Strategic Competition
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Kagan and Boot: The Guilty Are Writing the Verdict
From Tehran to Taiwan: The Men Who Built America’s Empire Are Now Writing Its Autopsy The extraordinary significance of the Max Boot interview with former CIA analyst John Culver does not rest merely in the military assessments themselves, severe as they already appear. The deeper significance rests in who is speaking, where they are speaking,… Continue reading
AI and Digital Control, America, China, East Africa, economics, Energy, Financial markets, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Global Finance, iran, israel, NATO, politics, reserve currency, warAmerican decline, American empire, American Power, Atlanticism, Belt and Road Initiative, China, containment strategy, de-dollarisation, defence policy, empire, energy politics, Eurasia, Eurasian integration, Geopolitics, Geostrategy, global hegemony, global order, great power competition, imperial overstretch, Indo-Pacific, Indo-Pacific strategy, Industrial Capacity, international relations, iran, John Culver, maritime power, Max Boot, military industrial complex, Military Primacy, military strategy, multipolar world order, NATO, Neoconservatism, petrodollar, political economy, Project for the New American Century, Robert Kagan, Russia, sanctions, South China Sea, Strait of Hormuz, Strategic Competition, Strategic Decline, taiwan, Taiwan Strait, Ukraine war, unipolarity, US foreign policy, US Hegemony, US Navy, US-China relations, Washington Consensus, West Asia -
The New Geography of Power: Europe Pays, America Pivots (Extended Version)
How Washington weaponised energy chokepoints, controlled instability, and alliance dependency against China, Iran, and Europe. The post-Cold War order is ending not because American power suddenly collapsed beneath external pressure, but because Washington abandoned the economic logic that previously sustained its own imperial system across multiple continents simultaneously. The United States no longer governs primarily… Continue reading
AI and Digital Control, America, China, economics, Energy, EUROPE, Financial markets, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Global Finance, iran, israel, middle east, Mineral Resources, NATO, politics, reserve currency, Russia, South East Asia, warAmerican Hegemony, China containment, energy security, Energy Warfare, Eurasia, European Union Crisis, Game Theory, Geopolitics, globalisation, Indo-Pacific, Industrial Dependency, Iran Sanctions, maritime chokepoints, Maritime Strategy, NATO Fragmentation, political economy, realism, Strait of Hormuz, Strait of Malacca, Strategic Competition -
The China Perspective: War Without Declaration
A Consideration of War in Iran and the Greater Reordering of the World In Which China Endures the Tumult of War Whilst the Old Order Strains to Maintain Its Hold China views the Iran war not as a distant regional conflict but as part of a broader strategic environment in which it is the primary… Continue reading
AI and Digital Control, America, China, economics, Energy, EUROPE, Financial markets, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Global Finance, iran, israel, middle east, Mineral Resources, NATO, politics, reserve currency, Russia, South East Asia, warBelt and Road Initiative, China, containment strategy, economic warfare., energy security, Eurasian integration, financial systems, Geopolitics, global power shift, global supply chains, global trade, globalisation, international relations, Iran War, maritime chokepoints, Middle East conflict, multipolar world order, realism theory, sanctions, sanctions policy, Strait of Hormuz, Strategic Competition, strategic restraint, United States, US-China relations -
China’s First Direct Rejection of U.S. Financial Jurisdiction
Why Beijing’s refusal to recognise American sanctions marks a structural shift in global financial power A legal border moved across the international system when China’s Ministry of Commerce instructed domestic firms not to recognise, enforce, or comply with United States sanctions against five Chinese refineries. Financial globalisation relied upon a silent assumption that American secondary… Continue reading
AI and Digital Control, America, China, economics, Energy, EUROPE, Financial markets, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Global Finance, Health, iran, israel, middle east, Mineral Resources, NATO, politics, reserve currency, Russia, warAnti-Foreign Sanctions Law, Belt and Road Initiative, blocking statute, China sanctions law, Chinese refineries, commodity security, cross-border finance, de-dollarisation, dollar hegemony, economic statecraft, energy geopolitics, energy security, extraterritorial jurisdiction, extraterritorial sanctions, financial coercion, financial decoupling, game theory in geopolitics, geopolitical economy, geopolitical risk, global financial order, global order transition, global supply chains, great power competition, international political economy, Iranian oil trade, legal sovereignty, multipolarity, realist international relations, sanctions compliance, sanctions enforcement, sanctions policy, sanctions resistance, secondary sanctions, sovereign jurisdiction, strategic autonomy, Strategic Competition, systemic rivalry, trade fragmentation, U.S. Treasury sanctions, U.S.–China relations, yuan internationalisation -
The Age of Liberal Gangster Capitalism
How political institutions shifted from public service to organised extraction and turned representation into controlled participation Gangster capitalism now describes the governing condition taking shape across much of the Western political order. Public institutions continue to speak the language of democracy, representation, and constitutional legitimacy, yet the practical operation of power increasingly serves concentrated wealth,… Continue reading
