Maritime Choke Points
In his book "A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World," William Bernstein identifies a number of critical maritime 'choke points' that continue to influence the flow of global commerce. Please read Chapter 14 of his book (provided below) and address the following questions (copy and paste the questions below into a new document). Please note, you are welcome to consult additional sources in order to establish more fully informed answers.
Question #1: Bernstein identifies 6 quintessential maritime choke points (7 if you count the Turkish Straits as 2). Please complete the table below by either identifying the choke point or explaining what bodies of water the choke point connects.
|
Choke Point |
What does this choke point connect? |
|
Strait of Malacca |
Links the India Ocean and the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean |
|
Links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea |
|
|
Bab el Mandeb |
|
|
Turkish Straits (Bosporus and Dardanelles) |
|
|
Connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea |
|
|
Connects the Pacific Ocean with the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean |
Question #2: Why should Americans care about the Strait of Malacca?
Question #3: Please watch the following video and explain why the Strait of Hormuz is geo-politically strategic?
https://www.vox.com/videos/2019/8/22/20828858/us-iran-hormuz-oil-tanker (Links to an external site.)
Question #4: In his book Bernstein draws attention to the work of economist Paul Samuelson. Bernstein suggests that Samuelson cautions about the value of free trade, noting that the famous economist has posited that "entire nations could lose from free trade". What evidence does Bernstein and Samuelson provide that indicates that there is nothing really 'free' about free trade?
Discussion
Name
Institution
Discussion
Question #1: Bernstein identifies 6 quintessential maritime choke points (7 if you count the Turkish Straits as 2). Please complete the table below by either identifying the choke point or explaining what bodies of water the choke point connects.
Choke Point
What does this choke point connect?
Strait of Malacca
Links the India Ocean and the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean
Strait of Hormuz
Links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea
Bab el Mandeb
Links the Red Sea and the Gulf of Eden.
Turkish Straits (Bosporus and Dardanelles)
Forms a series of international passages that link the Aegean and Mediterranean seas and the Black Sea
Suez Canal
Connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea
Windward Passage
Connects the Pacific Ocean with the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean
Question #2: Why should Americans care about the Strait of Malacca?
The Strait of Malacca links the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the busiest in the world, with almost 100,000 vessels passing through it every year, and accounting for roughly a quarter of the world’s traded products. If the blockage was to be blocked, almost half of the world’s cargo ship fleets would ha...
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