"Demographics mean that Russia will not have the capacity to fight off a future aggressor" I'm baffled. Demographics of their neighbors mean that those neighbors will not have the population to fight, either.
Future aggressors aren't necessarily correlative to current neighbours. And future wars aren't necessarily contingent on population. Either Russia needs to find a way to turn that demographic frown upside-down, or she needs to find a new way to fight and win wars. Wagner are (were?) a step in that direction.
@@qdav5 I'm not sure it's true, though. The Byzantines sent a much smaller army than anything the Empire had previously fielded, to re-conquer Rome, when populations were declining everywhere. Population decline doesn't imply peace, is all I'm saying. It just implies a recalibration of the scale of war. Russia's population is still more than it was last time it fought the Germans, and will be even at the end of this century.
@@jimluebke3869 population decline matters if you need men of fighting age. russia has about 8 million men of fighting age now maybe less because of the amount killed from current war. plus alot of men fled the country to avoid fighting. and you need men of that age to also work certain jobs if they are fighting then the country suffers. plus men of that age are the future fathers of the next generation that your risking being killed. so yes population and demographics matter in the future what a country can do.
Russian citizen here. Birthrates in late USSR were shit because economy and society offered no real initiative. By 80s there were deficits of everything, corruption in consumer goods was rampant, and since then people never quite recovered from that anxiety and uncertainty. My mom was teen in 80s, so, Gen X, I am 28, late millennial. Mom had to work all 9 months of pregnancy, had only me, my siblings she couldn’t carry to full term, and my dad as programmer had unstable employment through nineties and died young to rare disease (Stephen Hawking had the same but in remission). I am not having kids in this freaking Mordor
@@tancreddehauteville764 I’m working on it, guys. First stop will probably be Israel as mom’s side of the family is Jewish, but it’s volatile too, and I would prefer to stay in Southern Europe. Bulgaria, Montenegro. I love climate and food and their demography is not inflated by people, let’s put it mildly, blowing up at atheist satire and inherently hostile to Jews ;)
Yes but it is a race. If you do not steal from your budget someone else will do it for you. Each person must steal as fast as possible and then buy plastic helmets and cheap rubber boots to appear to be doing something whilst hiding the money overseas.
How about trying not to invade and genocide other nations out of existence ? That might work magic yo russia’s self- defense since nobody ever needed to threaten them first
@@mbak7801 You mean, despite the tens (or hundreds) of billions of dollars of material support the United States has been giving Ukraine, that might not translate to a victorious counter-offensive? Do you mean to say that Ukrainians might be giving their lives for nothing, now? Are you saying that the Zelenskyy presidency is just an act?
Mr Zeihan, I'm an avid consumer of your work and content. My question for you is since demographics are so important have you done your part and contributed to the future of the workforce?
I would ask him about the possibility of creating an economic trade zone in Central America like a mini-EU. I assume there are significant challenges. What are they? If we could achieve it, what would be the benefits? In other words, is it worth trying to overcome those challenges?
Re: Young Russian men fleeing the country to avoid the draft...I was in Phuket a couple of months ago. All of them are there. Every last rude, & obnoxious one of them. There are actual news reports of a huge spike of them involved in scooter accidents/voilence/drunk & disorderly stuff. Great. It seems like there were 5 Russians for every tourist from somewhere else there.
The funny thing is, unless you ask them specifically if they are Russian, you can easily confuse them with Ukranians. Which have been reported to be just as obnoxious.
True, but the 3 Aeroflot passenger jets I saw parked at gates when I landed didn't likely carry any Ukranian folks on them. Besides, the news outlets cite reports from the Thai tourist police that specifically mention Russian nationals.
To be fair, plenty of drunk obnoxious English in Phuket, drunk obnoxious Kiwis on the Gold Coast and drunk obnoxious Aussies in Bali all year around. It goes with the territory.
I read Accidental Superpower about year ago... EXCELLENT read!!! ... the information in that book helped me make so much more sense out of our world... and global politics. Also, for people who fear immigration is hurting America... you be SHOCKED to learn that immigration is actually SAVING our butts from depopulation. The mindblowing truth that MOST industrialized nations face demographic decline is truly amazing... the book shows that the coming depopulation of industrialized nations is projected to disconnect and deglobalize most of the industrialized world... the numbers are ASTOUNDING! Thanks very much Peter... your voice seems almost prophetic in these murky times!
İmmigration is a nightmare for my country. All the third World crap comes and our doctors, engineers and scientists run away to europe and other civilized countries. I hope one day we can kick them out of our country.
I agree with you on immigration except, I believe that immigration should be rational and regulated, not irrational and uncontrolled. I believe that this is a basic function of government, and I believe that spending billions of dollars paying people NOT to do their jobs is irrational.
Have you considered, that should birth rates be very low in a wealthy country for a generation, the population reacts by naturally increasing birth rates to 'fill the empty social and economic space'? You don't mention it is in the book you speak of. Immigration you speak of is an intentionally fabricated phenomenon that some competent nations employ because they understand population is currently the most precious resource for generating any and all resources. So it is a good thing, it just has some negative impacts on individuals.
I must give a big thumbs up to Peter for his choice of locations and the variety . As a city dweller who loves seeing the " natural world " I get great enjoyment . Cheers our kid !
Same goes to China, assembly line depends on foreigh technology. And both countries and shrinking demographically. Even better, russia could turn their gunpoint at china if putin get outed. Average russians like americans more than chinese, a democratic russia is a nightmare to china.
@@spinach660 Yeah, I'm inclined to think that the best play America can make at this point, is to give Russia a sphere or influence in Ukraine -- and support one in Greater Mongolia, East Turkmenistan, and Tibet. =) China has already started stabbing Russia in the back, setting up summits with FSR's in Central Asia, without inviting Russia.
@@jimluebke3869As a Russian putinist I’m inclined to think that US should give Russian back our land: Alaska and California. And move NATO back to West Germany, by givving us back control of Berlin. And then we could sit and peacefully discuss further - how we would distribute power. Unless you are in favor of WWIII and nuclear exchange of course.
@@Whatsupwiththisname I hear you can buy San Francisco's Union Square for cheap these days, although cleaning up after the socialists (and Democrats, but I repeat myself) would be a bit of a job.
The difference was the soviets occupied foreign countries and could move skilled foreigners easily around the country where they were needed. Now they need to outsource them
10:32 Any source on Navalny being okay with continuing the war? Pretty sure his most recent post earlier this year was about Russia's and Ukraine's borders going back to the way they were internationally recognized post-USSR in 1991, and that fighting war over them is senseless.
@@BlueHawkPictures17more likely just confused him with Girkin or misinterpreted Crimea controversy story. However Zeihan never attempted to correct himself on this one and that casts doubts on his other ideas
He is walking on level ground bro. Ill give you a story on a walk. Talk to me when he is rock climbing while giving us a lecture. 😆 Next episode he is 200 feet high on an ice wall giving us a lecture on neo capitalism. 🤣 Right... i mean he might actually do it.
There was also a significant brain drain during the Soviet collapse in '89-'91. Over the course of my employment in the 90's and later I met many technically educated people who had "escaped" from the Soviet Union when it went down. Most of these people - the one's that I knew about - were in the age range of 30-60. Many were Jewish and there were not just a few - thousands. Thank you Peter for your insight to some of these geopolitical problems we are now having. Very interesting.
Indeed. About 1 million Jews left the USSR to Israel and most of them stayed in Israel (or moved to Western Europe or the US and Canada). The vast majority were engineers, teachers, academics and general professionals.
A lot of engineers, skilled machinists, doctors, etc., came to St. Paul - Minneapolis in the late 1990’s from the former USSR. These were ethnic Russian Jews who came to the US as refugees. It was helpful to Minnesota as we had a skilled labor shortage in 1997-2000.
@@JohnHoffman65 Im sure many Americans didnt like the inflow of these jews (eventhough most of them were secular) but life with a jewish 'face' in ussr was unbearable in the late 80s/early 90s.
Nuclear weapons overrides demographics just look at North Korea, Israel, Great Britain. Much smaller demographics than Russia and yet they’re not falling apart
Hey Peter, I just love your videos, could you cover Iran and USA nuclear deal? What happened when Obama was in the office and what has been changed by Trump and were we are now. Thank you!!!
You don’t have to be Peter to see that it has failed. Iran has received technology from Russia in exchange of drones and now basically ready to start making nukes whenever they want. And also they don’t care about embargo’s and stuff as having powerful friends like China and Russia helps them to ignore screams of a weak US and non politically existing Europe.
Yeah, I love those wry digs at what happens to 'unwanted' Russians. Taking them at their ludicrous supposed face value, sarcastically, yeah, he does it very well.
I know it's much worse in Russia because of the factors he mentioned, but aren't people in general getting dumbed down worldwide? Which nations have improved their educational seriousness over the last 10 years?
his conclusion does not make sense. yes, russia is declining very fast. still huge nuclear power and PLENTY of natural resources. but no people. i were putin, I will cut deal with Chinese. he has no other choice, and US "forced" it on him. now US has enemy with 1 billion people with almost infinite natural resources. Good luck with that cold war.
Western media and analysts like to focus on the weaknesses of Russia, maybe because it makes us feel better, and it's of course important to know about those. But it's also important to not underestimate someone with hostile intentions. It can backfire to focus too much on their weaknesses
Russia is barbarically hostile and everybody should be aware of that, they should also be aware that Russia is failing to meet its own lofty ambitions because reality gave them a kick in the teeth, the Wider West should fully support Ukraine until Russia is booted out, that is the best result for the war in Ukraine, however Russia will still be a bad neighbour!?!
That's a really interesting point about giving Putin "off-ramps". I remember when the war first began, it seemed like that was the one line every single European country (besides the former Warsaw pact nations) would repeat: give Putin an "off-ramp" to end the war. For whatever reason, countries like France and Germany did not understand that this war wasn't some kind of huge misunderstanding or an accident. This was the outcome Russia wanted, and frankly it has been the hill Putin has chosen to die on.
