The most important country you’ve never heard about

breaking news because G's Hy Rebels they

could attack a commercial ship and could

bog the straight up for weeks if not

months there is a part of the world that

everyone is keeping an eye on right now

the joint military strikes were in

response to nearly two months of attacks

by the iran-backed houthi movement on

cargo ships in the Red Sea it is

becoming more and more important for the

global rivalries and tensions that are

heating up on our globe right now it is

this choke point in the Red

[Music]

Sea it's pretty small it's a few dozen

kilometers wide but through this little

choke point flows a lot of important

things the internet millions of barrels

of oil per day 30% of all Container

ships that connect Global

markets and this choke point is

surrounded by un stable situations

countries that are in Civil Wars Rebel

militias proxy wars unstable governments

failed States and pirates in recent

decades Pirates have hijacked thousands

of ships here extracting hundreds of

millions of dollars in ransoms a topic

we did a whole Deep dive on in another

video and lately as War has raged in the

Gaza Strip the fiercely anti-western

hooti rebels in Yemen have been firing

rockets at cargo ships traveling through

this water leading the US and UK to

strike back a ship attacked by Iran back

to the rebels last month sank in the Red

Sea the region is vital yet volatile all

at once and yet in the middle of all of

this is this one Beacon of stability a

little piece of land that is easy to

miss but that is more important than you

might think it is the country of jaib

[Music]

boti jibuti is this small arid country

right on the choke point and it is home

to the militaries of the United States

of several European powers of Japan

Japan's only foreign military base by

the way and right down the road from the

American base China's first Military

Base outside of its

[Music]

country katar has peacekeepers here the

United Arab Emirates ran the biggest

Port Eritrea seized some of its

territory recently and Ethiopia one of

the largest countries in Africa runs

almost all of its trade through Djibouti

Ethiopia's landlocked and this is their

like gateway to the world it's a lot

jibuti is a lot there's a lot going on

in jibuti which is why today we are

talking about this place I want to

explore why so many Powers want to be

here why everyone is converging on this

little tiny patch of land the size of

New Jersey and I want to ask if little

Djibouti one of the poorest countries in

the world can balance all these rival

Powers against each other without

falling victim to them you know 10 to

15% of global trade moves through the

Red Sea we will not hesitate to defend

lives and the free flow of

Commerce hey going to pause really quick

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today's video Let's dive back into the

story of jib

boti this little choke point is called

the Bob ALB or gate of Tears it used to

be nothing but a recipe for

shipwrecks it was known mostly for

strong winds unpredictable crosscurrents

and shallow reefs that made navigating

it dangerous and it wasn't very valuable

because if you go through it you just

end up in the Red Sea which was a dead

end for most of history that is until a

French company miraculously cut a canal

through this part of Egypt and changed

the world forever nearly having the time

that it would take for Europeans to get

to Asia where they were all racing each

other to conquer colonize and bring back

unfathomable wealth to their

[Music]

countries the Suz Canal was a massive

upgrade to this hunt for resources

was this video kind of an excuse for me

to buy these really old beautiful books

about the Suez Canal yes it was for

France this engineering Miracle called

the Suez Canal was their chance to beat

out their big rival the British Empire

who was clearly winning the race

dominating the routes to Asia before

Suez opened the canal was supposed to

change that so now you have a new front

in this race a Scramble for control over

this new route to Asia this windy little

choke point was no longer just the Gate

of Tears it was an important bit of

water one of the most important on Earth

at least for the empires they had to

keep an eye on

[Music]

it so the British take this little

Island right at the choke point they put

a lighthouse on

it they also take control of a port just

south of the choke point the Italians

then show up and purchase this bit of

Coastline from local Sultans eventually

taking over this whole stretch of Coast

called Eritrea and the French would

start fixating on this strip of sparsely

populated Coast right on the banks of

the choke point the land that would

become

jibuti The Sultans here told the French

that yes they could have a bit of this

newly strategic land in exchange for

protection the locals here knew what was

going on the great Empires were all

scrambling and racing and they were

going to use their Prime real estate to

get what they wanted to Leverage The

Situation smart and totally a theme

throughout this

[Music]

