Gold and the Globe with no stars or stripes

In China, with a relaxed voice, I told this American guy in his 50s  that it is just natural that things change, generally. I told him that there will be a time, maybe soon, when English will not be the language of us all. I told him that I think the American empire will end at some point, just as any other empire. And I asked him how his country will react to that: what's an American if the US is not an empire?


As usual, I was just playing with some random ideas to see if we could get somewhere interesting. Well, he didn't enjoy the game, but I did! Unexpectedly, this common man, an employee of the American government, slightly raised his voice and said: "English will always be the language of the world!". Isn't this a wonderful statement? I smiled and threw an unreplied utterance to the air: "Even in 500 years time..."

It's just that I open the magazine and I see Gold and the Globe and no stripes or stars: