1. A Strategic Blind Spot Rare earth elements (REEs) are indispensable to 21st-century technologies — from smartphones and electric vehicles to jet engines and missile guidance systems. Yet, by the early 2000s, the United States, Europe, and other Western powers had surrendered nearly all refining capacity to China, leaving themselves dangerously dependent on a single supplier. This collapse was not a single event but the result of short-sighted policy, economic ideology,...

China’s dominance of rare-earth refining was not purely the product of Chinese action; it was also shaped by what other countries did — or didn’t do. Three broad Western failures (or strategic blind spots) mattered most: inadequate industrial policy and subsidies for refining, strict environmental regulation that made domestic refining uneconomical, and market decisions by private companies reacting rationally to those incentives. Together those forces hollowed out...

How State Subsidies and Environmental Policies Fueled China’s Rare Earth Dominance- 1. The Strategic Foundation: Government Vision, Not Market Accident China’s dominance in rare earths was engineered — not discovered by chance.Since the 1980s, the Chinese state recognized that rare earth elements (REEs) were strategic industrial assets, essential for future technologies such as: Defense systems Renewable energy Electronics Electric vehicles To...

China’s domination of more than 90% of global rare earth refining didn’t happen overnight — it was the result of a strategic, long-term national plan combining state support, industrial policy, and geopolitical foresight. Below is a detailed breakdown of how China achieved this near-monopoly: 1. Understanding the Rare Earth Context Rare earth elements (REEs) — a group of 17 metals including neodymium, dysprosium, and lanthanum — are essential for modern...

The 21st century’s race for technological supremacy is being fought not with tanks or missiles but with minerals buried beneath the earth’s crust — rare earth elements (REEs).  These 17 metallic elements, essential for everything from electric vehicles and smartphones to advanced defense systems, have become the backbone of the global industrial order. Yet, their production, refinement, and control are deeply political, shaping new alliances, reviving old...

As the inception of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has reached a critical milestone, it is time to take stock of where it has been and where it is going. Beginning in November 2020, US transportation fuel prices climbed rapidly, rising to levels not seen in almost a decade. On November 23, 2021, the Biden Administration announced the release of 50 million barrels (MBs) from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), aiming to signal policy-based relief. These announcements and actions...

An emerging oil glut will help augment the economic punch from President Trump’s new round of sanctions against Russia. Crude oil jumped over four percent on October 23 after the United States announced sweeping sanctions targeting Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil. The sanctions were a shift in US policy, where President Trump had previously said he would only sanction those two companies after European countries completely halted oil...

Central Asia’s “steppe children” are growing up and redefining world order in the twenty-first century. The era of global affairs focused exclusively on great powers is ending. Not with a single dramatic event, but through a steady, quiet redistribution of agency across the world. Nowhere is that shift more visible—or more surprising—than in Central Asia. For years, Central Asia (Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) was...

In property development and investment, timing becomes the decisive edge. Projects or purchases can succeed or fail when access to funding is delayed, this is one of the reasons why the credibility of a provider offering large bridging finance is often more important than the cost of the facility itself. Many players claim speed, but very few demonstrate the ability to move funds when urgency is not optional but necessary. Spotting the difference is not easy, yet it can be learned through...

For more than a century, Africa has been viewed primarily as a source of raw materials for the industrialized world. From gold and diamonds to oil and cobalt, the continent’s vast natural wealth has powered the prosperity of others while leaving its own economies underdeveloped. Today, as the world undergoes an energy and technological revolution driven by rare earth elements (REEs), critical minerals, and clean energy technologies, Africa stands once again at a crossroads —...

In the 21st century, the contest for dominance is no longer fought only through armies or oil fields — it is now being waged over rare earth elements (REEs), the invisible building blocks of every modern technology. From smartphones and wind turbines to electric vehicles and fighter jets, these 17 critical metals have become the currency of technological and geopolitical power. The world’s transition to clean energy, digital networks, and smart defense systems has turned...

For decades, the rare earth elements (REEs) that underpin the modern world — from smartphones and electric vehicles to fighter jets and satellites — have flowed through one country: China. While many nations discovered deposits, few invested in mastering the complex art of refining, separating, and manufacturing these materials into usable components. China did. What began in the late 1970s as a modest mining initiative evolved into one of the most strategically brilliant...