Leaked Exchanges ‘Signal’ the Importance of The Red Sea

A waterway wedged between Africa and Asia is the preferred transit route for around 30% of global containerized trade. The Red Sea is critical to global trade. By using the short-cut through the Red Sea, shipping between Europe and Asia/Australia avoids the long detour around Africa. This makes it a geopolitically significant region, ripe for larger and richer countries to vie for influence in the region. No wonder foreign stakeholders are all vying for bases along the route. When a small group of very senior American defense, intelligence, and diplomatic officials mistakenly added a journalist to a classified discussion they…