video so the French set up their colony

they call it K Fran de Somali or French

Somali land this choke point would

become a key base for projecting power

and refueling on their way to carve up

and plunder

Asia France would hold on to their

little Colonial invention for a long

time even as the world would decolonize

after World War II France held on to

this strategic Colony along the choke

point until eventually the locals rose

up there were protests they clashed with

the local authorities and it led to an

independence vote and in 1977 Djibouti

became a new

[Music]

country jibuti was independent but they

had a problem in the words of some New

York Times reporting from 1977 the tiny

new nation had no Army less than one

square mile of aable land and no

resources except for sand salt and

20,000 camels yeah not good so once

again they made a deal with France jib

boti wouldn't be France's anymore but

they would be allowed to retain a

military base in the country in exchange

for security and protection as well as

economic aid but this didn't change the

fact that jibuti had very little natural

resources or arable land their economy

fell into a crippling depression

eventually there was a civil war and it

wasn't looking good for Djibouti

djibouti's salvation would eventually

come when they realized that they should

hearken back to the old days and start

exploiting the thing that had made them

valuable all those years ago their

location let's go go go stop shoting

believe has crashed into the world TR

very Freedom came under attack a series

of deliberate and deadly terrorist Acts

3 months after 9/11 the United States

was about to come crashing into the

Middle East in a new way and they asked

jibuti if they could set up a base there

and jibou says yes suddenly after the

global war on terror America realizes

that it's one of the key locations it

matters to be there you had you know

alqaeda in Yemen you had alqaeda in even

Horn of Africa so they needed a base and

jibuti was one country which was willing

to offer them it would become America's

only permanent military base on the

continent of Africa and and it would be

a key jumping off point for George

Bush's war on terror and reminder that

it's now the 21st century things have

changed in the world and this little

choke point was becoming more valuable

again but for different reasons than the

old

days number one the world had become

addicted to fossil fuels oil and gas

which was the lifeblood of their

economies and most of that oil and gas

was coming from over here from the land

and Waters of the countries around this

Persian Gulf where it was then put on

ships and sent around the world a lot of

it heading west through this vital choke

point up the Red Sea into the Suez Canal

and onto Europe the world knew that

their energy was vulnerable because

Egypt in earlier decades had weaponized

the canal by closing it by blocking it

one time for 8 years inflicting

immediate pain on the countries that

rely on this constant flow of energy and

goods

[Music]

