When I watch videos like these, my negative opinions about large centralized states are reinforced. Large states controlled by a few politicians are very dangerous. Even our individual states in the US are too big. The little people would be better off in sovereign states of, say, 200,000 people or less. Such states cannot afford big military budgets and a toxic state would be of limited impact. In a the US, the people would be much better off with 5000 states and a very very small and very weak central government. In this way wars pushed by nationalistic demagogues and psychopaths would be minimized.
You mean like the city states of ancient Greece and the bang up job they did holding off the highly centralized imperial powers of Macedonia and Rome.
Or in the Renaissance the great job the city states & local ducal powers of Italy did in keeping the imperial powers of France, Austria & Spain from interfering in their affairs.