Comments by "MarcosElMalo2" (@MarcosElMalo2) on "Peter Zeihan || Demographics Part 8: Optimism for Southeast Asia" video.

One of Pete’s glaring deficiencies is history, especially pre-colonial history. But I think his point his that the geography of Europe leant itself to several centuries of increasingly bitter land wars that culminated in WWI and WWII, whereas S.E. Asia’s geography would tend to work against the same level of conflict. I think that’s his point, and I don’t think it’s wrong. He might even say that the European conflict gave rise to the development of colonialism, as rival European nations sought advantage over one another to survive. Imagine that you’re England, and it’s important that you have a strong navy to defend your “moat”. As you industrialized, you discover that this navy is also pretty useful for exploiting far away countries for their resources. France, Spain/Portugal, and Holland also had navies, so they were doing the same. (And you could argue that European nationalism developed hand in hand with colonization.) The kingdoms of S.E. Asia might have developed into colonial nation states if they were engaged in competition at the same level of violence and had the same urgent need for resources.
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@secretname4190 woah there, hold your horses. Getting a little hot in the saddle there, amigo? I don’t agree with Chris, but I don’t think he’s lying, as you say. There’s actually a grain of truth there because the threat represented by the U.S.S.R. most certainly was a unifying force that helped European countries overcome their differences. His mistake is that he is forgetting the history of 1990-2020, when the Europeans no longer had the Soviets to fear and China wasn’t recognized as a looming threat. Being weak on history, in fact quite ignorant of recent history, doesn’t make Chris a liar. It simply makes him misinformed.
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