Brandon Zatt

In 2002, I was a young journalist in Shanghai. Most foreign correspondents couldn't speak Chinese.

They had favorite noodle shops – but couldn't talk to a taxi driver about fuel prices.

That's when I realized the West's narrative was broken. A thread ↓

The Petrodollar system was built for extraction, control, to trap nations in dollar-denominated obligations.

For decades, it was the only game in town.

That's changing.

China is building an alternative. Not as a response but as an architecture.

Here's what's being built.🧵

Strait of Hormuz: 20M bpd → 9M bpd.
Bab el-Mandeb: shipping down >50%.
Middle East → China energy: 52% → 30%.
The US planned this. The NSS was a blueprint.
Read the full analysis: substack.com/home/post/p-21…

#TheGreatConvergence #Hormuz #Energy

Ceuta is not just a news story. It's a microcosm.

The fences are the old order's last stand. The migrants are the new order's first wave.

2 of the top 5 maritime chokepoints are contested. Two more are in play.

Issue #018 is live: substack.com/home/post/p-21…

#TheGreatConvergence

I wrote a piece about an old Chinese parable, war, and the quiet exodus of capital from West Asia to Hong Kong.

I submitted it to a financial site. No reply. So I'm sharing it with you guys first.

Read "The Horses Come Home" – link in bio. 🐎

Direction. Magnitude. Amplitude.