Energy Is Everything
Every geopolitical crisis you've ever heard of is, at bottom, an energy story. The Persian Gulf holds half the world's oil. Hormuz controls the spigot. OPEC controls the price. Rare earths control the tech. And now climate change is rewriting the entire equation — opening the Arctic, stranding petrostates, and turning the energy transition into the biggest strategic scramble since decolonisation. This track shows you why the resource map is the real map.
The next time someone calls an energy crisis “unexpected,” check whether the strait, the pipeline, or the mineral deposit was on the map all along. It was.
8
Articles
110
Minutes
0
Words
The reading order
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Regions 14 minThe Persian GulfThe Persian Gulf sits at the intersection of global energy supply and great-power rivalry, with nearly half the world's proven oil reserves concentrated along its shores and the Strait of Hormuz controlling the flow of a fifth of global oil trade.
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Chokepoints 15 minStrait of HormuzOne-fifth of global oil—$1.2 billion per day—transits a 39-km gap where Iran's coastal missiles can hold the world economy at ransom.
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Institutions 11 minOPEC and OPEC+The world's most successful cartel has transferred trillions from consumers to producers for sixty years. Now the energy transition threatens to strand it.
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Concepts 15 minResource NationalismResource nationalism — the assertion of state control over natural resources at the expense of foreign companies and international markets — has surged through the global economy in waves since the mid-twentieth century, and is intensifying again as the energy transition makes critical minerals the new strategic prize.
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Concepts 12 minClimate GeopoliticsClimate change is redrawing the map of global power: opening Arctic sea routes, closing breadbaskets, and forcing security recalculations in every capital.
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Concepts 10 minThe Geopolitics of Energy TransitionDecarbonization is not just environmental policy; it redistributes global power from oil states to mineral-rich nations and technology leaders.
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Concepts 14 minRare Earth ElementsChina controls the 17 obscure metals that power everything from F-35 jets to electric vehicles. How rare earth dominance became a geopolitical chokepoint.
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Regions 19 minThe ArcticMelting ice is unlocking shipping routes, energy reserves, and military positions, turning the frozen North into a new great power battleground.