Resource Security Watch No. 62
Iran's water crisis and the Taliban;
Washington moves to secure critical mineral supply;
In Syria, a deepening food crisis;
All eyes on Ukraine's lithium sector;
Mining ambitions divide Pacific nations
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Publications
Resource Security Watch No. 61
Water treaty suspension escalates Kashmir conflict;
China's global mining surge;
Kabul's deepening water crisis;
Tehran heatwave sparks emergency closure;
China, EU clash over trade
Africa Political Monitor No. 55
DRC, M23 sign Qatar ceasefire;
Militants exploit Starlink in the Sahel;
Burkina Faso’s junta dissolves electoral commission;
U.S. suspends Sudan peace talks amid post-war power dispute;
Choppy diplomatic waters for Capetown
The Nine Gates of Power: China’s Passageways to the World Ocean
In December 2010, the Asahi Shimbun published a remarkable roadmap laying out the future trajectory of Chinese maritime expansion. In its analysis, the Shimbun outlined a geographically contingent thesis of Chinese geopolitical strategy—one on which the scholar Tetsuo Kotani elaborated further in a 2019 academic paper. Both publications argue that Chinese maritime access to the Pacific and Indian Oceans is effectively constrained through a series of islands and straits in the First Island Chain. These potential chokepoints constitute the “Nine Gates” through which Chinese maritime commerce and sea power must flow.
Syria’s Collapse: Strategic Implications for Iran
In December of 2024, the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus fell unexpectedly to opposition Islamist forces spearheaded by the rebel group Hayaat Tahrir al-Sham.