The End of the World Is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization
Link to Downlload ⇒ Downlload Now!
Link to Read ⇒ Reaad Now!
Review : A New York Times Bestseller! 2019 was the last great year for the world economy. For generations, everything has been getting faster, better, and cheaper. Finally, we reached the point that almost anything you could ever want could be sent to your home within days - even hours - of when you decided you wanted it. America made that happen, but now America has lost interest in keeping it going. Globe-spanning supply chains are only possible with the protection of the U.S. Navy. The American dollar underpins internationalized energy and financial markets. Complex, innovative industries were created to satisfy American consumers. American security policy forced warring nations to lay down their arms. Billions of people have been fed and educated as the American-led trade system spread across the globe. All of this was artificial. All this was temporary. All this is ending. In The End of the World is Just the Beginning, author and geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan maps out the next  world: a world where countries or regions will have no choice but to make their own goods, grow their own food, secure their own energy, fight their own battles, and do it all with populations that are both shrinking and aging. The list of countries that make it all work is smaller than you think. Which means everything about our interconnected world - from how we manufacture products, to how we grow food, to how we keep the lights on, to how we shuttle stuff about, to how we pay for it all - is about to change. A world ending. A world beginning. Zeihan brings readers along for an illuminating (and a bit terrifying) ride packed with foresight, wit, and his trademark irreverence. Read more
Review : I’ve now read this book 3 times in a matter of a few weeks. The first time I listened to the audio book. Books like this sometimes feel disjointed in audio format so I ordered the kindle version and read it. I finally decided I wanted a print copy for easier reference and ended up reading it through for a third time. BTW, I recommend just getting the hardback copy. After reading it three times, I finally feel ready to write a review. I probably should mention that I have been following Peter Zeihan’s work for a while and I’m generally a fan. I find his political analysis one dimensional and generally lacking but his geographic, demographic military and and supply chain analysis are very strong. There are two arguments that together form the premise of the book, deglobalization and demographic collapse in key global economies. If he’s right on both counts, his predictions will likely be quite accurate even if his time frames are a little off. The second argument I mentioned, demographic collapse is a virtual certainty. His optimism about the US is this respect may be a little too rosy for my taste, but his analysis of the situations in China, Russia and Europe are spot on. The population growth is slowing and major population centers will soon be rapidly contracting. Population collapse will be the biggest story of the 21st century barring a nuclear dystopia (yes it will be a bigger story than climate change). The other argument, deglobalization, on the other hand, is far less certain although the author treats it as a foregone conclusion. While there are certainly indications that we’re headed towards a reversal of the globalization trend, these trends could be reversed. If we are witnessing the end of American hegemony, his predictions are likely correct, but there are other scenarios that could reverse this trend. For example we could see global war break out and America reassert herself to counter a coalition of desperate and failing would be or has been superpowers…essentially WW3. The conditions are ripe, however, for America to shrink into her shell as the rest of the world fights hot proxy wars and cold wars of all types in an attempt to restore global stability without the global policeman. After deep analysis, I’ve concluded that Mr. Zeihan’s theory is the most likely but certainly not a no brainer. Even if one of his two main arguments ends up being wrong, there is still plenty in this book that you should read and take to heart. His energy and agriculture analysis is spot on for example. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is giving us a sneak peak of the near future on those two fronts and it’s not pretty. A frequent criticism of the book is its unrestrained optimism for all things American. While I agree that he may be painting an overly optimistic picture given our political divisions and decaying cultural institutions, it’s hard to argue that we are in a relatively advantageous position in almost every meaningful category. We have the natural resources, economy, military, population and geographic features that put us in a position thrive when other countries will struggle to even survive. You should definitely read this book. It’s an important work and if he ends up being right about globalization, Peter Zeihan might go down in history as a modern day Nostradamus. Even if he’s wrong there are some undeniably valuable insights to take away from the book.
0 comments:
Post a Comment