Halford Mackinder’s 1904 paper “The Geographical Pivot of History” is relevent today.

Wiki: The Geographical Pivot of History

Mackinder proposed that control of the Eurasian “Heartland” (roughly the area from Eastern Europe through Central Asia and Siberia) gives a power the potential to dominate the world:

quote:

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Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland;
Who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island;
Who rules the World-Island commands the World.

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In Mackinder’s view, Eastern Europe is the “gateway” to the Heartland. Control over Ukraine, Poland, and the Black Sea region determines who can project power into Eurasia.

Mackinder’s theory was refined by Nicholas Spykman into the concept of the Rimland — the coastal regions surrounding the Heartland. He argued that controlling the Rimland (Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia) was key to containing the Heartland powers (Russia and later China).

Israel’s Role: Israel functions as a Rimland anchor for once British now U.S. influence in the Middle East — a land-based but sea-connected outpost ensuring Western dominance of the Eastern Mediterranean and near access to the Suez Canal and Persian Gulf.

By maintaining military dominance and British/U.S. alignment, Israel ensures that no unified Eurasian or Middle Eastern bloc can form that excludes the U.S. or its naval reach.

U.S. Strategy: Through Israel (and previously through Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Gulf alliances), the U.S. keeps a military foothold in the Rimland to prevent Heartland powers (Russia, China, Iran) from gaining uncontested access to the world’s key energy corridors.

If Eurasia and the Middle East unite economically, particularly under BRICS+, it represents exactly what Mackinder feared — the integration of the Heartland and Rimland into a single cooperative trading bloc, independent of maritime (Western) dominance.

What is the real existential threat to America? Its $37 Trillion in debt. If BRICS counties are a representation of the global heartland uniting and trading together avoiding the U.S. dollar, America with its $37 Trillion in debt is in potentially bad shape.

But the optimistic side of me sees this differently. America is full of natural resources. We are energy independent and we grow a shite ton of food. Our finances might be in terrible shape but our resources and form of government will prevail in the long run, IMO.