Comments by "Tony Wilson" (@tonywilson4713) on "Peter Zeihan || Demographics Part 8: Optimism for Southeast Asia" video.

  1. Good comment. I'm Australian and we have sizeable communities of most of the SE Asian cultural groups. The thing I feel Peter has gotten totally wrong is the old rivalries that do exist. SE Asia never had those large semi-organised uniformed militaries with cavalry and pikemen and other various troops because as he points out the geography didn't allow for it. But as you'd know there's been a lot of clannish or intertribal conflicts across many centuries. I think your right, in that those countries that have gotten on top of the tribal/clan issues will do extremely well like Malaysia and Singapore. But those who haven't will struggle. You better understand the Myanmar issues than I ever will but there's also some incredible rivalry between Sumatra and Java in Indonesia as well as some serious issues in the Southern Philippines. I am also aware there is a huge rivalry between Cambodians and Vietnamese that goes back centuries. I think this is a subject Peter needs some better information on. The stuff he's right about he's very good but on other points he's way off.
    11
  2. I love Peter's work but there is something in this he has gotten tragically WRONG. The part about Asian nations NOT having a history of going to war is 100% WRONG. It might not have been like Europe with large scale uniformed armies on open battle fields with cavalry and pikemen where its semi-organised but there are rivalries and blood feuds going back centuries. I'm Australian and because we have sizeable communities of these people we occasionally get to see it first hand when groups of particular cultural descents clash. Plus we trade with all these nations. These rivalries and feuds are not talked about a much because it can get sensitive. Go and look through the Asian news services and you will find story after story of fighting between various clans. Sometimes those clans are in different countries and it drags others in and sometimes its within a country. In recent times we have seen that with the Rohingya crisis in Burma, but there have been similar feuds in the Southern Philippines, Sumatra versus Java (in Indonesia) and between Cambodians, Laotians and Vietnamese.
    2