Human life is fleeting, too short to witness the full spectrum of historical shifts. Yet, those who study history diligently can experience these transformations vicariously. Today, we stand on the precipice of profound change, a transformation poised to reshape global power dynamics. Europe, the venerable old continent, no longer wields absolute control over its destiny. Confidence in the United States, once considered the world's policeman, is waning.

Even its closest allies question its capacity to shepherd us into the next era of history. After the demise of the Soviet Union in the closing decades of the last century, Western intellectuals proclaimed that history had bowed to the supremacy of Western influence. But in the ensuing years, Russia relinquished its Eastern territories, took unilateral control of Syria, and asserted its dominance in the Middle East.

It brazenly challenged the European Union, which could only issue empty threats in response. Today, Africa rises against its former colonial masters, despite Hollywood's continued glorification of a fading power. Is the United States becoming a phantom, a land of daydreams? Western intellectuals may cling to these dreams, but Eastern powers such as China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and the Arabian Gulf states have seized control of production sources and rapidly advanced in technology, imposing their economic agendas.

Meanwhile, the United States has contented itself with exporting fast food, championing LGBTQ+ rights, and advocating for children's rights — rights it denies them by undermining traditional family structures consisting of a mother and father. The United States appears to be moving against the tide of history. If its leaders fail to acknowledge this shift, history will repeat itself, and future Western generations may drown undertaking perilous journeys across the Pacific Ocean in search of Eastern civilization.

In our Middle Eastern countries, we remain a perennial bridge for steering the wheel of history toward the East. Every time I listen to critical debates in the United States, I become increasingly convinced that they talk much but act little. The wheel of time spins faster than our ability to comprehend and adapt. Even the voices of reason that sound the alarm seem resigned to an inevitable fate. Superficial changes will not stave off the inevitable decline, as all the historical signs of a nation's fall are manifest in the Western world today.

This echoes Ibn Khaldoun's insights on the rise and fall of civilizations, a concept history has repeatedly validated. Ibn Khaldoun's observations hold true, their echoes reverberating through time. Those who seek to prolong Western civilization through media campaigns are deluded. When our leaders recognize this reality, they will turn away from the losers and reach out to the winners. History will then script a new chapter with them as the architects of a fresh beginning — a beginning whose end has not yet been written.

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