by the way semi side note this flow of

energy becomes even more important when

Europe almost entirely Cuts ties with

Russian natural gas after Russia invaded

Ukraine in 2022 so they have to get more

natural gas from this region Qatar was

not sad about that let's put it that way

anyway we're getting off topic Europe

needs this route to stay stable they

need these little dots to keep

flowing so that's one reason that the

choke point has become more vital than

ever the other reason is China

china Rose to become a manufacturing

superpower they make a lot of stuff and

they send it to the west and a lot of

that comes through this choke point and

all of this vital trade is happening in

a region that is full of unstable

governments rising anti-western militias

and Somali pirates making this route

precarious and dangerous and subject to

problems so jibuti has become this vital

place here at the choke point an

incredibly important strategic location

in a sea of turmoil okay but there's

more in addition to all of this global

economy importance there's also Regional

importance to Djibouti notice djibouti's

neighbor Ethiopia the second most

populous country in Africa and as you

can see one that is totally landlocked

it is not good to be a big country that

is landlocked because the water is where

we trade so jibuti is the gateway to E

Ethiopia's millions of people to trade

with the world 95% of Ethiopia's trade

passes through jibuti so jibuti this

colonial creation from France in the

1880s is now once again an incredibly

important place on the map it's become

once again a highly strategic

location and when there are highly

strategic locations superpowers start

moving in in 2011 Djibouti approved

Japan a passive IST sort of non-military

country to open a military base on jouti

their one and only foreign military

base then you have Italy who set up a

military base here in 2013 Spain and

Germany also have a military presence

here they are not permanently hosted

with a base they're actually hosted by

France and the soldiers live in these

hotels permanently okay that's not weird

at all but yeah as you can see the great

powers are back they're back in Djibouti

like the old days not to compete with

one another but to all band together to

police this vital choke point so that

the global economy that has brought

prosperity to all of us can stay stable

everything keeps flowing everyone is

happy and this solved a big problem for

Djibouti who again didn't have a big

industry or any kind of resource they

make a lot of money off of these leases

to foreign countries which has helped

build their economy and like the old

days when one side shows up the Rival

won't be far behind

China has agreed to set up a support

base in jibou so the Chinese base is

right here and they are going to be

watching us as we're watching them in

2016 jibuti announces that they've been

talking to China and that they've agreed

to give them land to open their own

military base which was built and opened

right down the road from the American

base in 2017 so China says they're there

because of pirates pirates have been

wreaking havoc in this area so they're

there to stabilize their economic

interests because of pirates but as we

discovered in our Deep dive on Pirates

by 2017 the pirate issue was basically

over there was almost no hijackings in

this region I me look at this graph oh

and the Chinese base has this big deep

Pier that is like large enough to handle

an aircraft carrier and nuclear

submarines so this isn't about Pirates

China also did the most China thing when

they moved in here which was instead of

just building a base they also came with

of these big ticket infrastructure

projects as like gifts to win the favor

of the locals we're talking Railway

pipeline Port all very expensive all

putting jibuti into a lot of debt to

China they're doing this all over Africa

which we talk about in another Deep dive

video we did on the topic mapping all of

China's giant infrastructure projects in

Africa and what that means and a lot of

shout outs to other videos today huh so

jibuti is now the only place on Earth

where the United States and China these

two Rivals have military bases right

next to each other and so far everyone's

been playing nice there's been no

Shenanigans other than both sides

accusing each other of spying on each

other constantly oh and there was the

lasers the US says that China was

pointing lasers into the eyes of Pilots

while they were taking off which like if

they really did that that's just like

why why would you do that like why did

you do that don't do that okay but jibou

doesn't let every country in Russia

wanted to have their own base in jibuti

and jouti said no it probably helped

that the American national security

adviser flew to Djibouti and told them

that the US would double how much

they're paying for their lease if

Djibouti didn't let Russia

in okay but what about the people jibuti

isn't just one big military base there's

almost a million people who live here

and their day today probably consists of

a lot of jet engine sounds for got to

talk to my old grad school Professor

David Vine who is an expert on us

military bases and how they affect the

locals so what we were talking about is

a foreign government foreign military

occupying large swas of land fenced off

and uh hosting large amounts of Weaponry

high-powered Weaponry of many many

kinds because these bases are so close

to like the big city there have been

accidents especially with drones the US

used to take off their drones and some

would fall and actually crash onto like

civilian infrastructure so they had to

open a separate air

[Music]

strip apart from occasionally running

over cows the soldiers mostly keep to

themselves US soldiers don't even go

into the city to like buy stuff all of

it is flown in creating a little slice

of America right in Djibouti like they

don't even drink the water from jouti

it's all flown

in and then there's the dictator well I

want to welcome president G and his

delegations here today the US base in

particular but also the French and

Chinese bases which are the largest of

of the collection are all helping to

prop up undemocratic regime that has you

know been accused of widespread human

rights abuses every time a foreign power

makes a deal with jibuti and pays them a

lot of money in exchange for them being

able to be there they basically validate

this terrible dictator who's been in

power for 25 years there's no real

elections Free Press freedom of speech

plenty of Human Rights abuses but on the

other side there's at least one way that

regular people in Djibouti benefit from

all of this fewer people go hungry today

than at the conclusion of the Civil War

and even though the economy is still

poor all of this foreign aid still does

support it is that worth it to them I

don't actually know and another version

of this video that I want to do someday

is to go there and talk to the people

and hear what their thoughts are about

the bases in jib and what that feels

like to live so close to all of these

foreign militaries for now we're talking

about the geography the history the

[Applause]

