It is late. I am zonked. Having had my fill of John Julius Norwich’s last book, I am sipping wine and listening to African music. As my eyes roam free, they catch the cover of the weighty volume within my reach: “The Idle Sea.” My misreading becomes obvious at once, but then it lingers. It catches on. It gathers strength. The idle sea! From the close of the Sixteenth Century till today, perhaps. But not for much longer. Certainly not. This century, or perhaps the next, it will become the middle sea of Norwich’s once again. Prophecy? I only wish. Prediction, sheer prediction! The idle sea no longer, it will be the scene of suffering that humanity has witnessed never before. Or after, I dare to hope. The African music is the clue. The verdict. Inviting, so inviting. So very mesmerizing. Almost addictive, too.

Addendum (January 26, 2018)

As I conjectured a bit less than a year ago, at least two billion people in Africa and Asia are currently at risk of famine, and they will ultimately seek shelter in Europe (”Juncker’s Five Scenarios: A Note on the European Union’s Future,” March 5, 2017). Coming in swelling waves, they will do their utmost to cross the middle sea. Whence my prediction a bit more than a decade ago. The only point I would disagree with in this piece is the time frame. The Twenty-First Century it is beyond any doubt, as both Africa and Asia are in turmoil already. After the carnage, the century that follows will be rather peaceful. Returning to Norwich’s The Middle Sea (2006), chances are that historians of his ilk will never record the scene of suffering yet to come. For it will be way beyond historians of any description…