That's funny. All the US leaders have been saying since 2011 they wanted to force Russia into a Ukrainian war and slowly drain them dry. Maybe watch some independent media instead of this intelligence shill.
@@user-nx1we5gu3bI'm sure Western companies would like to make money off of Ukrainian resources but none of the western powers have anything approaching a major need or desire for it.
I read all your books, Peter, and while I do not always agree with you. I am really happy to have found your work, and you are a true role model for looking at the world from a fact based point of view
@@ruckin3Because OP can enjoy Peter's style of analytics without agreeing with every conclusion he makes. Geopolitics is complex, people take different factors into account and arrive at different conclusions.
@@ruckin3 While no one can consider _all_ the facts, having _some_ is certainly an improvement over general discourse. Which facts are looked for first and included is a matter of methology, and interpretation and conclusions vary. Geopolitics isn't mathemathics.
What would have been better- giving Russia eastern Ukraine and avoiding the death of 1 million+ or continuing a war and pointing out the atrocities? I really dont know and neither do you. MAYBE this war is more about Taiwan, but I would never have protected Taiwan in the first place. THey were part of China 200 years before we invaded Hawaii. Bring chip making back to the U.S. and stop this gaslighting about "democracy". Our 3-letter agencies ONLY care when it suits them. Zeihan is a shill for 3-letter agencies
For future reference: once there is no more breath left to talk - SLOW DOWN YOUR WALKING. :D ❤ Was funny seeing Peter so passionately ingrained in the lecture to not notice...
Excellent information and presentation Mr. Zeihan! I can literally see the gears go round and round in that brain with all that exertive energy and oxygen intake! I am loving the "under 20-ish minute" talk format!
In the past Navalny has been ambiguous about the Crimea issue, but earlier this year in a series of tweets Navalny said that Crimea should be "returned to Ukraine, full stop".
We have basically two groups fighting for “defensible borders” that defined the ways that “Mongrel hordes”, Napoleon troops, and Nazi imperialists invaded the Russian Empire in the past, as ill-defined as that Empire was. Putin fancies himself to be some sort of historian and wants to reconstitute this past “Empire”, so that future generations will venerate the name of Putin! Well “this is THE LAST GENERATION OF FIGHTING MEN THAT RUSSIA HAS (7 million left) and they are fighting a demographically doomed EU, Germany!Peter Zeihan says: “All of this stuff is going away”. The Russians, European and Chinese are all doomed! So why the heck is Putin fighting. It makes ZERO SENSE AND SHOULD STOP NOW!!
Question: How come Russian military planning doesn't take corruption into account? They all seem surprised when their equipment doesn't perform as advertised or when they find out that equipment maintainance has been seriously neglected. Surely they must be aware of their own corruption?
I know its a long video, but this one does a great job going in depth about russian corruption and its effects. Im pretty sure it also covers your question. ua-cam.com/video/i9i47sgi-V4/v-deo.html
@@Steelrat1994 its not even just that. Corruption isnt public information. You dont know, until you start issuing orders, which tanks have theyre wires intact, which ones have fuel in their reserve tanks, and which units have what gear. Everyone at every level is lying, so how can you actually "plan" for anything when you have no baseline truths to rely upon. They are all fully aware its happening, yet no one knows exactly to what extent.
ENDING (12:00) About the Clique's Off Ramp: How does this compare to the Korean Peninsula? Could Russia become the new Fanatic People's Republic, and muster through the century without open warfare? Isn't this the clear preference to the alternatives (other than Western capitulation?)
I couldn't agree more!!! This man is extremely dangerous in his optimism. I fear thinking some powerful politician follows him and takes his advice seriously.
I appreciate this analysis. It bit down to the bone and was to the point. Either Russia and Putin are in this to the death, or Russia and Putin are in their death throws. Thank you for this video. I appreciate the realism.
Putin is a thug and thugged his way to top position in Russia, but his big mistake in declaring war is he has come into confrontation with people who can outsmart him (...and his regime) and he is generally coming second in all facets of this war!?!
Either way it looks like the end of the Russian system for the next several decades. Imagine you are having a fight with a man in a speeding car. He has a gun to your head but you are driving, towards a cliff into the rocky ocean. He will kill you if you stop the car, (the only way he can live) but you know you will die if he wins. so you drive closer to the cliff hoping for a few more seconds of life. The outcome is the same either way.
Putin is in it to the end and he will take everything with him if given an inch of a chance. IMO, Russia survives and outlasts the Ukraine and the West and will eventually set sights somewhere else, most likely Middle East.
Chernenko, not Chernomyrdin. Tha latter was a former Russian PM. Gorbachev was - as far as I know - never in the KGB, he went to law school and later worked a lot with agricultural issues. But, yes, he enjoyed the patronage and protection of KGB boss Andropov.
@@jimluebke3869 Yes, but his family was a victim of Stalin‘s despotism. He never forgot this. And later, as a trusted Communist Boy Scout, Gorbachev was allowed to travel abroad. This, combined with other factors gradually turned him into a reformist.
It is kinda boring and very predictable what western “analysis” will say about Russia. If you look into similar analysis made in 1917, 1941, 1991, 2023 - they all look pretty much the same: Russia has no future with a long list why it would collapse. Well, the west never understood Russia and always was wrong. This video is just one of this kind.
A lot of comments here assume Peter is a one-man show. He's not. He has a team behind him. He has major cred behind him too, including the U.S. military who has had him speak. This is what he does for a living. He gives advice to major international companies. For a fee. He's been doing this for around 20 years. So, we're getting a lot of this for free from someone who really has the expertise. When I first came across him, he was so contrary to my understanding of the world that I knew I'd love him or dismiss him as a crackpot. It's been over a year, and I do my own research when he says something I think he's wrong about. Except in areas where he riffs on something outside his expertise, he's always been right. I have a number of his books, and they're much more detailed than what he gives here. I personally have not regretted the purchase of any of them. Even if I disagree with an assessment - I certainly get an informed education out of it anyway. You do have to pay close attention to what he says, because he will give caveats on things he _thinks_ will happen but he's not totally sure about. _Nobody_ is right _all_ the time, including Peter. But if I were to grade him, I'd put him at around 95%. I'll go with those odds.
I see him a the traditional analyst who receive a report and make a report on that report. If his report are false he will follows suit. Like the wmd in Iraq.
As an American, I'll call it a noble experiment. The fact it happened and then all of 'this' happened and you are still standing would mean it's working right? I agree it isn't a decision that makes things better, but we have a saying in American called freedom isn't free.
I'm from the UK and by the looks of it we aren't in a recession which german and eu are so it's not as bad as everyone says. We will only properly know in years time when all the trade agreements are in place.
Brexit was shoved through the throat of the ignorant voters because the elite UK sociopaths didnt fancy have an 'inclusive' society with 'laws' and 'human rights'. Brexit allows the sociopath feudal cast to run the country like a late 19th century oligarchy. Over all the country gets poorer BUT the people cant protest, cant leave elsewhere, can vote different - and the top few % somehow can defend their monets better from 'redustribution'. So you need to understand comments if that sociopath william above reading 'freedoms!!!' as an expression of the few top % to hedge their bitcoins and offshore accounts and real estate etc. etc. from the 'useless eaters'. Where are the Guillotines when you need them, right?
@@davidbridge5652The NHS is a mess with shortage of staff, record levels of foodbank usage, electricity going up to record levels, unprecedented levels of corruption by the Tories, worst inequality in modern history, businesses devastated by border controls, record levels of immigration from SE Asia something that brexit was supposed to be against. Where's the sunlit uplands 😂😂
Who would want Russia? They actually think a European nation would want it? Russian paranoia and sense of self-importance is unparalleled. I visited in 2005. My impression? Russia is a 3rd or 4th world nation with a small handful of 1st world huge cities. There were areas in the countryside that looked Medieval. This is probably what the USA will look like after extended 1 party Republican fascist rule (that seems to be the ultimate plan, folks).
I love how you can provide us different points of views from facts that are public and aviable, allowing to draw conclusions we otherwise would not have tought about them.
3:19 Andropov's successor was not Chernomyrdin but Chernenko, basically a walking cadaver. And no, Navalny is not OK with the war! The lesson of Kerensky and the Mensheviks is too obvious.
Minor fact check: When Andropov died, it wasn't Viktor Chernomyrdin, it was Konstantin Chernenko who took over the show. Viktor Chernomyrdin rose to political prominence after the Soviet Union fell and Yeltsin had become the power broker. Chernenko was a terminally ill hard-liner when he got the job, and in practice because of his physical frailty, it ended up being Gromyko and Ustinov who ran the country. He was installed more to buy time for other old Soviets to find a candidate preferable to the one Andropov had tapped -- Mikhail Gorbachev. In the end, Gorbachev wound up taking over, anyway, simply because too many people who were old enough to have participated in anything in 1917 were dead or dying. Yeah, I know. It's hard to keep all those Slavic names straight. I can only do it because I speak Russian, and the Slavic roots of "Chernomyrdin" give it a very strange translation into English: "The guy with the black animal snout."
I was going to comment that it was Chernenko but you beat me to it. I was in high school at the time and we thought it was kind of funny how the Soviet leaders kept dying so fast after getting the job.
Outstanding analysis as usual. My daily dose of geopolitics. It’s amazing how uninformed the typical citizen is and most aren’t interested in learning what’s going on in the world. Thanks for educating those of us who are interested.
You may or may not know what a typical uninformed citizen looks like. I am an 80 year old female citizen who paid little attention to world politics till the Pandemic. But I'm awake now & have been following Peter for 6 months & I'm not the only one. Be circumspect of who you judge as uninformed.
He has a way of piecing together a myriad of facts to make a cohesive narrative. There are things like the Chinese One Child Policy and Europe's low birth rate that I knew about. But I never realized the economic and societal decline that would result. Climate change and now food shortages due to the Russ-Ukraine war are going to cause instability and mass migrations out of Africa just as the US is seeing out of Central America.
