Comments by "Grenade Tennis" (@hughjass1044) on "Zeihan on Geopolitics" channel.

  1. Was so proud and honored the day we welcomed Finland into the family and can't wait to embrace Sweden as well!
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  2. Gotta go out and change the PTO shaft on the tractor this afternoon. Note to self - Make sure Peter isn't already under the tractor recording a video before I start.
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  3. Last two videos absolutely made my day! Beyond bloody time we started recognizing China for what it is and treating it accordingly. The sooner we decouple our economy from theirs, the better.
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  4. (Another) Canadian here - Absolutely on point description of Justin Trudeau. You left out the malignant narcissism bit, but otherwise, accurate. Your assessment of Chrystia (not Christina) Freeland however, is a bit off. That description was pretty widely accepted at one time and it was thought by many that a very prestigious post politics career lay ahead of her but that no longer appears to be the case. She was once thought of as the prohibitive favorite to become the next Secretary General of NATO but not only did she not get it, it doesn't appear that she was even seriously considered. How "smart" are you really, when you stick by and prop up such an airheaded buffoon as Justin Trudeau? How smart are you when you can't see the cliff your boss is driving the country over and you not only don't stop him but help him steer? How smart are you when you can't see the damage you're doing? The Liberals have been in power for 10 years now and have been a disaster from day one but especially so since 2021 and their pandemic response. They are going down and going down hard and no one with any gravitas or any ambitions of higher things would step into the leadership of a party when they're circling the drain.
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  5. Respect and support to Finland from Canada!
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  6. He must have recorded this well before the Hamas war since Turkey is currently fit to be tied with Israel over it. Also, it's way too sunny and warm looking in the video for it to be recent.
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  7. "Welcome to Vegas... where it's going to be 180 billion degrees today!" Ahh, yes. But it's a dry heat. :face-purple-crying: Gotta love Vegas!
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  8. As Modi himself put it when asked which "camp" he was in; and I'm paraphrasing here; "I have 1/7 of the world's people. I'll make my own camp." And this is it, really; this is the way India operates and has always operated. They will follow their own course and look after their own matters in their own way and if anyone else gets their knickers in a knot about it, too bad. They will ally with whomever they want, trade with whomever they want and the rest of the world can think what they want. They are the perfect embodiment of Lord Palmerston's famous quote - "We have no permanent allies and no permanent enemies. We have permanent interests."
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  9. I wouldn't put too much stock in that 13,000 figure for Russian tanks. I began my military career (in the armored corps, ironically enough) in 1979 and we were bandying about figures of 12-15,000 then and that was when it was the old USSR and their military was vastly larger and much more capable than it is today. As a side note.... even then, those of us who saw them in action were well aware of their deficiencies and knew their bark was much worse than their bite. Anyway, the consensus among most intelligence sources that I know of today puts the number of Russian tanks at about 50-60% of that 13,000 figure and the serviceable ones at about 50-60% of that. But even at that, they are still in a huge bind because they lack the resources, personnel and logistical support to put them into front line service. As to the drawdown and depletion of stocks of Javelins etc, this also does not worry me. Those weapons are in fact, doing exactly the job they were always intended to do which is destroy enemy equipment. They're just being utilized by Ukrainians to do so instead of us. Drawing down the stocks like that actually allows us to replace them with newer, fresher, more advanced and updated models and besides, let's face it... it's not as though we're really going to need them in the interim. The very job they were intended for is being done right now... just not by the people we thought would be doing it.
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  10. I'm a Canadian looking on from the outside and by no means an expert on such stuff, nor do I have any dog in this fight, but the more I see of this, the more I'm convinced that congress simply doesn't want to get anything done. It seems there are many not overly complicated solutions to most of the country's problems but members of congress find the problems more useful as campaign issues and cudgels to beat their opponents with so they'd rather not solve them.
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  11. Too wet or too dry, it won't stick to the target. Too much brown sugar or not enough, the enemy won't eat it. Ya gotta be careful with these things, ya know.
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  12. How has Peter been wrong about China and Russia? @ravishingravi 
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  13. People are not going to "use less." They're going to use whatever they want to use to be comfortable and happy and if policy makers try to interfere with that by way of regulation, pricing or other methods, the people will make them pay for it at the ballot box. That is a simple and enduring fact of life. Another simple and enduring fact of life is that everyone wants action on climate change and any number of other issues....... right up until the point that it starts to squeeze THEIR wallet. That's the point at which altruism goes out the window.
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  14. It's also when it became crystal clear to anyone being honest with themselves that A) they couldn't do so even if they wanted to and B) they'd get their asses handed to them if they did..... and they know it.
