Will an Asian group of countries continue to gain strength, perhaps even eventually dominating world trade and geopolitics? Are the developments the world is witnessing in Asia today of prophetic significance? We continue our investigation of the sudden events playing out in this region and their potential endtime roles.

In Part I of this series, we concluded that, very reasonably, geopolitical and economic trends involving Asia today should be interpreted in terms of last day developments. Far East Asian countries are indeed mentioned in the Bible, and a group of these are certainly the subject of Bible prophecy. That said, we must be cautious in any speculations. The full extent of future developments in this region—specifically their timing and detail—remains hidden.

Let’s again test the validity of connecting a phenomenon that has occurred only recently in history—namely, the economic and geopolitical rise of a group of Asian countries— with an endtime timeline of cosmic significance. Why? Many prophecy teachers over the centuries have made the error of connecting events occurring in their day to the literal “last day” events mentioned in the Bible. Countless times the events of the last days had been announced or allegorized erroneously. Are we making the same error?

We will certainly need to proceed with caution. Therefore, let’s briefly review the rationale for our conclusion that events we see today definitely do fit into an endtime timeline.

Why Asia Has Prophetic Involvement

In the first place, we must of course inquire whether the Scriptures make any specific statements on this question…in other words, “shineth a light in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19). Any such enlightenment would alone be sufficient. And indeed, reference is made to Far East Asia in the apocalyptic literature of the Bible. We will shortly examine these references and their timeframe in more detail.

Secondly, as a priori, we take the position that indeed we are living in the very last of the last days. We substantiate this view on the basis of Israel—“the apple of His eye” (Zechariah 2:8), the very timepiece of Bible prophecy.  This “timepiece” is back on the world scene, having again emerged as a nation after 5,000 years. Many last-day prophecies could not be fulfilled without this happening first.  Therefore, we know that today’s generation is the one that will see “all these things” happen (Matthew 24:34), and that the sudden trends of “global significance” taking place after 1948 should be considered telling.

The phenomena today in Far East Asia definitely pass the test of endtime significance, according to our five “last-day hallmarks” outlined in Part I of this series. Further supporting the topical nature and timeliness of our subject, according to the Prophet Hosea, we know that we are in the very last of the last days … most probably at the time where Christ is already at the door for his Church (Revelation 3:20). Hosea was inspired to say, “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence”(Hosea 6:2).

As a “day is as a thousand years” (Psalm 90:4, 2 Peter 3:8), it is now well into the second half of the third day for the Jews.  If we count from 606 BC, the time from which the servitude to Babylonia began, almost two-thirds of this third day has already passed. Given this reference point, we can be sure that the Tribulation will begin to unfold in 376 years or less (and also, before this the Rapture). That means that we indeed are living in the very last of the last days, even if God were to stretch out this timeline to the full three millennia allowed by Hosea’s prophecy.

Finally, we can observe whether developments in the Far East Asia region today dovetail with other prophesied events and trends for a last-day world. Does the rise of Asia—this perhaps being related to the “Kings of the East”—refute or accentuate other endtime processes that are underway in the world?

Of course, all of these additional considerations and tests are secondary and insufficient without any literal biblical support. Therefore, let’s next set a foundation and investigate Scripture in these matters.

Biblical References to Far East Asia

The Bible is not silent about Far East Asia. Of course, all people of the world are contemplated in the general address of much of the prophetic literature of the Bible. However, there are several prophecies that clearly involve this region in a specific way.

Firstly, revealing the most eastern nation mentioned in the Bible, China itself is mentioned in a prophetic context in Isaiah 49:12: “Behold, these shall come from far; and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land ofSinim.” Just what and where is Sinim? Most sources agree that “Sinim” refers to the far eastern region of China today.[1] Things related to China today are still referred to as “sino”; for example, the word “sinology” means the study of China.

In the Arabic language today, China is still referred to as “Sin.” The word “Sin” likely comes from the word Ch’in (or Tsin), as in the Ch’in Dynasty which ruled China between 221 and 206 B.C., or some other word derivation from before that time. The word “Sinim” in Hebrew would therefore simply be the plural form of “Sin.”