@@zendochip if you're only listening to Peter, then you are not that informed. A couple suggestions would be to listen to Scott Horton, Col. Douglas MacGregor, Judge Andrew Napolitano to name a few.
Q: in comparison to the Soviet-Afghan war, is Russian economic collapse impending based on resources expended? Obviously their economy is stronger today than it was in the 80’s but is it proportional to the strength/losses that they had in Afghanistan
I still don't understand how you get such clear and quality audio without the background noise when filming your videos as you do. Also, as an international affairs and politics nerd, I love your content.
There's a deep sadness in being able to read the writing on the wall. The consequences for those who make (foolish? bad? evil?) decisions become apparent while they, themselves, are stunned by what later occurs. RIP, Russia. (And China too, come to think of it.)
@@idnintel He may mean that although the nations will always be there, their government may not. Being such massive nations, both are ripe for disintegration into smaller nations.
@@notenote2004 CNN reporting might be US specific for its audience, but it's far better than Russia or Chinese reporting which is government controlled, with severe penalties for not towing the line comrade, both Economies are going to the new normal, and it is majorly their decisions that caused that, whether they will collapse or limp along for decades is due to their own actions!?!
I can’t argue with the broad thrust of the arguments here; it’s clear that Russia has been captured by the intelligence apparatus currently known as the FSB, and it’s also clear that cadre of hawkish mafia types in charge there extends beyond Putin and would likely produce a Putin-like successor. But it still feels to me like the framing of this topic is still painting Russia in too positive of a light here. Yes, they could be trying to jockey for a more defensible military geographic layout, but who cares? It’s broadly obvious to anybody looking at the situation with clear eyes that Western powers were in no hurry to engage in a military conflict with Russia, and it took an extremely brazen and years-long campaign by Russia to get the United States and Europe to commit to even provide substantial support to Ukraine. Are they concerned about China? Doubtful, China is an economic powerhouse with political influence well beyond its borders and has no need to engage in military conquest. Russia was happy to stand by idly as its education apparatus collapsed, because their sphere of elites frankly doesn’t give a single shit about the common citizen or the overall health of their society so long as they can sail their mega yachts into an Italian villa a few times a year. The Russian citizen wasn’t on their radar as a concept worth supporting, and so they were happy to outsource their technical expertise and soak up the profits. So now the rest of the world has to just sit back and accept that their leaders are fixated on a view of the world that appears to be rooted firmly in 19th century imperialism but run through the filter of a 1960’s era Cold War spy state. Russia has the ability to be a functioning 21st century nation, but their leadership certainly doesn’t have the will to make that happen.
"Nalvani" did not say that. He is against the war and made that clear. He was reluctant to give a clear answer about Crimea, though. I'm pretty sure that's a very sensitive topic even for his supporters. Also, his name is Navalny, not Nalvani.
Yeah... I am absolutely amazed at this comment, like honestly this has made me a lot more skeptical of much of his claims broadly speaking. Because if he gets something as objectively wrong as that then like what else did he at the very least paper-over to get his point across.
Excellent analysis as always. The question that's bothering me is, if things should go very badly for the Russians, badly enough to potentially threaten the survival of the "130" especially, would that create a scenario where nuclear weapons could be thrown into the conflict? If the choice for Putin and his cronies was between being overthrown (because of demonstrated military failures in the field) on the one hand or reminding people that there's much more depth that COULD be used on the other, then it seems to me that the limited tactical nuclear option would be back on the table. So might chemical and biological warfare. International condemnation is something the Russians have proved they consider as secondary if not tertiary in establishing foreign policy vis-a-vis warmaking; they only seem to fear tit-for-tat response, which Ukraine can't do and the West isn't likely to do for them.
The West is weak & just as politically corrupt as Russia but even a sub par EU, UK & US would not let a limited tactical nuclear response happen without intervention, which would result in the defeat of the Russian leadership as much as the collpase of the troops. As has been demonstrated on dozens of occasions, the Western powers will let genocide, war crimes a plenty happen without blinking an eye but if they let a nuclear respose go they would essentially be surrendering any country not in NATO to nuclear blackmail by Russia & could also lead to the invasion of Tawain by an emboldened China. The problem the West has is this high wire act to try and stop WWIII when it has clearly already started, the question is not IF we enter generalised conflict but WHEN. British, German & US special forces have been revealed as present inside Ukraine + 90% of the ammo & weapons are Western supplied, as are the defences, the 'cats paw' tactic is already breaking down. Quick additional fact, 40% of the EU's grain came from Ukraine, this is not just about territory for Russia, this is also about controlling the EU's energy & food supplies. But you also have a point that Putin is not very rational, hyper sonic missles that cost $10 million each, used to kill 5 Ukraine civilians, multiple mass lauches costing $500 Million a day, killing 200/300 civs & destroying blocks of flats. Last Christmas Putin carried out a $3 Billion dollar barrage that killed about 400 people, all civs not military. So maybe he does have a YOLO moment!!
If Russia uses the first nuclear strike against a country with no nuclear weapons then the game changes, Hawks will be in and Doves will be out in the West it will go into "proper" war footings, because it shows Russia has intent, the West assumes that nobody wants to use nuclear, if someone does then all bets are off, the threat is not a remote possibility it is a "in your face" fact, there is no stepping back from that, otherwise it will continue!?!
I think an actual move towards nuclear action (rather than just threatening) would be the thing that gets Putin a bullet in the back of the head. Even his most ardent supporters know that if he escalates then it'll go from being a situation where Russia has little chance of recovery to a complete certainty that it's the end. I don't mean an all out nuclear apocalypse style end, I just mean that NATO will turn up in the black sea with a fleet of super carriers and roll across the south western Ukraine with every bit of hardware they've got in waiting to lay waste to every Russian military asset they can reach, this will be followed by the fiercest sanctions ever imposed to such an extent that Russia can never recover. It'll be an international show of force not seen since dessert storm
Ukraine is getting their ass handed to them. Talk about the Minsk Agreement. Talk about why this war is really happening. Talk about how we deposed a democratically elected government and installed our own puppet. Talk about how Ukraine bombed their own people for years. Talk about how American biolabs were/are in Ukraine. There were so many! Talk honestly about what actually led to this. Ukraine is losing now. How will that change? Talk honestly about how that could change.
It was Konstatin Chernenko after Andropov, not the guy Zeihan said. Minor error, but I've heard Zeihan make the same mistake a few times now. Accuracy should matter.
Peter your encouraging me to exercise again while watching you there, grinding through those hilly trails, barely losing a breath, while continuously keeping your mind and your vocal cords busy at the same time....along with all that fresh mountain air helping as well!!
Navalny never supported the invasion, not in 2014, not in 2022, he was always clear about that. The only thing he said was that Crimea, while it was occupied unlawfully, is not so easy to just hand over back to Ukraine, "because it is not a sandwich". It is not accurate to say that he is pro-war, it is simply not true
Demographics are not as significant for Russia as they are for China. China has an assembly industry that requires a large workforce, while Russia’s focus is on its gas/oil/mines industry, where the number of operational pipelines is of more importance. Neither Russia nor Ukraine is the weak point; it’s Germany. Without gas, Germany and thereby EU would go down on its knees. The Germans pays all the bills, that will stop.
The pathetism of all the wishful thinking, hilarious "facts" about Russia, the wrong deductions, and true desperation showed in this video is amazing, even by Zeihan. Truly amazing, Keep up the good psychosis, man!
@@sergeant64I would argue demographics are just as important to Russia if not the most important thing solely based on racial hierarchy, I mean do you really think Muscovites consider Buryatians as equal? As even Russian? If the Russian ethnicity is failing while being overpopulated by the Turks, Russia won’t exist as Russia anymore, major staple resource exporter or not. You could subscribe yourself to Russian world ideaology, but the truth is you’ll never be an equal Russian, not like how an a immigrant can become an American anyways.
Peter I struggle to understand Russia's need to expand today to geographical barriers to prevent an invasion. I get that it could be more of a mindset versus a real need to go to those barriers. 75-100 years ago I could clearly see the need for that. I doubt that any potential future war with Russia would be about taking territory for expansion purposes on the West's part. A future war would be about strictly defeating those in power in Russia and slogging through ground battles to get to Moscow seems to be an unnecessary type way of fighting with today's weapons. On the other hand I can see Russia's fight to take Ukraine as a reason to take back territory they consider historically theirs and for potential resources, including people. Can you do a video with a deeper explanation?
"Russia's need to expand today to geographical barriers to prevent an invasion." Since russia has the biggest stockpile of nudes, this no longer an issue. They can destroy any bigger attacking conventional army with tactical nukes and they can obliterate any attaching European country in minutes with the big ones. This theory of geographical barriers is completely obsolete.
These videos give me the impression that Peter is actually homeless and is endlessly walking around outdoors mumbling to himself about demographics and geopolitics. 🤣
Disagree. The limits of Geography and demographics is only an issue for a brutal and corrupt empire hungry autocracy. . Not so if they evolved into part of a democratic , cooperative real union with their neighbours. I.e. like the European union.. This is an existential war.for a current abusive system but nessecary for Russia to lose to be able to evolve into something better.
An irony I'd not previously noticed is that in Feb 2022 a country run by the 'intelligence' agencies made the most unintelligent & ill-informed move imaginable.
If information is correct, only a small amount of putin's inner circle knew, that Russia will invade Ukraine. Because of that intelligence provided inocrrect infromation to Putin (Russia is thje strongest in the world, Ukraine will fall in a couple of days) so to please him and to carry on their living peacefull lives. The classic "say what your dictator wants to hear no matter what" moment.
well let's not forget why we went in to Iraq the second time . our intelligence said sadam had WMD's . nope so intelligence skews to what those in charge want to hear. putin wanted to hear it would be easy.
