It's the grim scenario (and note well it is out there on the fringes of thinking with those who posit the imminent and utter collapse of the US into poverty and religious extremism).

Basically it says that the meganations (China and India) will collapse under their own weight, unable to feed their populations in a time of failed crops and natural disasters and see a wave of refugees spread out across the world prompting international conflict. With every broad natural disaster comes an epidemic, and China is a hotbed of influenza and I think it actually also has some natural bubonic plague reservoirs. (Just like Yellowstone in the US!)

I do think that I'll be using any Mandarin skills I manage to acquire to be able to speak the lingua franca of the Pacific region by the end of this century ...