What we can deduce from Isaiah’s word, written some 2,700 years ago, is that Sinim (China) will most certainly exist in the last days and into the following Millennial period. Moreover, we can also reasonably deduce that China must be a substantial entity at that time, since its name is used in this prophecy to describe the general geographical direction of “east.” Isaiah indicates that the people of Sinim will also be in that number that will eventually go to worship in the newIsrael of the 1,000-year Millennial Period.

But will China also pay a significant geopolitical role in the last days, perhaps being a key member of a final world order? The answer, we believe, is both yes and no.  Yes, in our opinion China (and some other select Asian nations) will play a prominent role in last-day geopolitical developments, but the Bible clearly rules out any role for China in the post-globalism, minilateralism period of a “10-king” ruling order just before the Antichrist comes on the scene. We will return to this point in our conclusions.

In the meantime, we must examine yet other Scripture references that may indicate a pivotal role for Far East Asian nations in last day developments before the Millennium.

Asia and the Euphrates

In Revelation 9:14-16, a somber picture is described. A command is given to the sixth angel of the Apocalypse holding the sixth trumpet:

‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’ And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number.

These verses are significant for two potential reasons: firstly, the River Euphrates is involved, and secondly, a large army is mentioned. The great significance of the Euphrates is the fact that it represents the eastern-most border of the lands that God covenanted to the descendants of Abram[2]: “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18). While this is a biblically-defined border, it also can be considered a dividing line between the Far East (or also variously called the Near East) and the Middle East. The definitions of these terms have changed over the years.  Therefore, for the purpose of our topic, we will use the biblically defined border of the Euphrates as the boundary between the Far East and Middle East.

With respect to the identity of the army mentioned in Revelation 9, there are a number of interpretations. While four angels are responsible for bringing about the killing of a “third of mankind,” it is mounted troops that appear to be the actual instrument of destruction. Were this to occur today, it would mean the death of 2.2 billion people…or 11 for every one of the mounted troops.  What seems not to be open to conjecture, however, is the number of the mounted troops—200 million. Apostle John is sure of this figure, saying, “I heard their number.” At the time that he received this vision on the island of Patmos, sometime around 90-95 AD, the world had little need for such large numbers. Experts estimate that the earth’s entire population then was as little as only 165 million (perhaps as high as 300 million).

A mounted army of 200 million is not a development that could have occurred until at least some 2,000 years after John’s prophecies. While we cannot be certain as to the identity of the large army of mounted troops, there perhaps is implied an Asian connection, as the actions seem to be carried out from this region. Yet, Scripture is not conclusive on this point. While the four angels are released in Asia (at the Euphrates), the mounted troops could originate from anywhere in the world.

Revelation 16:12 mentions yet another event that takes place in the vicinity of theEuphrates River.

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.

Interestingly, whereas the account of the 2-million-strong army found in Revelation 9 occurs at the time of the sixth angel with the sixth trumpet, this verse provides an entirely different depiction, which occurs at a later time when the sixth angel pours out a sixth bowl of wrath. These are therefore entirely different events, though they could be related in some way. There is only one definite connection between them—the Euphrates River. And, as we learn from these verses, this important border for Israel will be breached when the Kings of the East go over to the west side of this river.  Nothing more appears to be directly attributed to the “Kings of the East” anywhere in the Bible.

While there are a number of specific references to Far East Asia in the prophecies we have reviewed, the most clear of these is the reference to the “Kings of the East” which cross the Euphrates. Why will these kings do this?  Just who might these kings represent?

Aligning Trends in the World Today
Undoubtedly, the Kings of the East will be the leaders of a number of countries in Far East Asia—namely, nations on the east side of the Euphrates River. However, to this point in our discussion, we have only drawn attention to the sudden economic and geopolitical awakening of these countries during the past 60 years. Our outline in Part I established that these nations have come into a position of worldwide influence. We assert that this particular development is purposely coincident—not an accidental coincidence—with many other epic and unprecedented worldwide developments. In addition to these sudden economic developments in Asia, there are other factors to be observed today that could align with some aspects prophesied in Revelation 9 and 16 about the Euphratesand regions east of this river.