Thank you. The second half was most enlightening. Dis United Nations & your previous videos spelled out the first part. The second part was new. Looking forward to the next video. Stay safe.
Great update Peter. I’m interested in your comments about the aging population with technical skills. What does that mean for Russia’s nuclear weapons? With the state in terminal decline, I’m sure that will have implications on the nuke program. Plus, with their military situation getting worse, how long until they see a nuclear release acceptable because they feel they have no other choice?
There is always another choice. Nuclear detonation by Russia outside their borders would equate to a fatal nuclear response by NATO. Putin and Moscow would live less than 30 minutes afterwards even if Putin and Moscow were a thousand miles apart. This is not how Putin expects to restore lost territory and control after the USSR collapse.
@@dickdaley9059It's not about restoring the lost territory, it's about "If I am going down then I should take everybody else with me." Putin is the type of person who wants to watch the whole world burns when his end is nearing.
Sorry - this doesn't track. If Russian government is losing the ability to function how is it that the West is losing so badly in Ukraine, sanctions have not done anything to Russia except make it stronger and the Russian military and economy appears to be doing extremely well. Russian munitions production has tripled in the past year and you can't do that without competent planning and execution.
The Russian military, regardless of how backwards or incompetent may be or still 70 million men whereas the Ukraine will never defeat them with what little bit they have left after losing 400,000 men last year
Uncle Peter says even though world may fall apart, America will be safe. I really wish Uncle Ted was here with us today give us daily UA-cam reminders as a security systems analyst. 😅
But what happens if someone launches a small enough attack that doesn’t warrant nukes? NATO tanks driving down Red Square would warrant one but if Poland launches an attack on Kaliningrad or the Chechens try another uprising a nuclear attack would be an overreaction.
@@maxpower3990Nato's never had an interest in doing that unless attacked first by Russia (or perhaps on verge of attack like Ukraine border preps just before the war) because the people of nato countries would vote them out of power. Unfortunately, Russian state paranoia never realized this, and therefore wasted the last 30 year opportunity to upgrade their economy (including trade with nato countries) to first world level that would have further disincentived nato from doing what you suggest.
@@maxpower3990 you'd think Russia would have been able to handle something of such small scale without nukes. You don't need to keep the corridors for that. Corridors are for large scale invasions, where you would use nukes. So the defense theory is still ... illogical. I like Peter, but I think this "entry points" theory is a CIA bait for the dumb ruskies. And they bit it hard.
Our country is functioning as a third world country in the midst of an internal dirty war and ongoing color revolution but we’re stable and Russia is f’d? 😂 This guy must get paid well. I can sell but it would be difficult to sell the crap on this channel.
Peter! You are Brilliant! very knowledgeable! so nice to have trust in listening to your comment! keep up your excellent work! Thank You from South Africa Cape Town
I remember my highschool history teacher in the 04/05 school year told me something about the Cold War/post Cold War that has always stuck with me. Russian culture has an innate fear of invasion baked into it. Not for no good reason. It’s one of the most invaded regions in human history. They want buffer states, and control of more defendable land. Mr. Silva didn’t know how right he was.
That’s why pushing NATO all the way to Ukraine, setting up ABM bases that can host nuclear capable tomahawk missiles in Poland and Romania, supporting Nazis in Ukraine (same Nazis that killed 30 million Soviets in WW2 btw) since Operation Belladonna in 1946, all these things seem like the smartest course of action against the country with the biggest nuclear arsenal
The are not seeing the real picture. No children left. Everyone is leaving. Sorry for soldiers that have to die for one persons sick mind. Ukraine is a contry .
A guy who Actually understands who Russian geography works?! be still my beating heart! but then you get everything wrong about the Russian Draft because ITS NOT a draft. They're part time reservists who an be called up in times of need. but i do not expect you to believe me. for a second i though i had a guy who didn't buy into the usual BS about Russia but i guess i was wrong.
The million dollar question left is: at what point do nuclear weapons become an option for an increasingly desperate ruling class that sees the conflict as existential, esp if demographics tell them that Russia is coming to an end regardless?
This is the question no one will answer. There are a lot of war hawks that want to keep this going for various reasons. We had better consider this outcome for our own survival.
Basically, the answer I keep hearing is their sense of self-preservation. If they lose in Ukraine all these people might (probably) will survive, they are very wily and used to maneuvering internally to keep/expand their power. However the US has made it very clear to Putin: we know where you are at all times. If you launch nukes, our first missiles in retaliation are all going to land right on top of your head. You will not survive making this decision.
I think things will happen a lot sooner than you are currently predicting, the main reason is economic. The Russian oil trade with India is collapsing.
Great video as usual. I have read for a long time that Putin wanted the Land in Ukraine for its resources and as a security block for EU countries in case of invasion. The resources issue is really moot as Russia has vast untapped resources that leaves the security block as a valid concept, but that theory has the flaw in logic as Russian really had no intention of invading Russia. My theory is that Putin coveted the Ukrainian population first and foremost. Russia is bordered bordered by the EU Population nearly 450 million and China population nearly a billion. With a population of nearly 150 million adding Ukraines poulation of nearly 50 million would give him a boost in compete with the West and China
I'm still not sure if this is a travel channel or a politics channel. 😂
Walking allows you to ventilate your brain.
He’s on a green screen
GEO - travel
POL… - politics 🤠
@@FrankenBeenzpropaganda of what?
Common sense and math?
@@paul_wiggin US
"Demographics mean that Russia will not have the capacity to fight off a future aggressor"
I'm baffled. Demographics of their neighbors mean that those neighbors will not have the population to fight, either.
china is still big, and all their muslim neighbours are growing, and the west is a block
Sounds like a win-win.
Future aggressors aren't necessarily correlative to current neighbours. And future wars aren't necessarily contingent on population. Either Russia needs to find a way to turn that demographic frown upside-down, or she needs to find a new way to fight and win wars. Wagner are (were?) a step in that direction.
@@qdav5 I'm not sure it's true, though. The Byzantines sent a much smaller army than anything the Empire had previously fielded, to re-conquer Rome, when populations were declining everywhere.
Population decline doesn't imply peace, is all I'm saying. It just implies a recalibration of the scale of war. Russia's population is still more than it was last time it fought the Germans, and will be even at the end of this century.
@@jimluebke3869 population decline matters if you need men of fighting age. russia has about 8 million men of fighting age now maybe less because of the amount killed from current war. plus alot of men fled the country to avoid fighting. and you need men of that age to also work certain jobs if they are fighting then the country suffers. plus men of that age are the future fathers of the next generation that your risking being killed. so yes population and demographics matter in the future what a country can do.
Russian citizen here. Birthrates in late USSR were shit because economy and society offered no real initiative. By 80s there were deficits of everything, corruption in consumer goods was rampant, and since then people never quite recovered from that anxiety and uncertainty. My mom was teen in 80s, so, Gen X, I am 28, late millennial. Mom had to work all 9 months of pregnancy, had only me, my siblings she couldn’t carry to full term, and my dad as programmer had unstable employment through nineties and died young to rare disease (Stephen Hawking had the same but in remission). I am not having kids in this freaking Mordor
Move abroad. Australia or New Zealand are good.
@@tancreddehauteville764 Spot on. I was born in one and live in the other. Both are great countries in their own ways.
@@tancreddehauteville764 I’m working on it, guys. First stop will probably be Israel as mom’s side of the family is Jewish, but it’s volatile too, and I would prefer to stay in Southern Europe. Bulgaria, Montenegro. I love climate and food and their demography is not inflated by people, let’s put it mildly, blowing up at atheist satire and inherently hostile to Jews ;)
@@tancreddehauteville764 Yeah, great if you can. It's not the easiest thing to accomplish.
Sorry to hear that dude. I hope your mother country can have some more personal freedoms. Its terrible to hear you had to endure such things.
Great camera stabilization
A good way to defend yourself is by not stealing your defence budget.
And stealing your maintenance budget or reserves.
Yes but it is a race. If you do not steal from your budget someone else will do it for you. Each person must steal as fast as possible and then buy plastic helmets and cheap rubber boots to appear to be doing something whilst hiding the money overseas.
Ironic how so much of that stolen money went to buying yachts that the west has seized lol
How about trying not to invade and genocide other nations out of existence ? That might work magic yo russia’s self- defense since nobody ever needed to threaten them first
@@mbak7801 You mean, despite the tens (or hundreds) of billions of dollars of material support the United States has been giving Ukraine, that might not translate to a victorious counter-offensive?
Do you mean to say that Ukrainians might be giving their lives for nothing, now?
Are you saying that the Zelenskyy presidency is just an act?
@@mbak7801 I mean, how else would you ensure the geostrategic future of your rump empire?
Love the longer format where you are answering various questions. Looking forward to more like it.
10 months later, this video aged well. I find that with your videos and books in general! Well done Peter!
Imagine being stuck at an airport and Peter Zeihan comes up to you and says "Hey, I'm Peter, ask me anything!"
I'd ask if he could please stop talking.
That's the airport where Peter lives.
Mr Zeihan, I'm an avid consumer of your work and content. My question for you is since demographics are so important have you done your part and contributed to the future of the workforce?
I would ask him about the possibility of creating an economic trade zone in Central America like a mini-EU.
I assume there are significant challenges. What are they?
If we could achieve it, what would be the benefits? In other words, is it worth trying to overcome those challenges?
@@pragmaticparadox5981 I'd ask him to ignore you.
Re: Young Russian men fleeing the country to avoid the draft...I was in Phuket a couple of months ago. All of them are there. Every last rude, & obnoxious one of them. There are actual news reports of a huge spike of them involved in scooter accidents/voilence/drunk & disorderly stuff. Great. It seems like there were 5 Russians for every tourist from somewhere else there.
The funny thing is, unless you ask them specifically if they are Russian, you can easily confuse them with Ukranians. Which have been reported to be just as obnoxious.
