・Why is America special? Because it is strong in IT, because it has economic power, and because it loves democracy, the characteristics of America that surpass all of these are protected by two large oceans. The north and south are weak neighbors, and the east and west are surrounded by fish; German Chancellor Bismarck said (postcard) that this special geographical security is the source of America's strength
・We tend to think that it is human doctors who drive the world situation, or that human thoughts and actions are driven by “geography” more than we think (postcard 2)
・Most of the disputes in the 2000s were dominated by ethnic conflicts and ideological conflicts, especially battles with Islamic extremists, and arbitrary elements such as territory and understanding were not very big issues. On the other hand, the 2010s were very different from before that, not only did the number of unit disputes increase, but the subjects of disputes moved from thought to geography. This is a good image of Russia's invasion of Crimea and China's maritime advance. Inevitably, it formed the foundation for interest in geopolitics, which examines disputes between major powers from a geographical point of view (p31)
・The relationship between England and Germany during this period (around 1904), when geopolitics was born is very similar to the current relationship between America and China (p32)
・A means is a method for achieving a goal, a goal is a result necessary to achieve an objective, and an objective is what you want to achieve in the end. In other words, a means is how to achieve it, what is a goal to achieve, and the purpose is why you want to achieve it (p35)
・There is no opposition coalition against America in the current world. Despite the fact that America has boasted tremendous power as the sole superpower since the end of the Cold War, there is no movement in the world where multiple countries cooperate to suppress America. There are countries that oppose America; Iran, North Korea, Russia, and China are the best examples, but there is no coalition, and they basically act individually and are not united enough to be called an antagonistic coalition (p53) The reason why there is no anti-American coalition is because America is not so overwhelmingly strong (p100)
・The true horror of North Korea is not its military power, and its actions cannot be predicted. One reason why China, Russia, and North Korea are easily alerted by neighboring countries is this poor discriminability (p63)
・The three geographical elements that influence attack/defense advantage are distance, terrain, and sea. The shorter the distance, the easier it is to move, so attack is advantageous, and the longer the distance, the more difficult it is to move, so defense is advantageous. Plains, etc. encourage movement, so attack is advantageous, and natural barriers such as mountains, rivers, and forests hinder movement, making defense advantageous. Attacking countries bordered by land is easy, so attacking is advantageous, and attacking countries separated by sea is difficult, so defensive advantage (p69)
・At the beginning of World War II, the Japanese army landed in the Asian colonies of European countries one after another and were able to conquer various places because European countries had raised their forces to their home countries. The situation was reversed in the latter half of the war, and the US military successfully landed on islands in the Japanese-occupied area. However, the US military landed only on small islands where the Japanese military stationed there could not be self-sufficient, and they avoided large islands and land areas such as France, India, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia), Malay, and Taiwan. On Saipan Island, Peleliu Island, Guadalcanal Island, and Iwo Jima, where they landed, they were forced to fight fiercely, and in Okinawa, which is a large island, 40% of the input forces were wounded in battle, and the death toll also rose to the third highest level in American history (p83)
・The reason why Asian countries became independent one after another after World War II is that in addition to the local people gaining strength, the Japanese army was able to fight against European countries by providing military training and weapons during the war, and post-war decolonization was not the result of a sudden improvement in European countries' sense of ethics, and it was a result of the strongest water moat called the ocean making attacks unfavorable (p85)
・Ukraine's desire to join NATO appears to be a threat in Russia's eyes, and if a buffer country called Ukraine falls into the hands of NATO, NATO forces can be deployed along the border with Russia. Therefore, Russia applied economic and military pressure on Ukraine to reconsider joining NATO. Armed attacks were added in 2014 and 2022, and a virtual buffer zone separated from Ukraine by occupying the Crimean peninsula and eastern part was newly established (p93)
・What truly supports the strength of maritime nations such as England and America is not a strong navy but an “environment that does not require a strong army,” the greatest weapon America has is “the ocean itself” in the navy (p96)
・The three countries that make up the main axis of the North Atlantic Alliance are America, England, and France, and each has a role. America is a rear base for military forces, agriculture, and industry; England is an airfield equipped with an outer moat; and France is a landing site with defensive capabilities. The role of European military forces is to prevent Europe from being occupied until the main forces arrive from the American mainland (p111) If this concept is applied to East Asia, America is a rear base, Japan is an airfield, and Korea is a landing base. The true role of the Self-Defense Forces, the South Korean Army, and the US Forces in Japan and Korea is not to individually counter detergent sending countries, but to leave landing bases until performance forces from the American mainland arrive (p112)
・In Russia, Catherine II is worshipped by Russians, and is she said to be the greatest achievement of waging war with neighboring powers during her reign and gaining the Eastern European region from present-day Ukraine to Lithuania in the west? It is the annexation of the Crimean peninsula. Russia quickly became a major power due to these territorial expansions (p139) The reason Russia is particular about the Crimean peninsula is that this is an important venue traffic hub (chalk point) for entering and leaving the Black Sea (p169)