Fitting Asian Population Dynamics
“Women are missing in their millions—aborted, killed, neglected to death. In 1990 an Indian economist, Amartya Sen, put the number at 100 million; the toll is higher now.” What does this quote from a recent Economist magazine article on gendercide have to do with Asia? Quite a bit, not to mention there being a likely prophetic connection. Let us explain.

Firstly, just what is “gendercide”? The term was coined by the aforementioned economist and refers to the practice of killing baby girls in order to have more sons. It is an atrocity that has become epidemic in many Asian nations…a horrible slaughter of human life. These heinous practices will surely not go unpunished, neither on earth nor heaven. We can only speak here to its earthly repercussions.

Normally, between 103 and 106 boys are born for every 100 girls. This ratio of slightly more boys has been stable over time. Yet, in many Asian nations this ratio has become sharply biased toward boys in the recent decade. For example, inChina, the sex ratio for the generation born in 2000-2004 jumped to 124. By contrast, for the generation born between 1985 and 1989, this ratio was only 108 boys for every 100 girls (a little above average). A similar trend is evident in India, the second most populous nation in the world after China. Documented here is a recent and dramatic shift. Mostly, this has been the direct result of government-sponsored family planning policies. (Taiwan and China, for example. China is the top user of contraceptives in the world.[3], [4])

Just what will be the consequences of this distortion in male births? They stand to be far-reaching. Writes the Economist ominously: “Throughout human history, young men have been responsible for the vast preponderance of crime and violence—especially single men in countries where status and social acceptance depend on being married and having children, as it does in China and India. A rising population of frustrated single men spells trouble. […] Over the next generation, many of the problems associated with sex selection will get worse. […] within ten years, China faces the prospect of having the equivalent of the whole young male population of America, or almost twice that of Europe’s three largest countries with little prospect of marriage, untethered to a home of their own and without the stake in society that marriage and children provide.”

South Korea, an advanced nation (and a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), early in the 1970s experienced a similar birth skew favoring boys. While the birth ratio since that time has nearly normalized, the impact of its earlier misalignment has been significant. In 2008, more than 11% of marriages were “mixed,” mostly between a Korean man and a foreign woman. But what will be the future implications for China and India? For one, it would be impossible for all of its future single men to find enough “mail order” brides in the world (certainly not without depriving other men), given that these two nations account for 40% of the entire world’s population.

Today, China’s army (the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA) has a high number of recruits that are the single child in their family. Quoting Foreign Policymagazine, already in 2006 “only-child soldiers made up more than one half of the PLA force, giving China the largest-ever military with a majority of only-children.”[5] With so many single, non-family-rooted men soon coming of military age in the future, events this trend could move into rapid alignment with events prophesied in Revelation 9:14.
(We conclude this series with Part III: Geo-prophecy or Geopolitics?)

 
[1] James H. Strong, Exhaustive Concordance, p. 5515. “Sinim is a distant Oriental region.”
[2] This promise is repeated two more times in Scripture. “Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, theEuphrates. See, I have given you this land” (Deuteronomy 1:7-8).  “Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west”(Joshua 1:4).
[3] Marie Stopes International, a family planning charity, United Nations Population Division, 1996.
[4]Asian culture emphasizes the importance of a male heir. Inheritance practices often discriminate against women. In some Asian countries, for example India, bridal dowries are required. Few families can afford this cost, and therefore wish to avoid having daughters. Also, religious influences can play a role. For example, Hindu tradition that the eldest son must light the funeral pyre and free the spirit of his father is one of these influences.
[5] Drew Thompson, “Think Again: China’s Military.” Foreign Policy magazine, March/April 2010.

Can you name the country that is the most eastern of all countries mentioned in the Old Testament? Israel being the geographical anchor of the Bible, we are of course here referring to Asian countries … namely, Far East Asian nations. Is that country Babylon… or perhaps Elam (Iran)? Just what other nations mentioned in the Bible could possibly be named that are even further east?