True, but the 3 Aeroflot passenger jets I saw parked at gates when I landed didn't likely carry any Ukranian folks on them. Besides, the news outlets cite reports from the Thai tourist police that specifically mention Russian nationals.
To be fair, plenty of drunk obnoxious English in Phuket, drunk obnoxious Kiwis on the Gold Coast and drunk obnoxious Aussies in Bali all year around. It goes with the territory.
Bali too, apparently.
I read Accidental Superpower about year ago... EXCELLENT read!!! ... the information in that book helped me make so much more sense out of our world... and global politics. Also, for people who fear immigration is hurting America... you be SHOCKED to learn that immigration is actually SAVING our butts from depopulation. The mindblowing truth that MOST industrialized nations face demographic decline is truly amazing... the book shows that the coming depopulation of industrialized nations is projected to disconnect and deglobalize most of the industrialized world... the numbers are ASTOUNDING! Thanks very much Peter... your voice seems almost prophetic in these murky times!
İmmigration is a nightmare for my country. All the third World crap comes and our doctors, engineers and scientists run away to europe and other civilized countries. I hope one day we can kick them out of our country.
I agree with you on immigration except, I believe that immigration should be rational and regulated, not irrational and uncontrolled. I believe that this is a basic function of government, and I believe that spending billions of dollars paying people NOT to do their jobs is irrational.
Have you considered, that should birth rates be very low in a wealthy country for a generation, the population reacts by naturally increasing birth rates to 'fill the empty social and economic space'? You don't mention it is in the book you speak of. Immigration you speak of is an intentionally fabricated phenomenon that some competent nations employ because they understand population is currently the most precious resource for generating any and all resources. So it is a good thing, it just has some negative impacts on individuals.
If anything I learn from these video’s is that I need to go outside more.
It was Konstantin Chernenko, not Viktor Chernomyrdin. But hey, mudane details, both are dead :)
I must give a big thumbs up to Peter for his choice of locations and the variety . As a city dweller who loves seeing the " natural world " I get great enjoyment . Cheers our kid !
Peter stays on the move, Wary of FSB agents and novohalk poisoning.
"Russian raw materials extraction depends on foreigners"
According to the research of Thomas Sowell, this was true even under the Soviet system.
Same goes to China, assembly line depends on foreigh technology.
And both countries and shrinking demographically.
Even better, russia could turn their gunpoint at china if putin get outed.
Average russians like americans more than chinese, a democratic russia is a nightmare to china.
@@spinach660 Yeah, I'm inclined to think that the best play America can make at this point, is to give Russia a sphere or influence in Ukraine -- and support one in Greater Mongolia, East Turkmenistan, and Tibet. =)
China has already started stabbing Russia in the back, setting up summits with FSR's in Central Asia, without inviting Russia.
@@jimluebke3869As a Russian putinist I’m inclined to think that US should give Russian back our land: Alaska and California. And move NATO back to West Germany, by givving us back control of Berlin. And then we could sit and peacefully discuss further - how we would distribute power. Unless you are in favor of WWIII and nuclear exchange of course.
@@Whatsupwiththisname I hear you can buy San Francisco's Union Square for cheap these days, although cleaning up after the socialists (and Democrats, but I repeat myself) would be a bit of a job.
The difference was the soviets occupied foreign countries and could move skilled foreigners easily around the country where they were needed. Now they need to outsource them
10:32 Any source on Navalny being okay with continuing the war? Pretty sure his most recent post earlier this year was about Russia's and Ukraine's borders going back to the way they were internationally recognized post-USSR in 1991, and that fighting war over them is senseless.
No source, he made it up... ☹
@@BlueHawkPictures17more likely just confused him with Girkin or misinterpreted Crimea controversy story. However Zeihan never attempted to correct himself on this one and that casts doubts on his other ideas
Great analysis! Love unbiased independent journalism... pure news, No spin!
Opinion, not news.
This guy’s stamina is unbelievable. Giving a college level lecture while climbing a mountain must be unprecedented.
He is walking on level ground bro. Ill give you a story on a walk. Talk to me when he is rock climbing while giving us a lecture. 😆 Next episode he is 200 feet high on an ice wall giving us a lecture on neo capitalism. 🤣 Right... i mean he might actually do it.
Ok so its not that level but still...
That hike he is on is at least 8000feet above sea level. I know because I live in Colorado.
@@donnanuce EXACTLY
Imagine being on a hike and passing by a dude rambling on about Russia (or China or any of the other topics he covers). It would be so hilarious.
There was also a significant brain drain during the Soviet collapse in '89-'91. Over the course of my employment in the 90's and later I met many technically educated people who had "escaped" from the Soviet Union when it went down. Most of these people - the one's that I knew about - were in the age range of 30-60. Many were Jewish and there were not just a few - thousands. Thank you Peter for your insight to some of these geopolitical problems we are now having. Very interesting.
My jewish parents escaped back then.. the ussr didnt want two highly educated intellectuals, two 'zhidovskih rozha'
Indeed. About 1 million Jews left the USSR to Israel and most of them stayed in Israel (or moved to Western Europe or the US and Canada). The vast majority were engineers, teachers, academics and general professionals.
A lot of engineers, skilled machinists, doctors, etc., came to St. Paul - Minneapolis in the late 1990’s from the former USSR. These were ethnic Russian Jews who came to the US as refugees. It was helpful to Minnesota as we had a skilled labor shortage in 1997-2000.
@@JohnHoffman65 Im sure many Americans didnt like the inflow of these jews (eventhough most of them were secular) but life with a jewish 'face' in ussr was unbearable in the late 80s/early 90s.
@@MrMuki61 How wonderful that they were able able to get higher education in Russia.
Nuclear weapons overrides demographics just look at North Korea, Israel, Great Britain. Much smaller demographics than Russia and yet they’re not falling apart
Hey Peter, I just love your videos, could you cover Iran and USA nuclear deal? What happened when Obama was in the office and what has been changed by Trump and were we are now. Thank you!!!
I’d like to know if you liked the deal? I wasn’t following you when that went down. I love your analysis it makes common sense to me.
You don’t have to be Peter to see that it has failed. Iran has received technology from Russia in exchange of drones and now basically ready to start making nukes whenever they want. And also they don’t care about embargo’s and stuff as having powerful friends like China and Russia helps them to ignore screams of a weak US and non politically existing Europe.
"even if he were to accidentally duct tape himself to a lawn chair and go swimming..."
Oh dear, I shouldn't have laughed quite so heartily at that.
Yeah, I love those wry digs at what happens to 'unwanted' Russians. Taking them at their ludicrous supposed face value, sarcastically, yeah, he does it very well.
I guess I should rather say he exaggerates the ludicrousness of the 'accident' or 'suicide' deaths for comedic effect, and does it very well.
Yeah, it's called the "russian stroke".
I know it's much worse in Russia because of the factors he mentioned, but aren't people in general getting dumbed down worldwide? Which nations have improved their educational seriousness over the last 10 years?
Korea lol
Thank you Peter. I'm always impressed with your breadth of knowledge and ability to talk for minutes on these subjects without looking at notes.
Ya and he certainly gifted us with a nice long video today.
his conclusion does not make sense.
yes, russia is declining very fast.
still huge nuclear power and PLENTY of natural resources.
but no people. i were putin, I will cut deal with Chinese.
he has no other choice, and US "forced" it on him.
now US has enemy with 1 billion people with almost infinite natural resources.
Good luck with that cold war.
@@BuddyLee23 While hiking
@@HistoryCity1 and filming
@@HistoryCity1 Up hill 😆
Western media and analysts like to focus on the weaknesses of Russia, maybe because it makes us feel better, and it's of course important to know about those. But it's also important to not underestimate someone with hostile intentions. It can backfire to focus too much on their weaknesses
Russia is barbarically hostile and everybody should be aware of that, they should also be aware that Russia is failing to meet its own lofty ambitions because reality gave them a kick in the teeth, the Wider West should fully support Ukraine until Russia is booted out, that is the best result for the war in Ukraine, however Russia will still be a bad neighbour!?!
Pretty sure it's China keeping a very close eye on things
THANK YOU SIR. an amazing verbal dissertation from a civilian viewpoint. The bigger picture is still very bleak for ordinary Russians and Ukranians.
That's a really interesting point about giving Putin "off-ramps". I remember when the war first began, it seemed like that was the one line every single European country (besides the former Warsaw pact nations) would repeat: give Putin an "off-ramp" to end the war. For whatever reason, countries like France and Germany did not understand that this war wasn't some kind of huge misunderstanding or an accident. This was the outcome Russia wanted, and frankly it has been the hill Putin has chosen to die on.
yup he has wanted to take over ukraine since he came to power . he will never give up. it sucks he has 7 million men available to throw at this.
Agree. It needs to be the hill he does die on.
That's funny. All the US leaders have been saying since 2011 they wanted to force Russia into a Ukrainian war and slowly drain them dry. Maybe watch some independent media instead of this intelligence shill.
@@ronblack7870technically they have 25 million available reservesist available
@@user-nx1we5gu3bI'm sure Western companies would like to make money off of Ukrainian resources but none of the western powers have anything approaching a major need or desire for it.
I read all your books, Peter, and while I do not always agree with you. I am really happy to have found your work, and you are a true role model for looking at the world from a fact based point of view
if its all fact based, then why do you not always agree w him?
There can be vast differences in the interpretation of facts.
@@ruckin3Because OP can enjoy Peter's style of analytics without agreeing with every conclusion he makes.
Geopolitics is complex, people take different factors into account and arrive at different conclusions.
@@hackhenk even if you take the very same factors, but with different weight and you'll arrive to a different conclusion.
@@ruckin3 While no one can consider _all_ the facts, having _some_ is certainly an improvement over general discourse. Which facts are looked for first and included is a matter of methology, and interpretation and conclusions vary. Geopolitics isn't mathemathics.
Thanks for the video. Demography seems to be an extremely important factor globally.
