00:00Geography has always shaped the patterns of conflict.
00:02Even the world's strongest leaders can't escape it.
00:05Russia's size has always given it immense reserves of strength and stamina.
00:09But Russia's open terrain has often made it an invasion path for hostile powers.
00:14The insecurity that creates tempts Russia to go on the offensive as its best defense.
00:19Vladimir Putin is only the latest Russian leader to equate expansion with security.
00:24Joseph Stalin's effort to destroy a Ukrainian national identity in the 1930s has echoes in Putin's war against that country today.
00:31Xi Jinping's ambitions in foreign policy are rooted in China's amphibious geography.
00:36When China is weak and divided, its geography exposes it to threats on land and at sea.
00:42When China is strong and united, however, it can expand in two directions at the same time.
00:47Chinese coercion of Taiwan is part of a larger effort to establish a sphere of influence in East Asia
00:53and to rupture the first island chain, the line of features that separates China from the open Pacific.
00:58America is geographically blessed like no other great power.
01:01It has oceans protecting it on either side.
01:04It dominates the Western Hemisphere.
01:06Those characteristics have allowed the United States to shape the world and anchor alliances in faraway regions.
01:12But they also give the United States the option of turning away and reverting to isolationism.
01:17Trump embodies America's longstanding ambivalence about foreign policy.
01:20He uses America's strengths aggressively on the global stage.
01:23At the same time, he often questions why the United States has an interest in stabilizing regions like Europe and Asia, thousands of miles away.
01:31Geography doesn't determine everything, but it helps us know our strengths and those of our enemies.
01:35And that's especially important as we enter a more volatile era.
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