Actually, in the book of Esther, we find the mention of a country called Hodu (so-named in the original Greek). “This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush” (Esther 1:1). Hodu is a word derived from the Persian word for Hindu and refers to Hindustan, the nation of Indiatoday. However, we will not stop there, as there is yet possibly one more nation mentioned that is even further east. Indeed, as we will show, the Bible does provide some specific information about the roles of several Asian countries in the last days. And, at least one of these indications has been mostly overlooked by Bible readers. In this 3-part series, we hope to lay out fascinating information about Asia that appears to align with the rapid last-days trends portrayed in the Bible.

Without a doubt, the emergence of certain Asian countries to greater world prominence plays an integral and necessary part in the events and trends that lead to the conditions of the upcoming Tribulation period. Though very few specific events may be pinpointed from Bible prophecy, Asia’s influence and likely endtime roles can also be discerned through deduction. As in astronomy, “black holes” are not directly visible, but they can be discerned through their impact on other celestial bodies. In the same way, we can observe trends in the Middle East and the Roman-heritage world, informed by both facilitating and parallel developments in other parts of the world.

The Modern Asian Phenomenon

A significant impulse that has rocked the world in recent decades is the rapid emergence of a group of Asian economic dynamos. Large countries with huge populations such asIndia and China seem to have awoken rather suddenly. After years of slumbering, this cocooned region began its butterfly transformation only some 60 years ago. Today, as some of these nations have muscled onto the world stage as economic titans, they are projecting a wide wake—one that is washing up on the shores of all the high-income countries around the world, particularly North America. They are also becoming more influential geopolitically.

Without a doubt, the rise of these nations is significant and should be seen as a major development of the last days. Why? There are a number of reasons, as we will discover. For now, let us state that any sudden development with potential global impact taking place after May 14, 1948 is likely to have material portent with respect to a last-day world. The significance of that date is well known. On that day, Israel was officially reborn as a nation after nearly two millennia of non-existence, thus signaling the start of the last generation of the last days. Some analysts argue that the signal date marking the onset of the “last generation” is the Six-Day War, which gave Israel control over Old Jerusalem as of June 10, 1967. Whichever date it may be (1948 or 1967), the rise of Asia—specifically, the main thrust of the reawakening of China, India and others— occurred after that time.

But to what end and purpose? More intriguingly, could China and other Asian nations be specifically mentioned in Bible prophecy? If so, what roles will these countries play? The Bible does mention that certain “kings from the east” will play a part in last day events (Revelation 16:12). Just who are these kings, and what is their expected consequence? Will it be malevolent or beneficial for the world? And, can we connect such references to developments in Asia today?

Before making any further references to Scripture, it will be instructive to get a sense of the epic nature of the recent Asian phenomenon. It is yet another rapid 20th century trend that has direct linkages to economic, financial and geopolitical developments. Even more significant, the rise of Asia has all the hallmarks of an endtime financial phenomenon in addition to Scriptural alignments. All of these five tell-tale characteristics of a “last-day season phenomena” can be observed: 1. An acceleration observed after 1948; 2. A seeming improbability and inexplicability of its occurrence … at least at first; 3. Godlessness (apostasy) … i.e. spiritual elements; 4. A scope for worldwide impact; and, above all, 5. Suddenness and rapidity.

An Awakening

For some reason, Asia began stirring not much more than 50 to 60 years ago. Why then, and why not a century sooner … or five decades later? Taking a prophetic perspective, the specific set of forces that this awakening imparts to the rest of the world couldn’t be more opportune or timely.

In recent decades, many Asian tigers began to roar. Their economic influence swept the world; several Asia-based companies are now dominating global industries. Their rapid eruption into world trade flows and overall fast economic growth has challenged the world’s high-income countries. The world’s resources—whether energy fuels, water, iron ore or copper plate—and financial systems are no longer the preserve of the rich world. The West can no longer unilaterally commandeer the world economy for its own exclusive benefit uncontested. With this newfound economic influence—a primary factor in determining geopolitical influence in this present Age of Global Capital—there are now additional contenders for future global supremacy. Therefore, over the past several years, we have seen nations such as China and India sitting at the global policymaking tables of the G-20 and other transnational organizations.