AI and Digital Control, America, economics, Energy, EUROPE, Financial markets, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Global Finance, Health, iran, israel, middle east, Mineral Resources, NATO, politics, reserve currency, Russia, Space, warausterity, authoritarianism, capitalism, class conflict, class struggle, Cold War legacy, concentrated wealth, corporate influence, deindustrialisation, democratic erosion, democratic illusion, economic inequality, elite rule, empire, energy politics, fascism, Financialisation, gangster capitalism, geopolitical analysis, Geopolitics, global hegemony, historical analysis, imperialism, institutional decline, labour decline, liberal democracy, managed democracy, media power, militarisation, military expansion, neoliberalism, oligarchy, political decay, political economy, political institutions, political legitimacy, political power, political theory, post-war order, propaganda, public consent, ruling class, social democracy, State power, Strategic Competition, structural inequality, transnational capital, warfare state, welfare state, Western decline -
Oil Infrastructure Warfare, Energy Attrition, And The Struggle For Global Primacy
Energy Systems as Strategic Targets in the Transition from Unipolar Control to Multipolar Contestation The core claim of this article is that the current ruling transnational oligarchy and supranational interests seek to maintain their grip over primacy and hegemony, preventing the fragmentation of the unipolar rules-based order into multipolarity led by emerging blocs. Control of… Continue reading
AI and Digital Control, America, China, economics, Energy, EUROPE, Financial markets, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, iran, israel, middle east, Mineral Resources, NATO, politics, reserve currency, Russia, satellites, warcritical infrastructure, Drone Warfare, economic warfare., energy attrition, energy security, financial systems, Geopolitics, global primacy, global trade, industrial warfare, Iran energy infrastructure, maritime chokepoints, Middle East conflict, multipolarity, oil infrastructure warfare, petrodollar, refineries, Russia Ukraine War, sanctions, Strategic Competition, supply chains, unipolar order -
When Terms Are Rejected and Wars Cannot Be Won
Why Iran Will Not Bargain, Ukraine Cannot Prevail and Brazil’s Rupture with the System A decisive structural rupture now governs the international system, where coercive diplomacy has lost credibility and military-economic escalation has become the primary language of state interaction. Iran’s refusal to attend ceasefire talks does not represent obstinacy but rather a rational rejection… Continue reading
AI and Digital Control, America, Financial markets, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Global Finance, iran, israel, middle east, Mineral Resources, NATO, politics, reserve currency, Russia, warattrition warfare, bab el mandeb, Brazil foreign policy, deterrence, energy security, Game Theory, Geopolitics, global energy markets, global governance crisis, global trade disruption, hezbollah, information warfare, international relations theory, Iran US relations, Israel Lebanon conflict, Lula da Silva, maritime chokepoints, Middle East conflict, military industrial complex, multipolar world order, political economy, proxy wars, sanctions economy, Strait of Hormuz, Strategic Competition, Ukraine-Russia war, UN Security Council, Western foreign policy -
The Strain Between What Was and What Is Becoming
On the Fragmentation of Globalisation into Competing Systems of Power Post-1945 international economic order did not emerge as neutral design but as structured dominance disguised as institutional consensus. The International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade formalised trade liberalisation and capital mobility under United States leadership, yet their deeper function… Continue reading
AI and Digital Control, America, China, economics, Energy, EUROPE, Financial markets, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Global Finance, iran, israel, middle east, Mineral Resources, NATO, politics, reserve currency, Russia, warasset managers, banks, CBDC, central banks, China, commodity markets, crypto, deglobalisation, digital finance, dollar system, Economic Security, energy control, financial system, fragmentation, Geopolitics, globalisation, gold flows, international order, iran, military power, monetary order, oil trade, power systems, Russia, sanctions, State power, Strategic Competition, supply chains, technocracy, trade networks -
A War on Iran, A Strategy Against China
United States policy toward Iran reflects a broader strategy of energy control aimed at constraining China and maintaining systemic primacy The escalation of United States military and economic pressure against Iran must be understood within a broader strategic framework in which energy flows, maritime chokepoints, and financial systems intersect with long-term competition between major powers,… Continue reading
AI and Digital Control, America, China, economics, Energy, EUROPE, Financial markets, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Global Finance, iran, israel, middle east, Mineral Resources, NATO, politics, reserve currency, Russia, warBelt and Road Initiative, China containment, CPEC, de-dollarisation, economic warfare., energy geopolitics, energy security, financial systems, Geopolitics, global energy markets, global trade networks, great power rivalry, Iran conflict, maritime chokepoints, military strategy, multipolar world order, naval power, political economy, reserve currency, Russia-China relations, sanctions, Strait of Hormuz, Strategic Competition, supply chains, US foreign policy, US primacy -
Why Russia is Not Fighting Like Iran
Different objectives and different constraint hence Russia’s calibrated attrition contrasts with Iran’s cost-imposition strategy revealing competing paths to power Russia is no longer fighting for victory in Ukraine in the conventional sense; it is determining the scale and timing of an outcome it increasingly believes it can impose. What appears externally as operational restraint reflects… Continue reading
AI and Digital Control, America, China, economics, Energy, EUROPE, Financial markets, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, iran, israel, middle east, Mineral Resources, NATO, politics, reserve currency, Russia, South East Asia, warasymmetric warfare, China rise, cost imposition, deterrence, economic warfare., energy security, Geopolitics, global order, global power shift, international relations theory, Iran strategy, military strategy, multipolarity, political economy, proxy war, Russia Ukraine War, Strait of Hormuz, Strategic Competition, US foreign policy, war strategy
