A FEW YEARS ago, a nation could focus its research, resource extraction, and manufacturing energies toward its strengths with the assurance that international supply chains would provide the balance of required goods. That world has gone, swept away by Covid-19, geopolitics, and changes in global supply chains.
Countries have also shown a willingness to withhold supplies of critical materials as a weapon of economic coercion, and an energy crisis is gripping much of the world because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In addition, there are recent attacks on Houthi forces in Iran, where there have been ongoing military operations and airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen.
The Houthis are a rebel group that controls large parts of Yemen,
