> (1) there are more sovereign nations now than ever, Yeah, but the power of the nation state has also weakened. Try subtracting many of the EU member nations

> (1) there are more sovereign nations now than ever, Yeah, but the power of the nation state has also weakened. Try subtracting many of the EU member nations as individual sovereign countries for instance, or look to the outsized influence of multinationals. 2. The West is essentially one large empire. > (3) there is way more infighting that on any time in the previous 40 years Source? 40 years is a bad timescale - bring that up to a few hundred or thousand and we are at an almost all-time low.