geopolitics okay speaking of geopolitics

there is another angle to this story

that is devilishly complicated to get

into and I'm not going to get into all

the juicy details you'll understand why

when I start talking about it it has to

do with the regional geopolitics the

rivalries and the concerns and the

issues of all of these countries that

are right next to Djibouti not just the

outside Powers I want to just give you a

little sampling of what this looks like

because it's pretty wild so you have all

these Gulf countries and some of them

are not totally on the same team but

almost all of them are thinking about

the future and they're realizing that

oil is not going to be a big part of

their future because oil is not going to

be a big part of any of our future

hopefully and they're realizing that

they're going to need to invest in the

Horn of Africa this region here which

they believe is probably going to be the

future of their food their future Bread

Basket so so hold that for a second and

then look at Ethiopia and Eritrea

Ethiopia as we mentioned uses Djibouti

as their gateway to the world they need

it to feed their millions of people all

of this geopolitics is also playing out

in jibuti this little country that has

to navigate everyone's interests so

here's a quick episode of this drama to

give you an idea of what it looks

like the United Arab Emirates UAE used

to be like best friends with jibuti it

was like one of their most important

Partners the UAE built and owned this

giant Port that basically runs

djibouti's entire economy but then the

UAE got really close to jibuti neighbor

and kind of enemy Eritrea this was very

worrisome because jibou doesn't want

Eritrea to become the new jibou they're

a mortal threat they don't want the UAE

to just shut down djibouti's like

strategic offering okay fast forward to

like 2017 the UAE with their close

friends Saudi Arabia are in a feud with

Qatar which also has a military presence

in Djibouti right up here on this border

now that Qatar and the UAE are fighting

with each other they turn to jibuti and

say Hey you are too close with the UAE

we're out of here Qatar takes their

soldiers out of this border area and

right away Eritrea takes some of this

land from Djibouti this may seem like

some petty border skirmishes but

remember where we are here this is the

vital choke point Bob ALB every inch of

land matters every little conflict could

be the spark that stops the global

economy and what this little flareup

shows us is how Djibouti finds itself in

the center of conflicts between other

countries that it kind of doesn't want

to be in the middle of but like has

found itself in the middle of because it

hosts all of their militaries but wait

there's more Djibouti is actually really

good at this they know how to play the

game and to play all these Powers off of

each other and we'll see what happens

next so they're kind of beholding to the

UAE UAE has way too much leverage over

them so finally it all comes to a head

and they kick the UAE out from this

really vital port and they give a

massive chunk of it to wait for it China

the new arrival to jib boti that no one

wants to mess with they now have the

port and jibuti is now on their side and

the UAE can't do anything about it

jibuti saved itself from one power by

pleasing a bigger power do you see how

this works do you see what game they're

playing here

[Music]

so that is why this tiny country in East

Africa is so important it's kind of the

definition of geopolitics politics

happening because of geography to

project legitimacy this choke point is

only going to become more important day

by day we're seeing it happen I mean

like right now as I'm filming this the

houie rebels are like potentially

cutting internet cables in this choke

point three crew members have been

killed in a the first death since houthi

Rebels began attacking shipping in the

Red Sea after months of bombing Merchant

ships to punish the West for supporting

the IDF war in Gaza I mean it's this

kind of threat that jibuti was set up to

handle that is why all these foreign

militaries are here and yet for me there

is a subtler threat that is emerging

here which you can see when you just

look at this map of

bases jibuti hosts rival countries

during a time when we are Transit iing

away from a rules-based order where all

the great Powers have an incentive to

work together under one system that is

dominated by the United States that

deeply benefits the United States and

its allies but that works because the

United States imposes and protects those

rules those rules are being challenged

and what is emerging is a system that is

Messier more disruptive to these

reliable rules that have kept everything

stable kept the United States on top and

unfortunately we know all too well what

happens when great Powers start

competing with each other more and more

over vital resources and vital

geographies in fact most of the history

of war is what happens when great powers

are competing with each other it's ugly

it's messy it's violent it provokes a

zero Su way of thinking competition

racing to secure and control and exploit

vital geographies like strategic choke

points that lead into the most important

Waterway on the planet as this rivalry

heats up jibuti role is going to become

more complex its government will

continue to do what it's done playing

the big Powers off each other exploiting

its great real estate to benefit itself

but I believe that there comes a point

in every escalating conflict where you

kind of have to choose sides I want

jouti to continue to embody the positive

some thinking that has kept the world

relatively stable these last 70 years

but it's definitely playing with a very

delicate Balancing Act and there's a

chance that it could stumble so as you

all know I will be keeping an eye on the

global order as well as jib boti to try

to see where this is going to see if the

great powers can continue to cooperate

and compete but cooperate or if we're

heading back into the old days where

competition threatens to rip the world

apart I don't think it's inevitable but

it's going to take effort to avoid

[Music]

it hey thanks for watching and thanks to

the New York Times for having the times

machine which is every one of their