Last November, the weekly The Sunday Times and our Larrun published two articles on the decline of the Roman empire. Both describe the decline of this empire and study its causes. In addition, a series of approximations are made to explain the current situation of empires and make some predictions.

Unlike the Roman leaders and thinkers, Europeans and Americans are aware that the future of our empires is linked to capitalism. They're necessarily related to each other. Thus, we already have abundant literature. There we have almost forgotten The Limits to Growth of the Club of Rome and their contributions.

Land is insufficient to feed the world's population and chemical fertilizers, in the long term, do nothing but degrade the benefits of land. Likewise, oil, the “black gold”, as it was gold for the Romans, is the basis of the capitalist system and over time there are greater difficulties to get out of the ground and put it in the markets. Therefore, the shortage of oil will have a negative impact on the survival of capitalism and it does not seem easy to find its substitute.

As the Romans knew, Europe and the United States are surrounded by immigrants (barbarians) and want to settle among us, some to live, and others to put the imperial columns in check and squeeze. It is estimated that three million people will arrive in Europe in the coming years, and in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, dozens of people are prepared to make the leap towards Europe. To them must be added those who are constantly approaching from poor Africa.

Europe is building physical and military walls to protect itself from these flooding of immigrants. But every day it becomes more difficult and complex to “defend” a rich and prosperous territory. In addition, the need for public money for the promotion of defenses is increasing and, from an economic point of view, the consolidation of internal peace is being hampered. Numerous clashes have already begun against immigrants: remember Germany, the Netherlands, France, etc.

On the other hand, the imperial capitalist system needs new measures and institutions to function. Two centuries ago, state intervention in economic activity was very limited, as the state was very narrow. Over time, the State has become more complex and decision-making centres have been moving away. Thus, at present, the exploitative economic system needs excessively complex institutions to act properly, which will be subjected to diffuse controls by the public. There are the Troika, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organisation, and above them the Bildelberg Club, the Davos Forum, Trilateral, where the richest in the world participate, right-wing political parties and social democrats, corrupt trade unionists and some “illustrious” teachers. They all prepare the most effective decisions in the world.

At the time of the Roman Empire, science couldn't predict what was going to be done with society back then. That doesn't happen today. In general, we know where the world comes from and where it goes. We are at the moment to take action, but that is where the will is needed. As we have seen so far, it is preferable to bring our planet to disaster rather than to touch the situation of the richest. This is the example of the COP21 in Paris.