・The reason the Mongol Empire was able to attack Kiev, 5,300 km away, was due to the vast plains that run through the Eurasian continent. The mounted troops of the Mongolian army have leisurely traversed this natural highway. The Russians escaped into the northern forested area, and direct combat with the Mongolian army was barely avoided; horses and bows, which are weapons of the Mongolian army, got caught in the woods and couldn't be used, so the Russians settled down around present-day Moscow and submitted to the Mongol Empire for 200 years; the Russians gradually increased their power under this ruling system, and they officially submitted to the Mongolian army in 1480 It refused and finally escaped the rule of the Mongol Empire (p145)
・Even though they lost as a result, the fact that Germany temporarily established control of the Heartland in World War I was a major threat, so McKinder appealed for the establishment of an independent nation group in Eastern Europe so that Germany could never control the Heartland again (p155)
・There are two geographical barriers that prevent Russia from advancing into the ocean. The first barrier is that strategically important sea areas are scattered, the Russian coast is divided into 4 parts: the Arctic Ocean, the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, and the Pacific Ocean; the problem is that naval forces must be distributed and arranged. The second barrier faces all inland seas, with the exception of the Arctic Ocean. An inland sea is an ocean surrounded by land and connected to the outline only by a narrow strait. The Sea of Okhotsk is the only safe inland sea, and due to its strategic importance, it must be said that the possibility that Russia will return the Northern Territories to Japan will continue to be quite low in the future (p172)
・The United States and France agreed to impose sanctions to lock Russia out of SWIFT (International Settlement Network), but countries that rely on Russia for natural gas, including Germany, opposed it. After that, Germany reluctantly agreed to these sanctions due to backlash from allies, but they asked that only banks under the umbrella of the Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom be excluded from the sanctions. This is because a settlement system with this bank was necessary to pay the natural gas bill. Europe was paying Russia a larger amount of money than support money for Ukraine (p182)
・America won the war with Spain in 1898, eliminated Spain from Cuba and Puerto Rico, and set a naval tone for each, thereby mitigating the risk that the route leading from the east coast of America to the Panama Canal would be blocked. Although British territory still remained in the Caribbean Sea, the United Kingdom raised its naval power to its home country in the two world wars, and America rapidly strengthened its naval power in parallel, so England lost control of the American Mediterranean, and since this time, the American Mediterranean has continued to be America's sole domain (p196)
・Russia's southward policy also follows the trend of territorial expansion on the European and Asian continents → securing maritime control of Europe's Mediterranean and Asia's Mediterranean, and since America, Germany, Japan, and Russia all have a history of expanding their power by the same law, Spikesman predicted that China would embark on domination of the Asian band in the same way as Japan. In the case of Japan, 1) territorial expansion on the Asian continent, 2) securing maritime control over Asia and the Mediterranean, occupation of French Indochina, British Malaysia, Dutch Indonesia, and the American Philippines, 3) neutralization of Australia (air raids on Australia, occupation of the Solomon Islands) (P198)
・It is said that one of the reasons why the Mongol Empire was unable to conquer Japan and Western Europe was due to water. As for Japan, the Tsushima Strait hindered the movement of the Mongolian army. In the case of Europe, the main cause was simply a long distance or the sudden death of a leader just before progress, but the fact that Western European rivers did not freeze was also one of the factors that delayed the Mongol army's march (P211)
・The Strait of Malacca is definitely the most important strait in the world, let alone the most important in the Asian Mediterranean. This is a choke point for China, where 60% of China's total trade volume and 70% of imported natural gas pass through. In the past, China controlled the Malacca Strait during the Ming Dynasty, but this domination did not last long, and Malacca was then controlled by the Netherlands and England, following Portugal. Singapore, which is currently in the Strait of Malacca, remains neutral, but while America surrenders its domestic naval base as a supply base for American warships, China has not been granted that right (P234)
・In the event of the Taiwan emergency, Chinese submarines left the Miyako Strait, and to attack the US military revisions coming to the park in the south sea area of Okinawa, it is necessary to make the Miyako Strait safe to pass, but as a matter of fact, the Senkaku Islands are on that route, and this place is under Japanese control. Therefore, China must seize the Senkaku Islands in order to make the road to the Miyako Strait safe (P242)
・Before the end of the Edo period, threats to Japan came only from either sea or land. The Battle of Baekchon River and the Invasion of the Yuan Dynasty were the result of responding to threats from the mainland, and the dispatch of troops to Korea, respectively, from the sea. However, at the end of the Edo period, Russia came from the continent, and Western powers such as America, England, and France simultaneously approached from the sea (P271)
・In the Russo-Japanese War, Japan resolved all security issues since the end of the Edo period, regained the Liaodong Peninsula, made Manchuria a neutral zone, and completely incorporated Korea into its own military sphere. After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan established a very ideal state where it was not threatened by either sea or land (P282)
・The Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, and the Korean War were essentially the same war, just because the names were different. In the Sino-Japanese War, Japan fought against China and America supported it, positions changed in the Korean War, America fought against China, and Japan supported it (P305)