I wonder if he just keeps talking to himself on his hikes after the camera turns off. The locals speak of the demographics murmuring mountain man 😂.
Thank you Peter. Love these talks. Only an experienced lecturer could deliver this sort of detailed talk while walking along a woodland trial.
What would have been better- giving Russia eastern Ukraine and avoiding the death of 1 million+ or continuing a war and pointing out the atrocities? I really dont know and neither do you. MAYBE this war is more about Taiwan, but I would never have protected Taiwan in the first place. THey were part of China 200 years before we invaded Hawaii. Bring chip making back to the U.S. and stop this gaslighting about "democracy". Our 3-letter agencies ONLY care when it suits them. Zeihan is a shill for 3-letter agencies
For future reference: once there is no more breath left to talk - SLOW DOWN YOUR WALKING. :D ❤
Was funny seeing Peter so passionately ingrained in the lecture to not notice...
@@murecerickman I'll take his expertise over a Trump University graduate any day.
@@murecerickman Oh really? Why don't you start up a channel and factually refute everything he says. Since you know "fax"
@@GeorgeStarYou're a useful pawn for the MIIC.
Can one be taken seriously while hicking with a pony tail
Excellent information and presentation Mr. Zeihan! I can literally see the gears go round and round in that brain with all that exertive energy and oxygen intake! I am loving the "under 20-ish minute" talk format!
Once again excellent work. Thank you so much for your analysis 🥃
Why would anyone stay in a country like Russia.
Peter,just be carefull while in the wild. You provide us with tons of reliable info I appreciate it much. Take care!!
In the past Navalny has been ambiguous about the Crimea issue, but earlier this year in a series of tweets Navalny said that Crimea should be "returned to Ukraine, full stop".
got a source for this?
Twitter?
My links keep on getting removed. Just look it up, there are many good sources on this.
Well, Crimea should NOT be returned! Ukraine going down and thank God!
Well he's dead so who cares
We have basically two groups fighting for “defensible borders” that defined the ways that “Mongrel hordes”, Napoleon troops, and Nazi imperialists invaded the Russian Empire in the past, as ill-defined as that Empire was. Putin fancies himself to be some sort of historian and wants to reconstitute this past “Empire”, so that future generations will venerate the name of Putin! Well “this is THE LAST GENERATION OF FIGHTING MEN THAT RUSSIA HAS (7 million left) and they are fighting a demographically doomed EU, Germany!Peter Zeihan says: “All of this stuff is going away”. The Russians, European and Chinese are all doomed! So why the heck is Putin fighting. It makes ZERO SENSE AND SHOULD STOP NOW!!
Question: How come Russian military planning doesn't take corruption into account? They all seem surprised when their equipment doesn't perform as advertised or when they find out that equipment maintainance has been seriously neglected. Surely they must be aware of their own corruption?
I know its a long video, but this one does a great job going in depth about russian corruption and its effects. Im pretty sure it also covers your question.
ua-cam.com/video/i9i47sgi-V4/v-deo.html
You tell your lie for long enough, you start believing it.
@@Steelrat1994 its not even just that. Corruption isnt public information. You dont know, until you start issuing orders, which tanks have theyre wires intact, which ones have fuel in their reserve tanks, and which units have what gear. Everyone at every level is lying, so how can you actually "plan" for anything when you have no baseline truths to rely upon. They are all fully aware its happening, yet no one knows exactly to what extent.
Because the planners are corrupt. Perun (YT) covers it in depth
As above, Perun has a good 1 hour presentation on the corruption.
WE WANT LONG VIDEOS LIKE THIS EVERYDAY. Peter Zeihan in high demand
ENDING (12:00)
About the Clique's Off Ramp:
How does this compare to the Korean Peninsula? Could Russia become the new Fanatic People's Republic, and muster through the century without open warfare? Isn't this the clear preference to the alternatives (other than Western capitulation?)
Your a good guy, Peter. I see your love and care within the context of your brilliant awareness of the systems of the world .
This video should be called "A masterclass in wishful thinking"
I couldn't agree more!!! This man is extremely dangerous in his optimism. I fear thinking some powerful politician follows him and takes his advice seriously.
optimistic? Not sure what was so rosy about this talk. He basically said the war was a death match that will drag on with no end in sight.
I appreciate this analysis. It bit down to the bone and was to the point. Either Russia and Putin are in this to the death, or Russia and Putin are in their death throws. Thank you for this video. I appreciate the realism.
*throes Putin and his few confidants are in their death throes!
Putin is a thug and thugged his way to top position in Russia, but his big mistake in declaring war is he has come into confrontation with people who can outsmart him (...and his regime) and he is generally coming second in all facets of this war!?!
Either way it looks like the end of the Russian system for the next several decades. Imagine you are having a fight with a man in a speeding car. He has a gun to your head but you are driving, towards a cliff into the rocky ocean. He will kill you if you stop the car, (the only way he can live) but you know you will die if he wins. so you drive closer to the cliff hoping for a few more seconds of life. The outcome is the same either way.
Putin is in it to the end and he will take everything with him if given an inch of a chance. IMO, Russia survives and outlasts the Ukraine and the West and will eventually set sights somewhere else, most likely Middle East.
@Dictator Deirdre And Ukraine might not be much better off and in the throes of Blackrock
Chernenko, not Chernomyrdin. Tha latter was a former Russian PM. Gorbachev was - as far as I know - never in the KGB, he went to law school and later worked a lot with agricultural issues. But, yes, he enjoyed the patronage and protection of KGB boss Andropov.
Wasn't Gorbachev basically the ultimate Russian Boy Scout, a symbol of belief in the whole idealized Soviet system?
@@jimluebke3869 Yes, but his family was a victim of Stalin‘s despotism. He never forgot this. And later, as a trusted Communist Boy Scout, Gorbachev was allowed to travel abroad. This, combined with other factors gradually turned him into a reformist.
It is kinda boring and very predictable what western “analysis” will say about Russia. If you look into similar analysis made in 1917, 1941, 1991, 2023 - they all look pretty much the same: Russia has no future with a long list why it would collapse. Well, the west never understood Russia and always was wrong. This video is just one of this kind.
A lot of comments here assume Peter is a one-man show. He's not. He has a team behind him. He has major cred behind him too, including the U.S. military who has had him speak. This is what he does for a living. He gives advice to major international companies. For a fee. He's been doing this for around 20 years. So, we're getting a lot of this for free from someone who really has the expertise. When I first came across him, he was so contrary to my understanding of the world that I knew I'd love him or dismiss him as a crackpot. It's been over a year, and I do my own research when he says something I think he's wrong about. Except in areas where he riffs on something outside his expertise, he's always been right. I have a number of his books, and they're much more detailed than what he gives here. I personally have not regretted the purchase of any of them. Even if I disagree with an assessment - I certainly get an informed education out of it anyway. You do have to pay close attention to what he says, because he will give caveats on things he _thinks_ will happen but he's not totally sure about. _Nobody_ is right _all_ the time, including Peter. But if I were to grade him, I'd put him at around 95%. I'll go with those odds.
I see him a the traditional analyst who receive a report and make a report on that report. If his report are false he will follows suit. Like the wmd in Iraq.
Question...Is BREXIT good or bad for the UK? I believe it is disastrous.
As an American, I'll call it a noble experiment. The fact it happened and then all of 'this' happened and you are still standing would mean it's working right? I agree it isn't a decision that makes things better, but we have a saying in American called freedom isn't free.
I'm from the UK and by the looks of it we aren't in a recession which german and eu are so it's not as bad as everyone says. We will only properly know in years time when all the trade agreements are in place.
Brexit was shoved through the throat of the ignorant voters because the elite UK sociopaths didnt fancy have an 'inclusive' society with 'laws' and 'human rights'. Brexit allows the sociopath feudal cast to run the country like a late 19th century oligarchy. Over all the country gets poorer BUT the people cant protest, cant leave elsewhere, can vote different - and the top few % somehow can defend their monets better from 'redustribution'. So you need to understand comments if that sociopath william above reading 'freedoms!!!' as an expression of the few top % to hedge their bitcoins and offshore accounts and real estate etc. etc. from the 'useless eaters'. Where are the Guillotines when you need them, right?
@@davidbridge5652really a success? It's been a shit show from the start wether or not we come out without crashing or major economic damage.
@@davidbridge5652The NHS is a mess with shortage of staff, record levels of foodbank usage, electricity going up to record levels, unprecedented levels of corruption by the Tories, worst inequality in modern history, businesses devastated by border controls, record levels of immigration from SE Asia something that brexit was supposed to be against.
Where's the sunlit uplands 😂😂
Who would want Russia? They actually think a European nation would want it? Russian paranoia and sense of self-importance is unparalleled. I visited in 2005. My impression? Russia is a 3rd or 4th world nation with a small handful of 1st world huge cities. There were areas in the countryside that looked Medieval. This is probably what the USA will look like after extended 1 party Republican fascist rule (that seems to be the ultimate plan, folks).
I love how you can provide us different points of views from facts that are public and aviable, allowing to draw conclusions we otherwise would not have tought about them.
Ouch..."the death rate doubled and the birth rate halved" that one will be hard to overcome.
3:19 Andropov's successor was not Chernomyrdin but Chernenko, basically a walking cadaver. And no, Navalny is not OK with the war! The lesson of Kerensky and the Mensheviks is too obvious.
Minor fact check: When Andropov died, it wasn't Viktor Chernomyrdin, it was Konstantin Chernenko who took over the show. Viktor Chernomyrdin rose to political prominence after the Soviet Union fell and Yeltsin had become the power broker.
Chernenko was a terminally ill hard-liner when he got the job, and in practice because of his physical frailty, it ended up being Gromyko and Ustinov who ran the country. He was installed more to buy time for other old Soviets to find a candidate preferable to the one Andropov had tapped -- Mikhail Gorbachev. In the end, Gorbachev wound up taking over, anyway, simply because too many people who were old enough to have participated in anything in 1917 were dead or dying.
