OCTOBER 2 — Geopolitics was once understood principally through maps. Mountains protected states.
Oceans separated them. Rivers facilitated commerce. Strategic straits determined which powers could project their naval influence and which could not.
These realities have not disappeared. But geopolitics in the twenty-first century has become considerably more systemic.
The central characteristic of the contemporary international order is not merely competition between major powers. It is the extraordinary density of the connections between them.
Energy, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, shipping, undersea cables, satellites, rare earths, financial markets and supply chains now interact continuously.
