mia moraru’s Reviews > Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics > Status Update

arctic—>artikos—>near the bear bc ursa major
ice melting and now fight for resources and exploitation of the arctic
russia is the most armed and prepared in terms of this harsh environment exploration m..32 ice breakers
lots of confused sovereignty issues and disputes all relatively minor rn but will probably grow

very little interesting insight into LatAm here

the west came plundered destroyed and rendered nearly unrecognizable a region that was at the forefront of technology art medicine and govt in the past…

with middle east esp levant, most people didn’t think in terms of nation states w fixed borders until european colonization came
Sykes-Picot shorthand for betrayal by europeans on tribal leaders in levant. crude line thrown across region
sunni and shia disputes amplified by all of this
so much picking apart of the region and amplifying ethnic+religious conflicts
places used by outside powers to further their aims

chinese investment in africa is slightly less problematic than IMF and WB, no forcing of economic “reform” and plundering the nation. but still extracting immense natural resources (esp oil)

sahel region huge
most groups of ppl isolated. no unifying la gage. rivers don’t connect
africans are prisoners of the geography that europeans made. most nation states artificial structures that are main cause to civil wars, creating nations w major existing ethnic and regional conflicts
Libya for ex was 3 distinct regions
DRC major european fuckery that ruins people lives it should’ve never been put together

NATO and EU lowkey fraying, if we go back to before (all solo) with no genuine structural change..we’re sorta back to the start of the 20th C in terms of issues in europe.
unity of europe like this has been unprecedented historically. and people are forgetting the benefits of it and the drawbacks of separation/conflict it easily brings.

france & germany always been sus of each other. creation of EU majorly influenced this; they’re now forced to be on the same side and trust.
euro launch in 1999 but a lot of countries were not ready for it. ‘…the euro is not just a currency—it is also an ideology’
ppl upset bc this kind of deal means the rich have to bail out the poor countries.
GIUK gap & english channel v important+strategic.

sooo US chapter made it very clear where this man's loyalties and biases lie. brushing over genocide/settler colonialism/manifest destiny and straight to why us is 'correctly' dominant over everybody else.
yawn

C companies+workers spreading across world, military will follow.
‘C will struggle to become agile over the next decade.’
econom. locked in and moving w confidence but ‘if we don’t buy they don’t make’, and could lead to mass unemployment and w the crammed pop in urban areas, this could easily lead to social unrest on a new scale