Peter Zeihan

Just because they're good at what we need them to be good at doesn't mean that they're wonderful people.

Their government's kind of cuckoo.

The other one is Japan.

Now, Japan is a country that I used to be concerned about because it was another naval power.

Most of the resources they need are not local, so they have to go out and get them.

And in a world where the United States cares less about globalization, that means that the Japanese by default have to be more aggressive.

That doesn't mean a fight is inevitable or much less imminent, but all of a sudden it is a possibility.

And the Japanese under Trump one came to the United States to cut a deal on the future and basically signed a deal that was mixed economic and security needs and basically gave into Trump on everything that he cared about.

And so they thought that if they could sign a deal with Donald Trump, that they were in because he was the most reactionary, erratic American president we've ever had.

And they're like, if we can cut a deal with him, we're good.

Reasonable.

Trump too comes along, bad mouths the deal that Trump won cut.

And all of a sudden the Japanese are in the wind again.

The difference between eight years ago and now is now the Japanese have two super carriers that they didn't have eight years ago.

And all of a sudden they are a naval superpower and they were already the second most powerful naval power in the world.

And so now it matters a great deal if this relationship falls on the rocks.

So hopeful.

The Japanese would rather have a deal than not have one.

But a lot of hard work was done by Trump to get that deal.

And it worked.