[adolph]

> You could just ask why those 2 regions are so rich right now and the answer i think has much to do with military dominance starting a few hundred years back.

That doesn't seem as explanatory as much as it just pushes the explanation further away in time. How did Europe arrive at "military dominance starting a few hundred years back?" At which point we just start quoting Charles Mann and Jared Diamond and the more droll will make subtle remarks about how the North Americans' syphilis really did a number on the European monarchies.