The struggle between the sea and the land is as old as the Earth itself.  Because of the Lunar pull and magnetism of the Earth, the oceans and the seas always advance and recede, but land stays essentially constant. Tides involve energy, land only constancy.

The struggle between the sea and the land was known in Antiquity. The best example was the struggle between Rome and Carthage; Rome was the tellurocratia (land supremacy) and Carthage, as thalassocratia (naval supremacy). Initially, Carthage had the advantage, but Rome destroyed Carthage in 145 BC, in the so-called Third Punic War.

In the post-Colombian World, when colonialism was in full swing, the first thallasocratic power was Portugal, followed by Spain, Holland, Britain. The latest and present thalassocratic power is the US. Russia was a tellurocratic power from its beginning over 1200 years ago with the Byzantine traditions of religion and Slavonic spirituality. China and India were and are essentially tellurocratic powers with strong naval traditions.

Since 1945, the chief thallasocratic power of the world has been the US. One characteristic aspect of thalassocratic power is that it must project itself and that is expensive. The US is projecting its power all over the world with over 700 military bases and numerous naval fleets headed by massive aircraft carriers, as they sail oceans and the seas. The military expenditures are huge but are being alleviated by the fact that the dollar is the Reserve and official currency of the world.  The rest of the world has to hold reserves of dollars for trade and commerce in the form of Treasury Bills at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. For the issuer of the Reserve Currency debt. it is not a serious problem because the pain is born by the holders of foreign dollar debt, again, as long as the dollar is official currency of the world.

The US has created many military blocks such as NATO and many special arrangements with many countries as a NATO partnership for peace programs. The three tellurocratic powers, China, Iran, and Russia stand more or less alone. The three countries mentioned are coalescing. The US wants to destroy Russia and Iran, ideally through fifth columnist methods; using NGOs,  if possible. Many NGOs are fully operational in China and Russia, but very few, if any, in Iran.

The chief characteristics of the tellurocratic powers are patience and endurance, while the policy of thalassocratic power is provocation and aggressiveness. Russia and China are staying within their historical borders while the US is building bases near the borders of these two countries and Iran with constant military maneuvers. Also, the US is enticing its allies to spend, at least, 2% of their GDP on defence to keep the armaments industry growing, an essential part of the economy.

Sir Halford Mackinder gave new significance to sea and land power. The dominant land mass Afro-Eurasia he called the World Island, while  the Western Hemisphere, Australia, New Zealand were the periphery to the World Island. The pivotal region of the World Island is the territory of the ex-USSR, essentially, the present Russia, for who ever controls the territory of the ex-USSR would control the World Island, and, according Mackinder, control the World.

In 1904, when Mackinder, a British geographer, published his theory of the World Island as the center of world power, Europe controlled the world. European empires were the centers of world power, culture, science, ideas, and were in possession of most of the world. All Western European empires were thalassocratic: the British, French, Dutch, Portuguese, while the Russian, Turkish, Austro-Hungarian were tellurocratic.  The German Empire wanted to be thalassocratic and tellurocratic, as it entered the naval race with the British the dominant thalassocratic power. The Japanese Empire and the US, because of their geography, like the British, and to lesser extent the French, were thalassocratic.

After 1945, the world was divided into two blocks, the Soviet and the US block. The Soviet Union was a tellurocratic power whose primary goal was defensive because of its geography and history. The US, primarily a thalassocratic, was an offensive power projecting and extending its power wherever it could. It was overthrowing regimes and installing puppets all over the world. The result was numerous wars that the US was and is involved in. After Russia molted its Soviet skin, the US achieved a hegemonic moment which lasted about ten years. During that period, Russia was plundered by the US and Russian-Jewish oligarchs. The death rate sky rocketed and the birth rate collapsed. During those ten years, the conditions became so bad that the existence of Russia was put into question and the only good thing that Boris Yeltsin did was to appoint Vladimir Putin the prime minister of Russia.

Vladimir Putin has resurrected Mother Russia. Under his leadership, Russia has grown much stronger and has become the leading tellurocratic power of the world, challenging the thalassocratic power of the US. The US has proclaimed Russia its number one enemy.

The two points of conflicts between Russia and the US are the Ukraine and Syria. The illegal coup engineered by the US in the Ukraine in February of 2014 by the forces of Euro-Maiden has destroyed the economy and the fabric of Ukraine. The neo-nazis that rule Ukraine with US help have no future. The West does not understand that Russian, Ukrainian and Byelorussian souls are the same and intertwined. A point will be reached when conditions in the Ukraine become so unbearable that the people rise up, destroy the Nazis, and join Russia.

The Syrian Arab Republic is a secular state and very independent, it would not buckle to US pressure, and it has close relations with Russia and Iran, and also does not recognize Israel. Hence, it must be destroyed. The Syrian War is causing a great refugee problem for Europe and this is fragmenting the Union. The US wants to destroy Syria for the sake of Israel and control of the Middle East. Iran is also opposed to the US, since the US and Israel want to destroy it.

Turkey has become an independent factor in the Syrian conflict. At times, it is against US interests, and sometimes is in concert with them. Since the coup of July 16th, there is very little criticism of Erdogan in the US media. The US wants to salvage its relationship with Turkey and prevent Turkey from leaving NATO. Losing Turkey means that the US would lose control of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. It remains to be seen which way Turkey goes.

Saudi Arabia is also entering a period of internal and external instability. The Yemeni war is not going well. The Shia population of the eastern region of the country where the oil fields are located are getting restless. Financially, the Saudis are suffering and a coup against the monarchy cannot be discounted.

In South East Asia, the US is confronting China, by supporting countries that are in conflict with China over territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Russia is supporting China in South China Sea, and China is supporting Syria in the Middle East.

It seems that the the tellurocratic nucleus of China, Iran, and Russia are attracting other countries of the world to their side. Trade routes are being developed all across Afro-Eurasia, led by China. The US, a thalassocratic power, is trying to counter that trend. It is enticing India to join the Wall of Enmity against China, Iran, and Russia. The US is using the Trans-Pacific Partnership {TPP}, and Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Policy {TTIP} to bind the Pacific nations of Latin America, South East Asia, Japan, and European Union irrevocably to its side and to ensure that the dollar remains the Reserve Currency of the world.

Whether Thalassocratia or Tellurocratia wins will also depend on economics as the world is entering a severe Economic Winter of extremely long duration. Only time will tell.