CSF 2014 | Robert Kaplan: The Geopolitics of the World

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Robert D. Kaplan, best-selling author and chief geopolitical analyst for Stratfor, discusses the geopolitics of the world at the 65th annual Current Strategy Forum at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, June 17, 2014.
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Disclaimer: The views expressed are the speaker's own and may not necessarily reflect the views of the Naval War College, the Department of the Navy, the Department of Defense, or any other branch or agency of the U.S. Government.

[@tommyodonovan3883]

I think Robert Kaplan is the best Geopolitical Analyst/speaker/educators working today.

[@lawoftheuniverse8089]

As Soren said below, We are watching this in 2021 and Robert just got it so right...I have been watching him for about one year now and am quite impressed with his Geo Political Astuteness...!!!

[@presidentcheese4645]

Watching in 2021 - this guy nailed it

[@delir.6488]

Very knowledgeable man.

[@FOLIPE]

What I can't understand is how it be claimed that Iraq isn't a historical pocket of civilization (the Mesopotamia)? And what about the Mediterranean civilization - Rome, the Spanish and Portuguese empires, Italy - how is that area historically less developed than Germany?

[@stefanhensel8611]

He doesn't say "historically underdevelopped", he focusses on statelihood, and that's where he's got a point. Yes, the Sumerians invented it (possibly together with the Indus Valley culture), but Egypt for instance has always been a geographically well defined region, whereas the Middle East was already a mess in the times of Hammurabi and Sargon. Germany has only formed in 1990, it's like Montenegro or Moldavia ;-)

[@parischarley8956]

Thank you its very interesting your speech.its too short . I think its important for comparative with other country in the world the geopolitics. Votre geopolitique est interessante. Mais je pense qu il faudrait entendre les geopolitiques des autres pays du monde. De pouvoir comparer.👍👍🇫🇷🗼🇺🇸

[@kuryenlaindia]

that Arab guy at the end cracked me up LOL is there another movie from Sacha Baron Cohen incoming?

[@OceanHedgehog]

What point was he trying to make?

[@naweedsediq1299]

ethnic Hans now make up the majority in Inner Mongolia, Tibet and Xinjiang so those regions are not longer a threat. the Chines has a strict assimilation policy encouraging ethnic Hans to move to minority regions and creating jobs for ethnic minorities and moving them to big cities. he is a great speaker but he needs to update his research on minority issues in China

[@dalepeto9620]

Didn't the USSR do the same?

[@SeattlePioneer]

Despite this dramatic increase in "diversity" in Tibet, my liberal friends seem notably unenthusiastic about high rates of immigration into Tibet.

[@MadChad1640]

So africa, south asia, south america and australia are not on this planet

[@karolmadrecki5985]

How it's possible to claim that syrians didn't erect any kind of nationality or country in ancient history. So who made Palmyra? And what was Herodot writing about in V cebtury b.c.?

[@babasillah4016]

karol madrecki The Romans made Palmyra. It's there in history.

[@zoltan3554]

here i was not pressing for getting my social or some other needs met although i was in some direction so i dont realy know but others would say if they know myself i was not pressing others was also not but what if i receive hardware after only a forreign politics family members physicly injured my self (not realy local) the view is shaken in prey so it is also shaken in peers for others, but now perhaps they was able to talk not so sure or if they was not then they are not able to talk and it makes no difference (its different outcomes people because they i dont know if but endanger others psychology, wich others initially dont seem to care or so so some times then not but they care for others as a fact, but i was saying to mind reading )

[@dariknour6051]

with do respect, sir, Iraq, and Syria especially Iraq was the first known civilization of the human kind Mesopotamia; so putting it same category with Libya is well somewhat confusing.

[@AdstarAPAD]

What an awkward moment when that guy started rambling on incoherently at 36:34

[@powerslave6944]

He's like that throughout this lecture after a long speech he struggles to find the right selection of words to express what he's going to say

[@AjarnMatt]

24:48 Explains why China isn't democratic.

[@Guangrui]

not necessarily

[@shepherdsknoll8]

I really prefer Zeihan’s view of geopolitics to this gentleman.

[@tommyodonovan3883]

Zeihan is a knew trick pony with funny socks telling corner pot jokes

[@hannibalbarca3381]

Bob needs to be talking to the folks in the executive branch. Not the archetypes who go into military intelligence. By the time they get this info anyway, its too late. What good will these over-funded squids cull from Kaplan's speech ? Military brass still sends our ignorant 19 yr olds into destroyed cities to occupy and think they will be positive "good will ambassadors" Have you talked to a 20 year old soldier recently? Not the people you want representing you. Nor should that be expected of them. Its a f-ing blow-back machine, this Military industrial complex. Take a drive to the rustbelt, southern border and Appalachia. We have no place giving the Pakistanis ($16 billion since 2002) and Israel $4 million a day. I say enough Bob !!! You should say Enough !!!!! .....Bob .......H

[@benjaminholm2311]

Agreed, the people who make decisions about wars seem to often be more politician than military man.

[@jaysmith8329]

And now we have the United States and the Arab spring was a joke.

[@pulmo1]

Promoting the Arab Spring was the action of a naive president who preferred virtue signaling over a carefully reasoned strategic analysis.