Yeah, I know. It's hard to keep all those Slavic names straight. I can only do it because I speak Russian, and the Slavic roots of "Chernomyrdin" give it a very strange translation into English: "The guy with the black animal snout."
When he is trying to name Ukranian and Russian toponims it is even more hilarious) ffs, write it on a piece of paper, it is not so hard)
I was going to comment that it was Chernenko but you beat me to it. I was in high school at the time and we thought it was kind of funny how the Soviet leaders kept dying so fast after getting the job.
Outstanding analysis as usual. My daily dose of geopolitics. It’s amazing how uninformed the typical citizen is and most aren’t interested in learning what’s going on in the world. Thanks for educating those of us who are interested.
You may or may not know what a typical uninformed citizen looks like. I am an 80 year old female citizen who paid little attention to world politics till the Pandemic. But I'm awake now & have been following Peter for 6 months & I'm not the only one. Be circumspect of who you judge as uninformed.
He has a way of piecing together a myriad of facts to make a cohesive narrative. There are things like the Chinese One Child Policy and Europe's low birth rate that I knew about. But I never realized the economic and societal decline that would result. Climate change and now food shortages due to the Russ-Ukraine war are going to cause instability and mass migrations out of Africa just as the US is seeing out of Central America.
@@zendochip if you're only listening to Peter, then you are not that informed. A couple suggestions would be to listen to Scott Horton, Col. Douglas MacGregor, Judge Andrew Napolitano to name a few.
@@cranmore2 OK. Thanks I will.
Are the people on this channel idiots....? Or is it just bots sounding off?
Q: in comparison to the Soviet-Afghan war, is Russian economic collapse impending based on resources expended? Obviously their economy is stronger today than it was in the 80’s but is it proportional to the strength/losses that they had in Afghanistan
I still don't understand how you get such clear and quality audio without the background noise when filming your videos as you do. Also, as an international affairs and politics nerd, I love your content.
I guess, may be, he has a iphone pro ?..
CIA makes sure he has a good sound tech
@@megamilyon6111Like an iPhone?
You can edit out the noise
Looks wonderful wherever Peter is hiking, seeing birch trees always feels good.
There's a deep sadness in being able to read the writing on the wall. The consequences for those who make (foolish? bad? evil?) decisions become apparent while they, themselves, are stunned by what later occurs. RIP, Russia. (And China too, come to think of it.)
sure buddy, rip china and russia ...any day now right?
@@idnintel He may mean that although the nations will always be there, their government may not. Being such massive nations, both are ripe for disintegration into smaller nations.
Hahaha! You just solved all worlds problems… go back to CNN now!
@@notenote2004 CNN reporting might be US specific for its audience, but it's far better than Russia or Chinese reporting which is government controlled, with severe penalties for not towing the line comrade, both Economies are going to the new normal, and it is majorly their decisions that caused that, whether they will collapse or limp along for decades is due to their own actions!?!
I can’t argue with the broad thrust of the arguments here; it’s clear that Russia has been captured by the intelligence apparatus currently known as the FSB, and it’s also clear that cadre of hawkish mafia types in charge there extends beyond Putin and would likely produce a Putin-like successor.
But it still feels to me like the framing of this topic is still painting Russia in too positive of a light here. Yes, they could be trying to jockey for a more defensible military geographic layout, but who cares? It’s broadly obvious to anybody looking at the situation with clear eyes that Western powers were in no hurry to engage in a military conflict with Russia, and it took an extremely brazen and years-long campaign by Russia to get the United States and Europe to commit to even provide substantial support to Ukraine. Are they concerned about China? Doubtful, China is an economic powerhouse with political influence well beyond its borders and has no need to engage in military conquest.
Russia was happy to stand by idly as its education apparatus collapsed, because their sphere of elites frankly doesn’t give a single shit about the common citizen or the overall health of their society so long as they can sail their mega yachts into an Italian villa a few times a year. The Russian citizen wasn’t on their radar as a concept worth supporting, and so they were happy to outsource their technical expertise and soak up the profits.
So now the rest of the world has to just sit back and accept that their leaders are fixated on a view of the world that appears to be rooted firmly in 19th century imperialism but run through the filter of a 1960’s era Cold War spy state.
Russia has the ability to be a functioning 21st century nation, but their leadership certainly doesn’t have the will to make that happen.
"Nalvani" did not say that. He is against the war and made that clear. He was reluctant to give a clear answer about Crimea, though. I'm pretty sure that's a very sensitive topic even for his supporters. Also, his name is Navalny, not Nalvani.
Yeah... I am absolutely amazed at this comment, like honestly this has made me a lot more skeptical of much of his claims broadly speaking. Because if he gets something as objectively wrong as that then like what else did he at the very least paper-over to get his point across.
Excellent analysis as always. The question that's bothering me is, if things should go very badly for the Russians, badly enough to potentially threaten the survival of the "130" especially, would that create a scenario where nuclear weapons could be thrown into the conflict? If the choice for Putin and his cronies was between being overthrown (because of demonstrated military failures in the field) on the one hand or reminding people that there's much more depth that COULD be used on the other, then it seems to me that the limited tactical nuclear option would be back on the table. So might chemical and biological warfare. International condemnation is something the Russians have proved they consider as secondary if not tertiary in establishing foreign policy vis-a-vis warmaking; they only seem to fear tit-for-tat response, which Ukraine can't do and the West isn't likely to do for them.
The West is weak & just as politically corrupt as Russia but even a sub par EU, UK & US would not let a limited tactical nuclear response happen without intervention, which would result in the defeat of the Russian leadership as much as the collpase of the troops. As has been demonstrated on dozens of occasions, the Western powers will let genocide, war crimes a plenty happen without blinking an eye but if they let a nuclear respose go they would essentially be surrendering any country not in NATO to nuclear blackmail by Russia & could also lead to the invasion of Tawain by an emboldened China. The problem the West has is this high wire act to try and stop WWIII when it has clearly already started, the question is not IF we enter generalised conflict but WHEN. British, German & US special forces have been revealed as present inside Ukraine + 90% of the ammo & weapons are Western supplied, as are the defences, the 'cats paw' tactic is already breaking down.
Quick additional fact, 40% of the EU's grain came from Ukraine, this is not just about territory for Russia, this is also about controlling the EU's energy & food supplies.
But you also have a point that Putin is not very rational, hyper sonic missles that cost $10 million each, used to kill 5 Ukraine civilians, multiple mass lauches costing $500 Million a day, killing 200/300 civs & destroying blocks of flats. Last Christmas Putin carried out a $3 Billion dollar barrage that killed about 400 people, all civs not military. So maybe he does have a YOLO moment!!
Russia is downwind from Ukraine and they are going to get a nice fallout after. Chernobyl is not enough, they need a bigger contaminated area.
NATO would be obliged to jump in and destroy all invading forces.
If Russia uses the first nuclear strike against a country with no nuclear weapons then the game changes, Hawks will be in and Doves will be out in the West it will go into "proper" war footings, because it shows Russia has intent, the West assumes that nobody wants to use nuclear, if someone does then all bets are off, the threat is not a remote possibility it is a "in your face" fact, there is no stepping back from that, otherwise it will continue!?!
I think an actual move towards nuclear action (rather than just threatening) would be the thing that gets Putin a bullet in the back of the head. Even his most ardent supporters know that if he escalates then it'll go from being a situation where Russia has little chance of recovery to a complete certainty that it's the end. I don't mean an all out nuclear apocalypse style end, I just mean that NATO will turn up in the black sea with a fleet of super carriers and roll across the south western Ukraine with every bit of hardware they've got in waiting to lay waste to every Russian military asset they can reach, this will be followed by the fiercest sanctions ever imposed to such an extent that Russia can never recover. It'll be an international show of force not seen since dessert storm
Ukraine is getting their ass handed to them. Talk about the Minsk Agreement. Talk about why this war is really happening. Talk about how we deposed a democratically elected government and installed our own puppet. Talk about how Ukraine bombed their own people for years. Talk about how American biolabs were/are in Ukraine. There were so many! Talk honestly about what actually led to this. Ukraine is losing now. How will that change? Talk honestly about how that could change.
It was Konstatin Chernenko after Andropov, not the guy Zeihan said. Minor error, but I've heard Zeihan make the same mistake a few times now. Accuracy should matter.
Peter your encouraging me to exercise again while watching you there, grinding through those hilly trails, barely losing a breath, while continuously keeping your mind and your vocal cords busy at the same time....along with all that fresh mountain air helping as well!!
Navalny never supported the invasion, not in 2014, not in 2022, he was always clear about that. The only thing he said was that Crimea, while it was occupied unlawfully, is not so easy to just hand over back to Ukraine, "because it is not a sandwich". It is not accurate to say that he is pro-war, it is simply not true
Thanks for the clear explanation. It's nice to hear that from a political (or geopolitical) analyst without lots of hedging or innuendo.
Amazing how informed you are. Thank you for the great work
Demographics are not as significant for Russia as they are for China. China has an assembly industry that requires a large workforce, while Russia’s focus is on its gas/oil/mines industry, where the number of operational pipelines is of more importance. Neither Russia nor Ukraine is the weak point; it’s Germany. Without gas, Germany and thereby EU would go down on its knees. The Germans pays all the bills, that will stop.
The pathetism of all the wishful thinking, hilarious "facts" about Russia, the wrong deductions, and true desperation showed in this video is amazing, even by Zeihan. Truly amazing, Keep up the good psychosis, man!
@@sergeant64I would argue demographics are just as important to Russia if not the most important thing solely based on racial hierarchy, I mean do you really think Muscovites consider Buryatians as equal? As even Russian? If the Russian ethnicity is failing while being overpopulated by the Turks, Russia won’t exist as Russia anymore, major staple resource exporter or not. You could subscribe yourself to Russian world ideaology, but the truth is you’ll never be an equal Russian, not like how an a immigrant can become an American anyways.
