The Revenge of Geography by Robert D Kaplan

Robert Kaplan has written numerous books about the world's geopolitical scene over the years. After reading a geography book with my son this summer it seemed like an opportune time and go further and read this most recent book by Robert Kaplan titled above.

The first thing that must be recognized is that this is not an easy book, it is not written in a more pedestrian way and at least a moderate assumption of knowledge of prehistory is either assumed or helpful. However even without that Kaplan does offer enough information to inform his points to be understandable.The book is set up in three sections. Early in the book Kaplan tells us of his plan for the book, namely to go over some of the great thinkers in geography and how it affects history over previous times and civilizations and then in the final chapter to use the thoughts and premises brought forward and apply it to modern interpretation of future events.

No matter the book I always attempt to read the full material but I will confess that I did not find the long dissertation on pre history that fulfilling or neccesary with my background. So after digesting about thirty pages of it I did skim the rest of the section until we arrived at the last section of the book, which for me was the meat of the book, about how geography and demographics might well affect the future of our civilization.

The last section is well worth any struggles to get that far. A great deal of material is covered in this section, as Kaplan discusses the geopolitical past, present, and future of all the major powers in the world. There is much more information than can be gleaned into a short review. Still some very salient points of interest that can be mentioned are easy to mention to give one an idea of what they will find in this very interesting book.

- It is asserted that the historical dynamism in temperate zone climates such as Northern Europe and the Asian plains is related much to the fact that in order for a civilization to work together in common cause there must be a need for such actin in order to survive. To wit in the equatorial climates life was not hard, it was not necessary to act in concert with other groups of people to survive, with that in mind one can see how Asian and European civilizations had a huge and yet to be made up head start on the African and to some extent South American cultures.

- Geography plays a great part in the ability of a culture to be ruled. Mountainous regions such as the Balkans, Caucuses, and the Afghan and Pakistani regions are much harder to rule because many of these groups of people have created small societies inside their valleys and peaks of their geographic areas. Contrast this with an area such as Egypt where the geography or wide stretches is similar and this easier to control and intermingle.

- Perhaps the greatest single factor in twentieth century geopolitical struggle was the double insecurity of the German and Russian states as a result of the large Eastern European plain which offered no geographical boundary between Russia and the European continent to the West of it. Stalin and Hitler's non agggression pact was a direct result of this double insecurity and had Hitler not broken that pact it is quite certain that the history of the world would be different.

- In examining future events we learn about the ultra significance of Iran and Turkey to the future balance of the Middle East, about how the European continent remaining fractured to an extent is a good thing, about how the loss of the Southern parts of it's empire in the breakup of the Soviet Union was a critical loss for Russia, how conversely the rise of the Stan countries to the south of Russia might signal a re-balance in the worlds energy resources, and how China and it's free flowing spending on natural resources around the world is benefitted and made easier by the American presence and spending on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. To wit while the United States spends blood and treasure on calming the waters in Pakistan, Afghanistan and much of the lower Asian area China sends its thanks by pushing pipelines and roads through these same areas to further solidify its resource base.

- Lastly Kaplan examines the United States and its relationship with it's neighbors to the South. Primarily speaking about the potential loss of the American Southwest to a Mexican culture of immigration he also speaks about the potential loss of Northern Mexico from the rest of the Mexican state. Calling this area ungovernable and run by drug cartels with their own military and better weapons that the Mexican government Kaplan envisions a day where the United States has a long border with a Narco state. This is the result of the East Coast elites in Government being more interested in the world away from our shores and not the potential disaster at our doorstep. He contrasts that result with the possibility of a successful Mexican state working in concert with the United States as a hemispheric powerhouse to challenge anything that comes out of the Far East.

A very interesting, thought provoking book.