The book is also useful in appreciating the US-China rivalry. With respect to the latter, he points out how the electrical grid will need heavy investment in energy storage capacity that depends on the environmentally unfriendly extraction of copper, chromium, lithium, cobalt, and other resources. Other observations he makes range from the reigning in of risky investments due to the ageing baby boomers seeking safer investments to the challenges with green tech. This imposes significant challenges on relying on cheap labour and any hope that the local Chinese population can be relied on for economic growth. In terms of demographics, he predicts that the “Chinese population in the year 2070 will be less than half of what it was in 2020”. With respect to geography, he argues that the US owes its economic wealth not just to its rich agricultural lands, but also the ability to transport food and other goods cheaply on the Mississippi River.
Zeihan’s approach lies in assessing how geography and demographics impact a nation’s political fortunes. He breaks down his argument into six sections transportation, finance, energy, industrial materials, manufacturing, and agriculture. The bleakest prediction is around food: “ …in excess of 1 billion people will starve to death, and another 2 billion will suffer chronic malnutrition ”. With the Cold War over and an energy independent America, the superpower is no longer supporting globalization. The book lays out his thesis that the US sponsored Bretton Woods world order (“the Order” for short) is going to collapse. The End of the World is Just the Beginning is the fourth instalment from geopolitical strategist, Peter Zeihan.
The End of the World is Just the Beginning Mapping the Collapse of Globalization
0 kommentar(er)
