The oldest (known) city is some 11,000 years old (ie, Damascus). The oldest (known) country is some 2,500 years old, being: San Marino (301 BCE), or Japan (660 BCE) or China (221 BCE). See 2020 ThoughtCo. article. Much more recent is geopolitics, which (probably) started with WW I (1914-18).
Geopolitics represents the global interconnectedness of Politics, one of our 7 Belief systems. In my view, there was no global political interconnectedness before WW I (1914-1918) or WW II (1939-1945). In 2022, a proxy WW III started between Russia and Ukraine (eg, my 2022 blog).
The motto in geopolitics (often) resembles the famous phrase one for all, all for one by Alexandre Dumas in his 1844 novel The Three Musketeers. An example of that motto is/was globalization, which is often marked as post-WW2. Increased nationalism (eg, Trump) resulted in (geopolitical) decoupling.
I’m not sure if and/or when decoupling will stop. Possibly, ongoing urbanisation will even dissolve some countries and create (mega) city-states. In latter case, geopolitics may result in a new Hanseatic League (c.1200-1600 AD). Also see my 2015 blog: Global city-states – a new Hanseatic League.
Late 2022, The Economist claimed that geopolitics became friendshoring: “International frictions led to a boom in friendshoring: a kind of reverse offshoring in which supply chains are redirected to stable, ideally allied countries, rather than those invading their neighbours or pursuing self-harming covid policies.”
In my view, friendshoring would perfectly match a new Hanseatic League. Again, history has a funny way of repeating itself: from tribal friends to urban strangers to hostile nations to global friendshoring. The cycle looks completed, except for an interplanetary federation and/or parliament, like in sci-fi.
Both friendship and geopolitics are (human) beliefs and are (thus) known unknowns. We know that we cannot and do not know. Hence, everybody will have her/his individual, subjective definition. Perhaps, that belief is what makes friendship so beautiful, priceless and unique.
“Supply chain resilience is a key focus of the Biden-Harris administration. And the necessity of this work has been illustrated clearly by the events of the past two years, first by Covid-19 and our efforts to fight the pandemic and now by Russia’s brutal war of aggression in Ukraine.” “Together they have redrawn the contours of global supply chains and trade.” “Working with allies and partners through friend-shoring is an important element of strengthening economic resilience while sustaining the dynamism and productivity growth that comes with economic integration.”
Some quotes by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (b.1946)
Thank You for Being a Friend (1978) by Andrew Gold (1951-2011)
artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-artist, Wiki-song
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless in quotes or stated otherwise.
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