Small Beginnings with Big Consequences

It wasn’t that long ago—not much more than 25 years past—that the Western world still looked upon the Far East with a certain aloofness. It was and remains a poorly understood part of the world, large and diverse, comprising roughly 40% of the world’s land mass and approximately 60% of the earth’s population. To illustrate, the countries ofChina and India evoked belittling visions of rice paddies and countryside peasants, or respectively, teeming Hindus living in the stifling suburbs of Calcutta between their wandering, sacred cows. Westerners would donate their nickels and dimes to alleviate the hungry and homeless in this region … perhaps, the lepers in India. The Mao uniforms that were worn in the Middle Kingdom—unisex brown khakis for everyone— were also a familiar picture.  These Asian peoples, different as they were, seemed a world away—certainly far out of harm’s way and of no fathomable threat to America or any other high-income country. We considered them less fortunate, backward and undeveloped—so far beneath the enlightened ways of our Hellenistic and progressive cultures. Their customs and religions were strange. Or so thought the cuckolded Western mind.

It did begin with a whimper. Earlier in the century, the world witnessed the first beginnings of Asia’s economic miracles in a selected number of smaller countries. Japan was the first Asian nation in the post-war period to enter take-off into rapid economic development. Beginning in the late 1950s, Japan began a hyperactive period of economic growth and development, rapidly rising from its relatively poor status to eventually become the world’s second largest economic powerhouse. While it had been a force to be reckoned with during World War II, Japan economically was seen as diminutive and non-threatening in the post-war period. Its economy in 1960 represented only 3% of world economic output. Its population accounted for a similar proportion.

Then, suddenly, Japan’s economy was sparked to grow more than two to three times as fast as those of America and Europe during this early growth phase. South Korea was next. It seemed even less significant, its economy in 1960 amounting to less than 1/3 of 1% of world output and possessing less than 1% of the world’s population. Beginning in the early 1960s, this Asian competitor to Japan began its journey to eventually become one of the high-income nations of the world. Only 25 years later, in 1996,[1] it would become one of the 30 members of the Organization of Economic Development (OECE)—the rich country club of the world.

Ridicule Leads to Eventual Supremacy

Despite the durable and dynamic transformations in these two Asian countries, it was still considered a put-down to consider that a product might have been made anywhere inAsia even as late as in the early 1970s. Westerners still had no inkling that a new industrial revolution had been underway in certain corners of this region for more than a decade at that time. Datsun, today renamed Nissan, and Toyota automobiles were still considered economy-priced cars with dubious quality standards. For example, Datsun automobiles in the late 1960s rusted out in a matter of a few years due to the shortage of quality steel in Japan. Products from Asia were often the object of mirth. To say that something was “Made in Hong Kong” was to imply that something was shoddy and cheap. No American or European manufacturer yet felt threatened. After all, these were small countries with modest manufacturing sectors.

But only a decade later, Japanese electronic products—the Sony Walkman, a famous example—and many other products became household names. Toyota, Honda and Nissan cars became considered quality vehicles. By the mid-1980s, Japan’s image was very different again. Now, more and more people began to worry that Japan was going to take over entire world industries. American companies began to earnestly study Japanese ways and manufacturing methods. How was it that Japan was so productive and successful? Other world manufacturers adopted the “worker circle” concept and “just-in-time inventorying” (JIT) that Japan had perfected. Japan became the world’s third largest economy in 1967, leap-frogging both France and Britain that year for the first time, and then overtook Germany for the second-place position in 1972.

While we have provided only a very superficial account of the thundering emergence of such countries as Japan and Korea upon the world economic stage, it nonetheless illustrates the rapidity of this transformation. In less than 30 years, these two nations rose from the status of disregarded underlings to world-feared competitors. Today, such American industrial icons as General Motors, Polaroid and others have either disappeared, are near bankruptcy or have required government bailouts … vanquished by Asian-based manufacturers, so to speak, on their home turf. Waves of Toyotas, Nissans, Hondas, and Hyundai’s descended upon showroom floors to waiting buyers. They meet the satiating criteria of the American consumer—a good product at a good price. The same consumer preference applies to other Asian imports, most notably from China.

