> My own wild guess on the genesis of the Fourth Age: it'll start somewhere
in
> the EU.
I'm not sure which "fourth age" you mean here. I suspect I disagree, unless you mean the fourth age of capitalism? Or imperialism?
IMO the USA --- strange as this idea may seem at present --- is the logical starting point for the world's next significant popular & dialectical sharp left turn; just as (e.g.) the internal politics of Britain changed beyond recognition (i.e. the birth of labourism), as its economy went into relative decline and the bankruptcy of existing imperial ideologies was exposed by increasing numbers of military defeats/disasters.