So glad i found this channel I love geopolitics because local Northern Ireland politics is so dull such is tribal politics
Peter I struggle to understand Russia's need to expand today to geographical barriers to prevent an invasion. I get that it could be more of a mindset versus a real need to go to those barriers. 75-100 years ago I could clearly see the need for that. I doubt that any potential future war with Russia would be about taking territory for expansion purposes on the West's part. A future war would be about strictly defeating those in power in Russia and slogging through ground battles to get to Moscow seems to be an unnecessary type way of fighting with today's weapons. On the other hand I can see Russia's fight to take Ukraine as a reason to take back territory they consider historically theirs and for potential resources, including people. Can you do a video with a deeper explanation?
"Russia's need to expand today to geographical barriers to prevent an invasion."
Since russia has the biggest stockpile of nudes, this no longer an issue.
They can destroy any bigger attacking conventional army with tactical nukes and they can obliterate any attaching European country in minutes with the big ones.
This theory of geographical barriers is completely obsolete.
@@williamforsyth6667Many of us have large stockpiles of nudes!
These videos give me the impression that Peter is actually homeless and is endlessly walking around outdoors mumbling to himself about demographics and geopolitics. 🤣
Has to stay one step ahead of those Chinese spy balloons.
Education system did not collapsed in 1986, it was slowly fading away for 10-20 years after ussr collapse.
Peter is giving us the beauty of nature and lots of info. Amazing.
Is he training for a marathon?!
Question 2: Will Japan take advantage of Russia's weakening and "reclaim" the Kuril islands?
Now's the time!
Disagree. The limits of Geography and demographics is only an issue for a brutal and corrupt empire hungry autocracy.
. Not so if they evolved into part of a democratic , cooperative real union with their neighbours. I.e. like the European union.. This is an existential war.for a current abusive system but nessecary for Russia to lose to be able to evolve into something better.
An irony I'd not previously noticed is that in Feb 2022 a country run by the 'intelligence' agencies made the most unintelligent & ill-informed move imaginable.
If information is correct, only a small amount of putin's inner circle knew, that Russia will invade Ukraine. Because of that intelligence provided inocrrect infromation to Putin (Russia is thje strongest in the world, Ukraine will fall in a couple of days) so to please him and to carry on their living peacefull lives. The classic "say what your dictator wants to hear no matter what" moment.
As is always the case with dictators, they surround themselves with "yes men" who tell them what they want to hear, not unpleasant truths.
well let's not forget why we went in to Iraq the second time . our intelligence said sadam had WMD's . nope so intelligence skews to what those in charge want to hear. putin wanted to hear it would be easy.
@@paulschmitz9175 sadly even quasi-democracies like America are prone to such blunders. Witness Vietnam and Iraq 2003.
Your statement could apply to all of Ukraine, Russia and the USA.
Thank you. The second half was most enlightening. Dis United Nations & your previous videos spelled out the first part. The second part was new.
Looking forward to the next video.
Stay safe.
Q
The only off-ramp Putin needs is the
Plank.
Walk 🚶♂️ the plank...deep into history.
Q
Great update Peter. I’m interested in your comments about the aging population with technical skills. What does that mean for Russia’s nuclear weapons? With the state in terminal decline, I’m sure that will have implications on the nuke program. Plus, with their military situation getting worse, how long until they see a nuclear release acceptable because they feel they have no other choice?
A nuclear release is never acceptable, unless you want to commit suicide. It solves nothing.
There is always another choice. Nuclear detonation by Russia outside their borders would equate to a fatal nuclear response by NATO. Putin and Moscow would live less than 30 minutes afterwards even if Putin and Moscow were a thousand miles apart. This is not how Putin expects to restore lost territory and control after the USSR collapse.
@@dickdaley9059It's not about restoring the lost territory, it's about "If I am going down then I should take everybody else with me." Putin is the type of person who wants to watch the whole world burns when his end is nearing.
@@dickdaley9059 Uninformed take. Truth: We'd all be dead on this planet except a few!
So you're confident the war won't last more than 77 years. Solid take.
Lmao
Poor JP
Sorry - this doesn't track. If Russian government is losing the ability to function how is it that the West is losing so badly in Ukraine, sanctions have not done anything to Russia except make it stronger and the Russian military and economy appears to be doing extremely well. Russian munitions production has tripled in the past year and you can't do that without competent planning and execution.
For the next challenge, Peter Zihan talks about world economics while juggling 5 bowling pins.
I would like nothing better to hike with Peter and ask his opinion on various geopolitical situations.
The Russian military, regardless of how backwards or incompetent may be or still 70 million men whereas the Ukraine will never defeat them with what little bit they have left after losing 400,000 men last year
Love it when uncle Pete teaches us what’s what in the world of geopolitics 🙏🏽
Uncle Peter says even though world may fall apart, America will be safe. I really wish Uncle Ted was here with us today give us daily UA-cam reminders as a security systems analyst. 😅
😂😂😂😂😂
🫶
The self defence strategy is a moot point if you are sitting on the universe’s largest collection of nuclear weapons
the largest supply you cant use without MAD???
But what happens if someone launches a small enough attack that doesn’t warrant nukes?
NATO tanks driving down Red Square would warrant one but if Poland launches an attack on Kaliningrad or the Chechens try another uprising a nuclear attack would be an overreaction.
@@maxpower3990Nato's never had an interest in doing that unless attacked first by Russia (or perhaps on verge of attack like Ukraine border preps just before the war) because the people of nato countries would vote them out of power. Unfortunately, Russian state paranoia never realized this, and therefore wasted the last 30 year opportunity to upgrade their economy (including trade with nato countries) to first world level that would have further disincentived nato from doing what you suggest.
@@maxpower3990 you'd think Russia would have been able to handle something of such small scale without nukes. You don't need to keep the corridors for that. Corridors are for large scale invasions, where you would use nukes. So the defense theory is still ... illogical. I like Peter, but I think this "entry points" theory is a CIA bait for the dumb ruskies. And they bit it hard.
I agree . It makes no sense .
Its you attack me the world ends no need to plug gaps.
Our country is functioning as a third world country in the midst of an internal dirty war and ongoing color revolution but we’re stable and Russia is f’d? 😂 This guy must get paid well. I can sell but it would be difficult to sell the crap on this channel.
Peter! You are Brilliant! very knowledgeable! so nice to have trust in listening to your comment! keep up your excellent work! Thank You from South Africa Cape Town
I remember my highschool history teacher in the 04/05 school year told me something about the Cold War/post Cold War that has always stuck with me. Russian culture has an innate fear of invasion baked into it. Not for no good reason. It’s one of the most invaded regions in human history. They want buffer states, and control of more defendable land. Mr. Silva didn’t know how right he was.
That’s why pushing NATO all the way to Ukraine, setting up ABM bases that can host nuclear capable tomahawk missiles in Poland and Romania, supporting Nazis in Ukraine (same Nazis that killed 30 million Soviets in WW2 btw) since Operation Belladonna in 1946, all these things seem like the smartest course of action against the country with the biggest nuclear arsenal
You had better classes/teachers than I did!
Actually, most invaded region is inner Eastern Europe. No chance you can shovel rustardia under this blanket.
@@thedevilneveraskstwice7027 I said one of the most, not the most.
@@TheHeartlessFour sorry for correcting you. Anyway, you are welcome.
The are not seeing the real picture.
No children left.
Everyone is leaving.
Sorry for soldiers that have to die for one persons sick mind.
Ukraine is a contry .
3:18 * Chernenko came after Andropov and preceded Gorby.
It is more amazing than Peter's topics that SW Colorado finally got rain and greened up in the middle of a 50 yr drought.
A guy who Actually understands who Russian geography works?! be still my beating heart! but then you get everything wrong about the Russian Draft because ITS NOT a draft.
They're part time reservists who an be called up in times of need. but i do not expect you to believe me. for a second i though i had a guy who didn't buy into the usual BS about Russia but i guess i was wrong.
The million dollar question left is: at what point do nuclear weapons become an option for an increasingly desperate ruling class that sees the conflict as existential, esp if demographics tell them that Russia is coming to an end regardless?
This is the question no one will answer. There are a lot of war hawks that want to keep this going for various reasons. We had better consider this outcome for our own survival.
I suspect thus is a small possibility, as who would rationally sign their own death warrant.
Basically, the answer I keep hearing is their sense of self-preservation. If they lose in Ukraine all these people might (probably) will survive, they are very wily and used to maneuvering internally to keep/expand their power. However the US has made it very clear to Putin: we know where you are at all times. If you launch nukes, our first missiles in retaliation are all going to land right on top of your head. You will not survive making this decision.
You missed all the memos? The redline already crossed. Putin holding the horses but his replacement may simply do it with less restraint
Excellent video! The best take on the situation I have seen to date! Now Subscribed!
I think things will happen a lot sooner than you are currently predicting, the main reason is economic. The Russian oil trade with India is collapsing.
Bright, brilliant and cheery as ever Peter! Nothing like a bracing cold mind shower first thing in the morning…
This peter guy rambling again. Zzzzz
Peter, Please don't push yourself so hard, we need your knowledge, wisdom, and humor.
-from Minnesota
I am done with UA-cam and all thes 3 minute comercials before I can watch you or any of the other sources I watch, use to watch/
These videos are amazing. Love the perspective. Mr. Zeihan is a great thinker!
Very Interesting Food For Thought! 🤔
Great video as usual. I have read for a long time that Putin wanted the Land in Ukraine for its resources and as a security block for EU countries in case of invasion. The resources issue is really moot as Russia has vast untapped resources that leaves the security block as a valid concept, but that theory has the flaw in logic as Russian really had no intention of invading Russia. My theory is that Putin coveted the Ukrainian population first and foremost. Russia is bordered bordered by the EU Population nearly 450 million and China population nearly a billion. With a population of nearly 150 million adding Ukraines poulation of nearly 50 million would give him a boost in compete with the West and China