There is no such thing as a boring Stephen Kotkin presentation - full of historical facts and stories to bind them together. Thanks!

Listening to Stephen Kotkin is like having a light switched on and the darkness vanishing.

I see Stephen Kotkin, I immediately drop everything to listen in ❤

I see Kotkin - I click.

Kotkin is among the sharpest minds alive.

I never tire of Kotkin's wisdom.

Thank you Prof Kotkin. You are a global treasure. 👏👏👏👏👏

The history book that Stephen Kotkin mentions is Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America by Pekka Hämäläinen. He doesn't end up saying the title, only the author.

Kotkin is amazing.

Strong ending with a TIMELESS Stoic statement. "The best revenge is not to be like your enemy." - Marcus Aurelius. Again, many of life's problems have been solved. We just fail to apply the lessons.

Stephen Kotkin is the best. I don't question that he'll say what he really believes, unlike some others.

Thank God we have people like Stephen Kotkin, Sarah Paine, and even Peter Zeihan (although many, due to his exploding popularity, has his critcs)....

Finally, Stephen Kotkin!

Been waiting a long couple of months Thanks so much Stephen

Keeping Posting Stephen Kotkin content and Ill keep watching it! LOVE KOTKIN

Always appreciate Kotkin’s knowledge and deep evaluation of issues. ( Australia, from real the ‘Global South’).

If Sec State got to open for Kotkin then it should go down as his highest achievement.

Was having a good day until getting this talk popped up on my feed. Now it’s an awesome day 😊

I like this Kotkin. Doesnt seem to be stuck in past and old attitudes and perceptions.

As much as I love Sec. Rice, he should be the headline 👍🏻

ITS KOTKIN!!!

thankyou stephen , appreciate your work .for whatever reason your absense from media has caused me anguish , i had started to think you had been shut down !! . please be more vocal on the world stage ,your view of the world is imo so valuable and needs to be louder.

I simply do not understand how this guy explains complicated things so simply all the time. Like, even his cadence is slow and easy. It's like E=MC^2 but for explaining geopolitics.

Love Kotkin's sense of humor and of course his clarity and erudition. Glad he parsed all these meaningless politically invented terms being bandied about to target the Free World as an enemy....baseless as it is not supported by any evidence.

5 mins in and loving this so far!!

What a wonderful teacher

He emerged from his monastic cell. It must be Spring!🎉🎉

I really appreciate the pointing to Lake / Blinken’s speech, From Containment to Enlargement. Thank you for this, Dr. Kotkin.

Stephen Kotkin for president!!

Kotkin is best, period

I listened to half of this yesterday, glanced at the comments, left. Came back today, half the comments are missing, including completely anodine comments like "what book is Kotkin referring to?" Less and less can we trust what is digitally delivered to us. The powers that mastered thought control in the pre-digital age have not lost any of their appetite for such power over minds. If they are not already better than they were at this game 30 years ago, they soon will be. The tools for offensive thought control are simply superior to those available for defense against thought control. If Kotkin were a deeper thinker, he would discuss this crucial matter.

I see Kotkin I open and click like

I miss hearing Kotkin talking about History and Stalin...

The most compelling and intelligent status quo defender. Would love to see him debate mearsheimer.

Everything Stephen Kotkin writes is worth reading.

I finally see the conservative in Mr. Kotkin

Always a pleasure listening to evidence based common sense analysis.

Hoover Institution is serious about getting to 1M subs this month. 🎉

A master class in Critical Thinking, WOW!

First for Kotkin

he lectures like a door-to-door gadget salesman

What is the name of the best book he said he read?

Wise. Thanks.

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:51 *🤔 Analyze and define terms of debate critically to avoid being constrained by imposed narratives.* 05:29 *🌐 Understanding of terms like "multi-polar world" may differ between nations, aligning with certain narratives unwittingly.* 09:40 *🌍 Two major approaches to world order: "One Worldism" (UN-centric) versus "The West" (based on shared values and institutions).* 19:01 *📚 Understanding historical forms of power (land-based vs. maritime-based) helps navigate current geopolitical dynamics.* 26:49 *🚀 The "Asian Century" is happening in the US due to immigration, suggesting openness to talent is crucial for sustained success.* 27:33 *⚔️ Kennan's advice on not emulating adversaries remains relevant in modern geopolitics.* 28:00 *🌐 Comparing China to the Soviet Union underscores the potential for fundamental clashes despite apparent differences.* 29:08 *🔥 Cold War, despite its drawbacks, is preferable to alternatives like hot war or capitulation.* 30:28 *🤔 Understanding the terms of sharing the planet with China is crucial to navigate international relations effectively.* 32:48 *🗽 Resisting emulation of autocratic practices preserves freedom and strength in competition with adversaries.* Made with HARPA AI

This guy might be the most interesting guy in the universe

Did anyone manage to pick up the title of the book and maybe the author also of the book he recommends about 20 minutes in? Something about the survival of indigenous American empires? Even using the transcript it wasn't particularly clear! Any help would be appreciated 😊

Stephen Kotkin, a great person with lots of great information!

It's always wonderful to our favourite professor Stephen Kotkin. Stephen - so nice to see and hear you talk about a wider subject. I love your jacket and shoes!

