Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, I am posing the question: "How about we just call it Great Game 2.0?" I am reading all this stuff across the internet, seeing it on YouTube and throwing around a lot of real weird phraseology out there; "World War 3, oh my gosh, dah, dah, dah." I don't know how things are going to play out. I certainly know economically in the United States things are not great right now and that is possibly causing people to be even more hyperbolic than they otherwise would be. 

My thinking is okay look we understand the World is the World. There are great powers in the World and they are going to do their thing in the World. There was a time where there was sort of one unipolar moment and I don't know if that's over or not, but clearly we are kind of seeing the edges of that universe at the very least if we haven't already crossed the border into some sort of new multi-polar World, sort of concert of Asia, concert of Earth kind of situation referring to the so-called “Concert of Europe” we had in the 19th century after Talleyrand and Metternich and these guys all got together and put together essentially a system with checks and balances that essentially saw Europe hold together in relative peace for about 100 years although it culminated in arguably the most massive war up to that time, so you have got to weigh it out. The point I'm trying to make is why phrase this stuff in the wording of "War"? World War 3 or whatever! 

I don't know that that does anybody any good and beyond even that I don't even think it is the right paradigm to look at Asia through right now, I don't think it's the right lens to use. I like the notion of Great Game, the old Great Game you had; the British were here and they were doing this and that because they were countering the Russians and that sector and then the Chinese were doing this and the Western powers were doing that and the Japanese rose. I just kind of like, if we are using phrases, sort of grandiose language, I like "Great Game 2.0" rather than let's just call it the Great Game. Why do we have to make it all just War and beyond even that man, Wars are awful, let's be real clear on that. I don't think anybody really wants that but maybe we do need a term to explain what we are in now and I kind of like the Great Game. I just think that that's a phrase that conveys a lot of nuance to anybody that has looked up sort of the era around sort of last Great Game if you will, going into things like the Opium Wars which depending on your perspective isn't the greatest thing to look at but it more clearly conveys and in a more meta nature for lack of a better term, conveys I think where the World is heading more than the notion of the Third World War or something. I just don't think one, that that fully encapsulates the World what that we will be looking at over the course of the coming months, years, decades but beyond even that, I also think it's hyperbole and it's kind of dangerous hyperbole at that.