The Asian Behemoths Begin to Stir

While such countries as Japan and South Korea prospered by trading successfully with a fast-globalizing world, China and India continued to sleep for the most part. And, for that matter, so did Westerners. Similar transformations were thought impossible in these two countries. India was a calcified and bureaucracy-bound country that was mostly inward looking. Its predominantly Hindu culture seemed inert to a consumer-oriented “market economy” revolution. In the case of China, even as late as the mid-1970s, it was still in the grip of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, deeply communistic and antagonistic to Western values and ways.

These were big countries with huge populations. In 1980, India’s population of 687 million people accounted for almost one-sixth (15.5%) of the world’s population. China’s population of 981 million people at that time accounted for an even greater share of 22%. Together, these two slumbering giants harbored almost two-fifths of the human souls on the planet. Yet, both Chinese and Indian economies each only accounted for approximately 1.7% of world output. That both these nations appeared trapped and content in their non-progressive cultures and ideologies was comforting.

But, things soon changed. Next to awake was China. Napoleon’s prediction would finally prove prophetic. Returning from a trip to that nation 200 years ago, Napoleon Bonaparte uttered these now famous words, “When China awakes, it will shake the world.” Today, hardly 35-40 years after China began stirring, the world is indeed shaking.

The China Agenda: What Is It?

As a world-traveling investment executive, this writer had only come to fully grasp the significance of China’s economic awakening somewhat late. I remember the very day that my awareness was alerted. On a research trip to Asia in 1992, I visited with the Chief Investment Officer of a major family fortune (with Mainland connections) in Hong Kong. This man, who was Chinese and educated in Australia, was more than forthcoming about what was happening in China. Basically, his message was this: Western corporate executives were so greedy they were willing to supply all their technology free to China—and significant investment capital to boot—if they could have an opportunity to access China’s domestic consumer market. He was chuckling as he said it. What’s more, he didn’t think foreigners were ever going to make much money in China. He was amused with the transparent gullibility and greed of the “wai lo” —literally meaning, “foreign devils.” It was the Chinese version of a capitalist “monkey trap.” That conversation took place already a full decade after the “economic opening” to the rest of the world was begun by Premier Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s.

In retrospect, the views of my Chinese contact were largely correct. Few foreign investors have made much money although a sizable proportion of the foreign industrial entities (FIEs) and companies owned by foreign multinational companies are now profitable.

As mentioned, 1992 was rather late to recognize the “big picture” that was unfolding. It had been 1979 when Premier Deng Xiaoping first launched China’s economic development program. The objective was to quadruple the size of China’s economy over the next 20 years. China’s leaders realized that globalization—what they more accurately recognized as Anglobalization[2]—was here to stay and that projecting worldwide influence and power was primarily a function of economic might. As China had been so disengaged from “free market” capitalism, its economic footprint in the world was small even with a population of one billion people.

China met the goal it had set in 1979, quadrupling the size of its economy in the next 20 years. Today, it is already well advanced in its goal to again quadruple the size of its economy by 2020.

And yet, it is only in very recent years that the world has come to recognize the stupendous impact of a stirring China. Rising oil prices and a job-deficient economic recovery in the US have awakened a sleeping West to finally notice the industriousness of Asia and to consider the impact it may have upon the cherished and accustomed lifestyles enjoyed by these countries.

Now, the future implications of a booming China look all too obvious. But the past does not always extrapolate neatly into the future. While the future is never as sure as a popular consensus may think, it is true that China has indeed awoken and the world is shaking. But there is more to this epic development than meets the eye.

We continue with this series in the next issue: Far East Asia Trends Today — Part II: Topic of Bible Prophecy. In it we reveal the mysterious Asian nation mentioned in the Bible that is furthest east and prove from Scripture that Far East Asia indeed has a prophetic role.

 
[1] OECD Website.” Korea signed the Convention founding the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development on 12 December 1996, thereby pledged its full dedication to achieving the Organisation’s fundamental aims.” Accessed November 26, 2005. http://www.oecd.org/about/0,2337,en_33873108_33873555_1_1_1_1_1,00.html
[2] Niall Ferguson, Empire: The Rise and Fall of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power (New York: Basic Books, 2003).  The term  “Anglobalization” is coined in this work.