A view of powerful cities in dated history, as seen through Science Fiction - A C Clarke

It seems to me that in a great number of areas
Arthur C. Clarke was great at predicting the future
(geosynchronous orbit satellites etc.).  Clarke wrote the
SF short story "Guardian Angel" in 1946, and he was
projecting it out as being in 1976.  This idea in
this short story later grew into the book "Childhood's
End".

Aliens decide to make a clear appearance to humans.
Interesting to me, the cities that Clark named for
them to 'dominate' with their presence.

"not by chance alone could those mighty ships have come
to rest so precisely over New York, London, Moscow, Canberra,
Rome, Capetown, Tokyo..."

It is interesting to me how he totally skips over
China, India, or any Middle Eastern power, yet to be.
But then, this was just one sentence in a fictional
story.