Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power

by Robert D. Kaplan

Forty percent of seaborne crude oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz at one end of the ocean, and 50 percent of the world’s merchant fleet capacity is hosted at the Strait of Malacca, at the other end, making the Indian Ocean the globe’s busiest and most important interstate.

“Whoever is lord of Malacca has his hands on the throat of Venice,”

Today, despite the jet and information age, 90 percent of global commerce and two thirds of all petroleum supplies travel by sea.

liquefied natural gas across the western half of the Indian Ocean from southern Africa,

This is how African poverty may be partially assuaged: less by Western foreign aid than by robust trade with the richer areas of the former third world.

It is access to the Indian Ocean that will help define future Central Asian politics,

Therefore, stabilizing Afghanistan is about much more than just the anti-terrorist war against al-Qaeda and the Taliban; it is about securing the future prosperity of the whole of southern Eurasia; as well as easing India and Pakistan toward peaceful coexistence through the sharing of energy routes.

frankincense (lubban in Arabic) was used to freshen family clothes, bless people, keep insects at bay, and treat many ills. Lumps of the resin were added to drinking water to invigorate the body, especially the kidneys; it was thought to kill disease by activating the immune