Derek Thompson

By some measures, this Iran war is already the largest sudden disruption of oil supply in modern history, and the aftershocks of its closure are truly global.

Governments around the world are telling their citizens to use less.

In Australia, the prime minister gave a rare national address to ask his citizens to stay out of their cars.

Please, he said, take public transit, bikes, trains.

In Europe, the EU's energy commissioner called on governments to encourage remote work and cut highway speed limits.

In Thailand, the prime minister wore short sleeves to work and asked others to do the same to avoid using air conditioning.

In Egypt, shopping hours have been cut to five days a week.

In the Philippines, civil servants were asked to stop using the elevator.

In Sri Lanka, Wednesday is now a public holiday.

In Laos, the school week is now three days.

Each one of these measures is at bottom the same measure.

Use less because there is less to use.

Demand is being destroyed.

And those are just the first-order consequences.

As the 1970s taught us, energy crises are notable not only for their effects, but for the effects of their effects.

Today's show is all about trying to understand these second-order consequences, which are now billowing throughout the world.

Today's guest is the financial analyst and writer Alex Turnbull.

We talk about how the Iran war is already remaking the planet.

And in particular, we talk about how this war is reshaping America's showdown with its number one geopolitical adversary.

One way to see this war is that the U.S.