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Rule the waves, rule the world

Hand out photo dated May 30, 2020 of The Arleigh-burke class guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) conducts a replenishment at sea training evolution alongside the Nimitz class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76). Two US aircraft carriers have carried out drills in the South China Sea, a US Navy spokesman said Saturday, after the Pentagon expressed concerns over Chinese military exercises around a disputed archipelago. The USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan conducted dual carrier operations in the waterway to "support a free and open Indo-Pacific," the spokesman said. China's expanding military presence in the contested waters has worried several of its neighbours. U.S. Navy photo by Lt. j.g. Samuel Hardgrove via ABACAPRESS.COM

Oceans are at the center of global competition, climate, and trade. In his new book, “To Rule the Waves: How Control of the World’s Oceans Shapes the Fate of the Superpowers” (Scribner), Brookings Senior Fellow Bruce Jones takes readers on a fascinating voyage through this water world via the great ports, ships, geographies, and history of our ocean planet. On this episode of the Brookings Cafeteria, Jones shares highlights from the book, including his visits to one of the largest cargo ships in the world and a naval base in Norway over a hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Also on this episode, Senior Fellow David Wessel explains one unnoticed provision of the 2017 Trump tax bill, the Opportunity Zone, which was intended to encourage development in poor neighborhoods around the country but instead unleashed a tax break gold rush for economic and political elites. Listen to this segment also on SoundCloud.

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The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.