The Power of Geography: Ten Maps that Reveal the Future of Our World – the sequel to Prisoners of Geography

by Tim Marshall

Iran holds the world’s fourth-largest reserves of oil and second-largest of gas, it should be a rich country;

An example was the surreal incident in late 2017 when Lebanon’s then prime minister, Saad al-Hariri, ‘chose’ to announce his resignation during a visit to Riyadh. He thought he was going on a camping trip with MBS, only to find himself separated from his bodyguards, relieved of his phone, shoved into a room by security officials and handed his resignation speech. When he appeared on television to read it out he appeared to blame Hezbollah and Iran for his decision, at which point the clumsy machinations of the crown prince became apparent.

Unlike the USA, China does not take an interest in promoting human rights in countries it does business with.

The French have thousands of expats in the Sahel states, including Niger, home to the uranium mines which help fuel the French nuclear industry and keep the lights on in French houses.

Education would help to reduce the rate but it is expensive, and boys are often prioritized over girls. Across the region many women have little or no access to contraception and most are subjected to genital mutilation.

The poorest region in the world is actually rich in terms of natural resources. There’s uranium, oil and phosphate in Niger, iron ore and copper in Mauritania, oil and uranium in Chad, and gold in Burkina Faso and Mali. In all there are concerns about governance, corruption, transparency with money, and the economic models of the industries.

There wasn’t much of a choice; as the old adage goes, there only two certainties in life, ‘death and taxes’.

Chinese Special Forces are involved in the UN peacekeeping operation in Mali, and Beijing, having persuaded Burkina Faso to end its recognition of Taiwan, is now developing military ties in Ouagadougou. In 2017 it opened its first foreign naval base – at Djibouti.

Some mathematicians even guess that there are more Earth-like planets than there are grains of sand on all of our beaches!