Modern Wisdom #1028 - Peter Zeihan - The New World Order Is Here
500 snips
Dec 4, 2025 
Geopolitical analyst Peter Zeihan discusses the forces shaping our world, focusing on demographics and energy. He reveals the vulnerabilities in China’s declining birth rates and how this could lead to instability. The podcast also dives into the limits of AI in addressing fundamental demographic issues and critiques the hype around rapid technological advances. Zeihan examines the implications of the Green Energy transition, highlights rising powers like Mexico and Vietnam, and assesses the shifting dynamics in US-Saudi relations.
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America Benefits From Hemispheric Advantage
- The US wins the next era because other major powers face structural weaknesses, not because of unmatched brilliance.
- Securing productive relations with Canada and Mexico and leveraging food and energy exports gives the US strategic advantage.
Geography And Demographics Cripple China
- China's geography and poor soil limit internal trade and farming resilience, making logistics vital to stability.
- Demographic collapse amplifies this, risking repeated civilizational breakdown without population replacement.
China's Population Numbers May Be Vastly Inflated
- Chinese statisticians discovered systemic overreporting in births and school enrollments stretching decades.
- Officials now worry China may have overcounted by 100–300 million people, accelerating demographic collapse.