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  15. "If securing borders is a job only fascists would do, then the people will hire fascists to do it." Borders exist for a reason and the people think they're important, even if the chattering classes do not.
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  16. Peter being as blunt as possible!
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  17. Russia's Arctic route will be at best, an alternate for summer use only.
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  18. Wait, hold on a second. I'd like this whole Nigeria business to be fleshed out a little more please. Are we all missing something here? Nigeria can't even control all of its own territory. How's it supposed to impose order on the whole region? And further from that, how's it supposed to maintain that order once it does so?
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  19. Good morning, Peter! Good morning, Billy!
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  20. I think this is another one of those "problems" which are much more advantageous to all sides than any solution ever would be. There are, and have always been, a multitude of sensible solutions to this problem but each party finds the issue much too valuable as a stick to beat their opponents with and raise funds from so they are incentivized to NOT solve it.
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  21. There's just something funny about listening to some guy talk about a hot African country while standing out in a Colorado snowstorm.
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  22. Most important piece of advice for online..... Do NOT engage with trolls or bots!! It's the most tempting thing in the world to do so and that's precisely what they want you to do because it increases their traffic. But you MUST resist this temptation. It's the hardest thing sometimes to just ignore and let it go but in this case, that's exactly what you have to do. A piece of sage advise I was given once has always stuck with me..... "Don't waste your time arguing with an idiot." If the person to whom you're speaking is one who is unwilling to consider alternatives or one whose mind cannot be changed, it is an exercise in pure futility to even bother engaging with them.
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  23. Welcome to NATO, Finland, from Canada! Delighted to have you on board.
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  24. It's alright, Peter. The back row seats are statistically the safest in a crash. I always try to pick them.
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  25. I'm not terrified. I'm delighted. Skeptical; I'll believe it when I see it, but I'm delighted just the same. Just like I'm delighted that Japan is massively re-arming in the Pacific and getting ready to rumble. This is not 1945 anymore. The world has changed and all of the players must change with it as circumstances demand. We'll deal with the realities of today now and worry about tomorrow when it comes. The future is never guaranteed and only a fool expects it to be. The entirety of Europe must put itself on a permanent war footing because wars are rapidly coming back into vogue. Strength and resolve are deterrents, weakness and indecisiveness are not. Had Europe been armed to the teeth and not been so negligent and foolish in its world outlook, if it had reacted forcefully and decisively to Putin's mobilization, it's extremely doubtful the Ukraine war would've ever started. I'm absolutely delighted that Germany is starting to grow a pair and flex its muscles once more. Welcome back!
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  26. Severe demographic crisis.
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  27. All true and Peter has acknowledged each several times. I think the point he's been trying to make is that despite their problems, Russia is still very powerful with a lot of resources to bring to bear and cannot be counted out too soon. Ukraine certainly has the wind at its back but it's far too soon to be planning victory parades. There is still plenty that could go wrong, most specifically Europe losing its nerve in the face of a biting winter.
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  28. I think he's talking about 20-30 years in the future.
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  29. There's a popular meme about certain types of new technology which are very high on the anticipation scale but equally low on the practicality scale.... We say "they're the technology of the future - and they always will be." I'm reminded of this every time someone talks about Argentina's potential and I think to myself, yes; they're the superpower of the future... and they always will be. They're like the hotshot rookie in sports who has all the skills but none of the discipline and drive necessary to convert them into success. Like much of Latin America, Argentina seems to be its own worst enemy. They've got so much going for them yet can't shake their addiction to whomever the latest and greatest political savior is who's going to rescue them from the last one. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, it's true, and at the end of Argentina's thousand miles is a fantastic, prosperous future but as a country, they can never seem to get past about the 50 mile mark.
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  30. Because nuclear weapons are a last resort, not a first one. No nation wants to use those things for many very obvious reasons so it's desirable to have a great many other layers of defense before one gets to that; territory being just one. Using that logic, you could also ask why they need any other forms of military capabilities at all. They have nuclear weapons so what do they need a navy for? Or an army or anything else? Because they don't want the enemies to be at the gates of Moscow and then have no other recourse but to use their nuclear weapons.
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  31. An old codger I used to know many years ago had a favorite saying about politics that always stuck with me. He'd say - "Look after the reasonable and you'll never have to worry about the radical." There's another one that I heard once that also stuck with me. I don't know the origin of it but it goes - "Contented people don't revolt." When you are seeing movements that you consider reactionary or extreme... and each person can define for themselves what those terms mean.... it's an indication that something is wrong somewhere and that things are broken. It means that the people in charge and the systems in place are failing. It means that the reasonable is not being looked after and that the people are not content. These are what are euphemistically called "canaries in the coal mine." But it also means that those in charge are unable or unwilling to accept and admit that something is wrong and that a course correction of some sort is called for. Instead, they react in typical political fashion by doubling and tripling down on their failures and attacking the people and groups which spring up in opposition to them..... which of course, only fuels the fires even more.
