New SITREPThe Landlocked War

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Strategic analysis and situation reports on global security, defense, and international affairs. Geography explains power.

Strategic chokepoints

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Physical relief map of Iran showing the Zagros Mountains, Alborz range, Iranian Plateau, struck cities, and the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint
Map-led analysis

Middle East

The Fortress and the Strait

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Reference
Maps

Foundational layers that underpin all analysis

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World map showing median age by country, revealing the demographic divide between ageing and young societies
Global

Global Age Divide

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Global elevation map showing terrain as structural constraints on movement and power projection
Global

Global Terrain

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Maps

Regional analysis and current situations

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Map of the Sahel conflict: how the geography of landlocked Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger defeats every outside intervention, French or Russian.
West Africa

The Sahel's Geography Problem

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The Persian Gulf supplies the fertiliser that feeds half the world. This map shows which countries are most exposed — and the single chokepoint connecting them.
Global

The Strait of Hormuz: A Food Chokepoint

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Latest
SITREPs

Map-led situation reports on active regions

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West Africa

The Landlocked War

The Sahel juntas cannot win a war they cannot supply. Why the geography defeats Russia the same way it defeated France, and why this is going to land in Europe.

Global

The Strait of Hormuz: A Food Chokepoint

The West has treated the Strait of Hormuz as an energy problem. The fertiliser supply chain suggests the real exposure runs deeper.

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Essays

Long-form strategic commentary

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Global
History

The Wrong Century

Professor Westad's pre-1914 analogy is illuminating. It is pointing at the wrong historical moment.

Middle East
Strategy

Same Theater, Different Maps

Israel went to war with a map. America went with a grievance.

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The Brief

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Europe

The Suwalki Gap

NATO's most cited vulnerability sits inside an enclave Russia cannot reinforce by land.

Middle East
Strategy

The Oldest Lesson

The US campaign in Iran was supposed to clear the board before a strategic withdrawal. Four weeks in, Iran operationally controls the Strait of Hormuz and is earning more per barrel than before the bombs fell. A geography-first analysis of what went wrong and why the map was always going to win.