[@dudeman209]

He's wrong on China. China's geography makes the entire region very separated. Also note that the Yellow River is not navigable and the Yangtze is only navigable until you hit the Three Gorges Dam. Foreign powers have always been strong in South China. Basically, any foreign power with a boat can come in and set the policy. The classic example would be Hong Kong, but there are other examples as well. Kaplan also has a poor understanding of economics, but that's a different issue for a different day.

[@mcfail3450]

Here's how I see China in the south China sea. They say "you did the same in the Caribbean". Yeah we did and it allowed the US to then exert power elsewhere. So if we just let China take the south China sea they won't stop. It'll be the next area and the next. The end result either being China successfully defeats the US for world domination after some geopolitical situation further than the south China sea can't be resolved except for a war that China wins. Or the US defeats China in that war and China goes back to square 1. So the criticism I have of the Chinese in their aggression in the south China sea is it's a path towards a war no matter how you spin it a war will result. That war is very likely to be a Chinese defeat. So again my view is I oppose their actions now because it won't benefit them or anyone involved. China is a collapsing nation and doomed. Their a drowning nation trying to drag others down as they sink.

[@ralph12d]

What an awkward moment when that guy started rambling on incoherently at 00:14

[@ralph12d]

I like that he's claiming that Russia is an "insecure land power" at the naval war college, why is this naval war college there in the first place; to fight the Canadians.. and also that the arab spring started because of an roman ditch,

[@Htogrom]

Syria, vague geographical expressions...Syria exists for at least 3000 years!

[@hannibalbarca3381]

Syria only became accepted as a national designation, by the people living there, since right after the Napoleanic Wars. Very recently. These people are really Arameans. Before that it was named Syria by the Romans who named it after the Assyrians who were further east in Ninevah. So more bad naming by Europeans like Jordan after the River Jordan, Lebanon after Mount Lebanon and Iraq after the ancient city of Uruk. Its kind of a mess really. So Kaplan is right about it being nothing more than a wrongly named place that became the name of a desert that much later became the name of a people. Ok Bogdan? I did not want to "bog" you down with facts. Ha...peace ......H

[@wwaqashussain]

Damascuss is 4000 years old city

[@MartinStojanovski2]

Hannibal Barca is this according to the US and Europe history???? Is this the same history as "slovens came to the Balkan peninsula at 7th century"? ... if someone say that I am 30 years old but I am 20 ... does that mean that I am really 30? The history written by US and Europe is sooooooooooo fake ... please search for some facts on some other places .... How the hell can you say that Romans named Syria ??? do you have idea when the roman empire step on the history scene??? Do you know when Syria did ???

[@hannibalbarca3381]

I preface this with "only a fool is sure of anything". You're question needs clarification. Syria in what form? Its like saying St Louis goes back 1500 years to the time of Cahokia. No ...it goes back to the 19th century. Different people same region. Big difference. I agree that just naming something doesn't make-it-so. My cabbage ass is not made of cabbage. The Balkans are such a open fuster-cluck of invasion and upheaval I think it unimportant who was there first. Illyrians , Acheans, Dacians ? I dunno, I guess we consult the experts and the fossil record.... But I think the Slavs came later though....really....later..... Re. Syria.......I was trying to make the distinction between the current majority Aramaeans and the ancient Assyrians. They are different. I think the greeks first made the mistake of calling everyone in northern Mesopotamia Syrian. Whether or not Syria is derived from Assyria doesn't matter. And the awkward borders and names drawn by westerners should be scrapped. Maybe we should put the minority Assyrians back in power and carve out western Iraq and eastern Syria for them. Call that Syria or some such shiite. I'm down with that. If you want to go back the the non-semetic Hurrians that used to populate that area, then we can discuss that. I like to have a dialogue. I have come to find that people's passion is usually directly proportionate to their ignorance. The more I learn, the less I know. I have no skin in western civ and hold water for no one. So then.....who first named named Syria ? I would really like to know....thanks

[@Veysel1981]

Hannibal Barca Im Syrian, Aramean vs Assyrian difference is crap like Germanisch or Deutsch, they are the same. One time named after one tribe, the other that tribe, all were close relatives. Genetically all subclades criss cross among north Mesopotamian, Jew, Syrian, Palestinian, Cyprus, Libanese, Cretan and southern Italian. Because of the lack of natural borders we had wandering nomads, city states or empires, not nation states.

[@amenostalgique]

What a poor explanation of the Arab spring. I´d recommend read some books.

[@mengelmoesNL]

+Castorp Z. He literally says: this doesn't explain the Arab spring... it adds a dimension.

[@EmmanuelGoldstein74]

A very good talk except he is wrong when he says the person who set himself on fire in Tunisia that started the Arab Spring,Mohamed Bouazizi, who he doesn't name did so to protest economic conditions. Not so. He did so to protest police corruption, harassment, & brutality. It certainly is the case that the economy was very bad and he had to resort street vending but his immediate reasons were government/police harassment and rights violations.

[@RemoteViewr1]

Blah blah blah blah blah. Got a point to make that isn't already in the headlines?

[@reelillusionl123]

They all use double speak.