to me in an e-mail. She's smart, this kid is (or she was when I knew her, way back when, before the crack and the speed finally took hold -- which is a joke, Klinger, a joke), and she said that she thinks that we are witnessing the end of the American empire, with the dawn of a new one yet to be determined.

Seems a strange thing to say, what with the Yanks kicking major Rambo butt around the world, but perhaps the Americans have reached as far as they can go. When you reach the top, the pinnacle, there's nowhere else to go but down, right?

And so the next great empire is...

If you ever read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, you'll notice that at the end of the book, (which was the end of his life, too) Malcolm talked about how he wished he had time learn Chinese and Arabic, because those were the two major languages that would come into play in the coming years.

Can you say "right on the money?"

It certainly seems like China is poisted, in the next thirty years, to change the global course of the economy, and the military, and possibly even every major sports, except for hockey. (Yao Ming, anyone?)

And there's no question that the Arab world will be at the heart of international relations for the next generation or two.

But wait...

Maybe we're all too dualistic in nature. Maybe we've bred by the Cold War to think of everything in terms of dualities -- of good and evil, left and right, the West and the East, Joanie versus Chachi.

Maybe, instead, there will be the U.S. in this corner. And over there, wearing the red trunks with yellow stars, weighing in at a whopping one billion people, there will be China. And somewhere in the middle, and off to the side, and look, over in that corner there, will be a series of multiple contenders for the belt. Smaller states, lessened in military and economic power, yes, but potent in geography and geo-social-political-bubblicious strategic position.

Maybe, instead, we will stop thinking of the world in clean-cut, divisible entities. There is a merging and a blending going on -- of people, ideologies, political philosophies.

Everyone's got a place at the table now.

And whether "Jacoba's" right, and this really is the end of the American empire, well, who knows? It will be a hell of a show to watch, I know that much.

Get me ringside seats to that one.