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  32. I think he was misspeaking there. I think he was talking about China and said Japan by mistake. He'd already said a few sentences earlier that Japan had the 2nd best power projection navy after the US.
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  33. If they were smart, they would be. But then again.....
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  34. Yes, I know; I've worked in the north too but I think he's attempting to address those who naively believe the arctic is on the verge of massive development and that these types of projects can be built easily and at scale. We're not at that point yet and may never be.
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  35. I was pretty sure he was going to refer to something internal. I didn't known he'd be that specific but it's certainly a valid point. As someone said below, we can not be defeated from without until we are first broken from within and for at least a quarter century now, there have been innumerable actors, domestic and foreign, who have been working diligently towards that very goal. Why waste time and energy trying to win a war against us if you can easily get us to destroy ourselves for a fraction of the cost? Their successes have not yet been total but they have been significant.
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  36. When can we expect your channel to launch?
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  37. Lately, I've been taking a glance out into my backyard in the mornings just to see if Peter might be doing a video from there. He can't have too many new places left.
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  38. Piracy never went away. It just evolved and moved around which it continues to do.
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  39. Glad you posted the corrections, Peter. 800 meters is just about 1/2 a mile and though I don't live there, I'm pretty sure that if Texas had 1/2 mile high wind turbines, I'd have seen videos or at least pictures of them before now.
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  40.  @rorykeegan1895  Are you seriously trying to suggest that Iran could prevail in a war with the US?
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  41. Yes, Canada is a very small part of the problem. That means it should be very easy for us to solve, doesn't it? As for the guns, that's also easily fixed... with a bit of effort and resolve. As we are so fond of telling the Americans whenever it suits our purposes, "your borders are your problem." Well, that is very true..... and our borders are our problem, aren't they? If the guns are coming into our country, then it's up to our customs and border authorities to do something about it, isn't it?
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  42. If you genuinely believe any of what you just said then I think it's pointless for me to attempt to engage with you. It would be like trying to reason with a flat-earther. But I would be curious about one thing. If you believe Peter is so wrong about everything, why are you on his channel? @ravishingravi 
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  43. This is a terrible situation for China! We in the west should set ourselves seriously to determining what we can do to help..... accelerate the collapse.
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  44. I don't think it's that simple. Like Peter, I'm no expert on this but I think it's actually 50 state elections, each with a different electoral value (electoral college), and whoever wins the highest total out of that, wins the overall election. I think it comes down to the individual states to make a ruling on who is and is not eligible to be on a ballot and the SCOTUS is going to rule on if that state's law A) was properly applied and B) whether it was constitutional.
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  45. I feel nothing for them; absolutely nothing.
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  46. $$$$$
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  47. Yeah; he's mentioned Myanmar a couple of times now and to my mind, that would be at or near the top of a list of countries to stay the hell away from.
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  48. Gotta admit I'm a bit shocked by this. Peter says (and has said) "we all knew this was coming." Well I had serious doubts it was coming because I had serious doubts as to Germany's fortitude and resolve If this is indeed an indication that Germany really is serious about pulling its weight and standing up to Russia, I commend them and am more than delighted to admit I was wrong. There's no need for war between them though, or anything close to that. All that needs to happen is for the west to work diligently to carve Putin off from his people. He's getting away with this largely because the Russian people don't know the truth about this war nor depth and breadth of Putin's crimes generally. Fix that... get around his propaganda machine, cut him off from his money, turn the oligarchs against him and we may just have done with this criminal once and for all. Then maybe, for the first time in their history, the long-suffering Russian people might have a chance at a normal existence in a normal country not run by thugs and criminals.
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  49. 😂😂
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  50.  @JMM33RanMA  Weather reports are in fact, a very good comparative. Perhaps you meant it that way, perhaps you didn't but it is an apt comparison. People often joke about weather reports, how often they change and how supposedly inaccurate they are but the funny little secret about them that most people don't realize.... They're supposed to change. Weather reports are simply predictions based on the latest available data. When the data changes, the forecast changes. You'll notice that forecasts a week to 10 days out are rarely accurate but those 12 to 24 hours out are usually very accurate. Analysts like PZ are very much the same. They analyze the most current available information and data and give us their best guess as to what will happen based upon that. And just like weather reports, when his data changes, so does his analysis. That's the way it's supposed to work.
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