Fantastic stuff.

Great great Steve Kotkin❤❤

KOTK1N ! The GOAT

I hope especially that both Presidential candidates watch this video, along with their supporters. Interesting to note the long influence on policy and DC Anthony Blinken has had.

What a great speaker! I could listen to Stephen for days. Why can't we get men like this to run for office?

Amazing talk! Thanks for sharing I especially loved the first part about the notions we use

Thank you, Mr Kotkin & the Hoover institution for the upload. JL

Fans of SK would be wise to spend some time with Will Durant’s The Lessons of History. Followed by The story of civilization. I’d take a plumber well versed in these texts over any academic ignorant of them. “Study history! Study history! Study history!” W. Churchill.

22:01 Professor Kotkin mentions a book, "the best book I've read in a while". In case anyone is wondering: Pekka Hamalainen "Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America", published in 2022.

What Stephen is hinting at when he is talking about Pygmalion is not the lonesome artist obsessed with his idea of a perfect piece of artwork. He is speaking about a culturally inspired educator - a teacher.

Professor Kotkin should be Secretary of State!

The essential S.Kotkin.! 🇦🇺

It is always interesting to listen what Stephen Kotkin has to say

Thanks

I am astonished to find my comments critical of Dr. Kotkin's speech were censored here one hour ago. It is ironic that this happened at a forum for and of intellectuals.

The man is a global treasure.

Absolutely brilliant

Yo! Update your Stephen Kotkin Playlists Hoover!

Put Kotkins name in the title for better views!

Brilliant man who does not suffer fools

SO MANY WORDS FROM SO MANY PEOPLE. KOTKIN'S WORDS ARE MEANINGFUL. DON'T EVER MISS A KOTKIN CONTRIBUTION. I WON'T. i GET MORE THAN A COUPLE OF CHUCKLES, MUCH MORE.

Good stuff.

Impressive. What a joy to be his student.

Great lecture!

Great historians don’t always make the best present-day analysts.

Stephen Kotkin is always interesting and provocative. The distinction he draws between land and sea powers is not original, but he states it eloquently. If valid, perhaps part of the explanation for that tendency is that land power allows and requires control of the people living on the land (maybe tied to it as serfs or similar limited agency status). Such control is helped by control of specific geographical features. By contrast, sea powers thrive as networks and anyone with access to the sea and use of ships can move across the sea or create new networks - people are not limited to specific land trade routes and choke points. That requires a different economic, social and political system from land powers. That is simplistic because of course sea powers can end up controlling land areas and people (colonialism). Sea power is not inherently 'nice' but can allow and benefit from being a different system. The US has a continent but much of that is accessible via river systems so it engages with other countries via the sea and that river system, which makes the US primarily a sea power, but with the depth and resources of a land power. Britain did not cede power to the US voluntarily - Britain was impacted then bankrupted by two world wars, so had to seek US help to survive in the long term (from 1914 and especially after 1941). Adam Tooze describes that in his book 'The Deluge'. The transition would have happened anyway, but maybe later and maybe much less smoothly.

Dr. Kotkin is a breath of fresh air. What is the book about indigenous people that he mentioned?

Could you please make a list of everything Stephen recommends in this video?

Kotkin rocks!

On a fourth point: “do not become like them.” What if they become like you, but only to use your strength to defeat you?

Amen!!!

From an America perspective, our "Greatest Ally" in the Middle East is doing a great job at discrediting the idea that our Order stands for humanitarian, democratic values. Or do we just carve out an exception for that particular ethnostate? At what point does something stop being hypocrisy and it becomes a refutation of the values system itself? Saying "we made mistakes" works about the past (I guess), but what about something that is happening in real time before our very eyes?

22:01 - what book is it? Can't find it. Need help.

ooooooo new Kotkin!!

great job stephen

Kotkin needs to do more TV

Yesssssss

What is the 50-page speech he refers to in the video?

Very selective use of language by Kotkin himself. The free world, which he likes as a term, unlike others that he pulls apart, included Franco’s Spain... just to make the fist example that comes my mind.

I recommend the political economy lectures by Harvard professor Roberto Mangabeira Unger, who comes from the Global South i.e. Brazil. His lectures are all available on his UKposts channel. He challenges Kotkin's idea of institutions as some sort of institutional prerequisite for a market society. What we get is an ossified version of market society that is incapable of institutional transformation.

Using some advantage is not equal to hedging

What was the book Kotkin referenced at the 22 minute mark? I can't find it on Amazon.

I've heard Kotkin say that he reads about 120 books a year on a few occasions now. How on earth is that possible? It's more than two a week! Can someone explain this to me?

Yay!

16:48 So I looked it up, and apparently “Blinkin’ Blake” was a Garbage Pail Kids card 😂

what is the book referred to after 22:00?

Love

Land Power, then Sea Power, then Space Power?

This was like listening to a really smart guy that had to many drinks at an open-bar.

Imagine Kotkin v Mearsheimer in a debate about great power politics 🍿

Can anyone discern what history book he references @ 22 min? I've found no "Survival of the Native American Empires" by Hemalinan, Himal Lynan, Hymelinan ...

🔥🔥