Derek Thompson

decapitated Iran's leadership.

But that bullet passed through the Iranian theocracy and hit the Gulf energy producers in the arm, ricocheted off and struck the Pacific islands in the foot, bounced up into Japan and ripped through their plastic manufacturing industry, and then swung around the world until it landed on an American gas station, turning the three in $3 gas into a four.

This is a war with very few winners.

But one of those winners might be China.

I'm Derek Thompson.

This is Plain English.

Alex Turnbull, welcome to the show.

Thank you very much, Derek.

Good to be on.

So if an American television viewer or a newspaper reader or podcast listener tunes into the Iran war, they're overwhelmingly likely to hear about the price of gas, the price of gas, the price of gas.

What they're very unlikely to hear about are the Pacific Islands.

And that's precisely why I want to begin with the Pacific Islands.

Alex, what's happening in the Pacific Islands?

And how severe is the diesel crisis in these islands today?

So if you're the American State Department or the Pentagon, why is this concerning?

So the idea is that the U.S.

wants a presence in the Pacific, a military presence in the Pacific, to protect its interests, in particular to protect Taiwan.

And we're going to get to Taiwan in just a second.

And one thing that makes a lot of sense is for the U.S.

to help out these Pacific islands so that they allow the U.S.