Which empire was described as "an old, crazy, first-rate man of war" but because of incompetent leadership was destined to be "dashed to pieces on the shore"?

The Chinese Empire

Explanation:

Lord Macartney, a British envoy to China in the 19th century, described the Chinese empire as "an old, crazy, first-rate man of war" but because of incompetent leadership was destined to be dashed to pieces on the shore. He made this remark after a diplomatic struggle to establish an embassy at the court of the Emperor of Qianlong which failed. He noted that China had a potential due to its size and impact of its ancient culture but lacked good leadership which could result in its fall.

panem is a communist totalitarian dictatorship where all the resources and how they are allocated belongs to the capitol. the districts exist only to provide goods and services for the capital and most of the citizens live in poverty. it is a police state where the "peacekeepers" use force and threats to keep the people under control. dissent is outlawed and those who disobey the law are executed, flogged, or turned into avoxes. the games are another means in which the ruling elite in the capitol exert their power over the districts. when reading the books i drew parallels between panem and the soviet union and north korea. in no way is panem capitalist. the people in the capitol are wealthy but the majority of them are involved in the government somehow. it was the same way in the former soviet union where bigwigs in the communist party and high ranking government officials were given access to goods, services, medical treatments not available to the general public. if you think panem has a capitalist economy you need to brush up on your economics.