I'm not so sure Pekka does a great job of portraying the Southwest as anything but an imperial backwater. Although he states that one of his main premises is that the SW is actually, on a much smaller scale, as organized and striated as the home empires, he keeps talking about poor security, terrible strategic positions, and leaders being unable to come to decisions in a timely manner. Or ever, for that matter. He is trying to make the Comanche achievements seem more impressive against a background of political organization, but it doesn't come off that way. Or am I missing something that he is trying to show?