The people with power in the west suffer the same short historical memory that oligarchs throughout time have suffered. In their minds, because the US / western Europe were the global imperial force for a century, they will continue to be that force going forward. They act like the big kid on the block. Only a tiny minority are ever capable of recognizing when the worm turns. The west is at this point a dying paper tiger, with challenges appearing in increasing frequency each day we turn on our news feed. Good times make weak men, and weak leaders destroy empires. A story as old as society itself.