Gradually, Then Suddenly: In Geopolitics, Decades Can Happen in Weeks
.By Michael Pezzullo
For centuries, political structures and hierarchies of power that once were thought to be unchanging often suddenly vanished. Demise was gradual but collapse was sudden.
The Russian Empire (abolished in September 1917) and the Soviet Russian empire (dissolved in December 1991) both exhibited permanence—until they did not. So did the Austrian-Hungarian Empire (abolished in October 1918) and the Ottoman Empire (abolished in November 1922).
Only last month we witnessed the sudden collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s Syria. Rulers in Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, Pyongyang, Havana and elsewhere nervously understand the Hemingway rule, even if they have never read him.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2025/01/13/gradually_then_suddenly_in_geopolitics_decades_can_happen_in_weeks_1084040.html
