6 explainers
Geopolitics and Global Power
Readable explainers on global power, trade routes, chips, energy, critical minerals, defense spending, and the infrastructure behind international politics.
These articles focus on the systems beneath the headlines: supply chains, chokepoints, industrial capacity, and strategic dependencies.
Use this page as a reading path: start with the core explainer, then follow the related guides to understand the key terms, practical tradeoffs, and open questions.
Questions this guide answers
- Why do shipping chokepoints matter?
- Why are advanced chips strategic?
- Which minerals are now critical?
Tools for these guides
- Electricity Cost Calculator — Compare appliance examples or custom usage in watts, kWh, and money. Include quantities plus daily or weekly operating time.
AI Data Center Energy: Electricity, Water, and the Grid
How much energy do AI data centers use? A plain-language guide to electricity demand, water use, grid constraints, chips, and land.
Why AI Chips Are Geopolitical
Why are advanced AI chips strategic? Understand semiconductors, lithography, packaging, memory, export controls, and global supply chains.
What Are Critical Minerals? Why They Matter
What are critical minerals? Learn why copper, lithium, cobalt, graphite, rare earths, gallium, and germanium matter for energy, defense, and AI.
What Are Global Shipping Chokepoints? Why They Matter
What are global shipping chokepoints? Learn why the Suez Canal, Red Sea, Panama Canal, Hormuz, and Malacca Strait affect trade and prices.
Why Is Space Important for Geopolitics? Satellites and Power
Why is space important for geopolitics? Learn how satellites support broadband, GPS, imaging, defense, finance, and strategic competition.
Why Is Defense Spending Now an Industrial Policy Issue?
Why is defense spending becoming industrial policy? Learn how production capacity, supply chains, chips, ships, drones, and munitions shape military power.