To fuel the countrys economy and military. [sachs] typically, American Foreign policy like British Imperial Foreign Policy before it, paid a tremendous amount of attention to securing oil for the economy. That includes who we have befriended, but it has also included us launching wars; stationing military bases; engaging in coups and orienting a massive amount of our Foreign Policy around oil. [mcnally] by world war one, oil was transitioning to becoming the lifeblood of modern civilization. If electricity is literally the circuitry, without which modern life is impossible, oil is the lifeblood. [jacobs] its both vital to our economy and its vital to our military. And that became true once we switched to an oil based military. [narrator] in recent years, the us Energy Revolution has shifted the geopolitical balance. [gordon] this is a new state of affairs. This was not happening a decade ago, but today 80 percent of the oil in america is sourced from north america; from the continent.
But the taliban has rebounded. As washington and nato pivot away from afghanistan, the ability of the government and Security Forces to maintain stability will be tested. Afghanistan, next on great decisions. [announcer] great decisions is produced by the Foreign Policy association, in association with thomson reuters. Funding for great decisions is provided by pricewaterhousecoopers llp. [narrator] afghanistan sits at the crossroads of the middle east, russia, and south asia. For centuries it has been a focal point of both trade and war. Afghans are very proud people, and because of our strategic location, we have been resisting the super powers. We have fought ghengis khan, tamerlane, alexander the great, the british, the soviet union. So really the idea of accepting the dominance of another country, is not in the gene of the afghans. Afghanistan has been referred to as the graveyard of empires because its a very rugged, dry generally, typography. Neither the russians, nor the britis
dramatic instrumental [narrator] great decisions is produced by the Foreign Policy association. In association with thomson reuters. Funding for great decisions is provided by pricewaterhousecoopers llp. [narrator] everywhere around us are signs of international trade. The basic idea of trade as economists have understood it now for two centuries is that trade expands the pie, it makes the economy more efficient, it directs resources to comparative advantages as economists say. But it also changes the income distribution. Weve come through this very long period in which the United States went from being a relatively closed economy to being quite an open one. And the result of that was a lot of competition for jobs, for wages, for export opportunities in sectors that really hadnt faced competition before. [narrator] advances in communication, technology, and transport have thrown open the door to trade like no other time in history. Globalization is history, history is globalization, no
Great decisions is produced by the Foreign Policy association in association with thomson reuters, funding for great decisions is provided by Price Waterhouse coopers llp. dramatic music [radio host] a short time ago, an american airplane dropped one bomb on hiroshima. That bomb has more power than 20,000 tons of tnt. [narrator] the seeds of Nuclear Proliferation were sown when the us attacked hiroshima and nagasaki at the end of world war ii. It was mkinds first exposure to a weapon that would forever alter the calculus of war. The introduction of then called atomic weapons in 1945 had a very Significant Impact on geopolitics. At the time, i think all leaders were aware that this was something qualitatively different, they werent sure what it meant. When one plane can inflict the same level of damage that it previously took thousands of planes and maybe multiple raids by thousands of planes to inflict, i think everyone realized things would be different. The ending of world war ii bro
The architect of those attacks, Osama Bin Laden, is dead, but the taliban has rebounded. As washington and nato pivot away from afghanistan, the ability of the government and Security Forces to maintain stability will be tested. Afghanistan, next on great decisions. [announcer] great decisions is produced by the Foreign Policy association, in association with thomson reuters. Funding for great decisions is provided by pricewaterhousecoopers llp. [narrator] afghanistan sits at the crossroads of the middle east, russia, and south asia. For centuries it has been a focal point of both trade and war. Afghans are very proud people, and because of our strategic location, we have been resisting the super powers. We have fought ghengis khan, tamerlane, alexander the great, the british, the soviet union. So really the idea of accepting the dominance of another country, is not in the gene of the afghans. Afghanistan has been referred to as the graveyard of empires because its a very rugged, dry g