Welcome to Home of the Brave. I'm Scott Carrier. The first thing I learn on my trip to the

Strait of Her Moves is that I won't be spending much time out of doors.

I land in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on the southeastern shore of the Persian Gulf,

and when I walk out of the airport, I'm hit by a wall of

heat and humidity that seems beyond possible for the planet. The app on my phone says the heat index is 123 degrees and it's just

after midnight. My glasses fog up and I feel dizzy. I order an Uber and he's close by but it's difficult to walk. My legs are heavy, I'm

dripping with sweat. Thank God the Uber is Alexis, a plush ice box slightly scented of mint,

with a pastune driver dressed as an English chauffeur.

My situation is obvious.

Outside, bad, inside good.

Outside is hostile terrain.

Inside is the course of empire.

The Lexis glides along a smooth illuminated freeway, elevated among other elevated

illuminated freeways, linking clusters of ornamental skyscrapers that look like neon earrings or a necklace

adorning the breast of the Persian Gulf.

Or think of the Persian Gulf as a bladder, 600 miles long, 200 miles wide, a bladder that fills

with oil.

The land surrounding the bladder holds 30% of the world's oil supply. Iran to the north, Kuwait and Iraq to the west, Bahrain, Qatar,

Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to the south.

The oil comes out of the ground and is piped to ships offshore.

And when they are full of oil, they exit the Gulf, the bladder, through a narrow urethra-like passageway called the Strait of Hormuz before

releasing into the Indian Ocean.

...