I first "met" Peter Zeihan back in 2022, or thereabouts, when he published The End Of The World Is Just The Beginning, published June 14, 2022. The big -- almost my only -- takeaway from that book:
- the importance of water for trade; and,
- the US Navy, alone, protected free and safe passage on the water, worldwide.
My notes, very, very sparse, on that book, are here.
Time to take a look at the current CNO and the former CNO:
- current CNO: advanced degrees in engineering; naval career -- submariner.
- former CNO: undergraduate degree in journalism; naval career -- mostly executive officer, assistant director, acting director positions -- surface warfare; appointed by Biden; sacked by Hegseth
US Secretary of the Navy:
- John C. Phelan
- businessman (no military experience?)
- huge fundraiser for Trump
- art collector
- married to former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader; date of marriage unknown, but long term romance; he was 36 or 37 years old when he married.
Of the last ten US secretaries of the navy, how many have had no military experience? Even experience in the defense industry? One. Exactly one has had no military experience. John C. Phelan.
Of the recent U.S. Navy Secretaries, only one of the last ten (John Phelan, confirmed in 2025) has had no prior military experience. While some nominees in recent years faced scrutiny over limited background in national security, most secretaries in the last 15–20 years served in the armed forces or held high-level defense industry/government roles.
And folks are concerned about Hegseth? LOL.
By the way, the importance of water for trade. For the US -- the Mississippi drainage system led the list on what made America great. The opening of the Panama Canal, which Jimmy Carter gave (away for free) to Panama, was also on that same list, near the top.
Wow, here's a digression: Carter --> Obama --> Biden --> almost Kamala. Scary, huh?
From Peter Zeihan today:
A cornerstone of modern globalization, the World Trade Organization (WTO), is collapsing. Following the Cold War, the post-WWII system needed a legal system to enforce trade rules, so the WTO was born.
But the WTO was slow, and its court-based dispute system couldn't enforce meaningful penalties. And its requirement for unanimous agreement made new trade deals nearly impossible. So, trade liberalization has stalled for decades.
Without the WTO, the world will revert to regional trading blocs. The issue is that this leaves several regions without balanced economies (you need production and consumption, and only a handful of areas have that).
As the WTO falls apart, expect decades of economic instability and conflict.
The WTO: wiki.
