Chokepoints

Edward Fishman, 2025

See how the dollar, chips and insurance became weapons, why sanctions on Iran, Russia and China worked only partly, and what makes economic pressure achieve a political goal.

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11 parts, about 27 minutes to read.

Why read it

Explains how the dollar, banks, chips and insurance became weapons in modern economic warfare
Helps you judge when sanctions work, when they fail and what they cost the side using them
Reconstructs the campaigns against Iran, Russia and China from inside the government teams that designed them

Who it is for

Readers who want to understand sanctions beyond the headlines
People in finance, trade or compliance whose work sanctions touch
Students of foreign policy and geopolitics

What the summary covers

Introduction: Power Hidden in Networks2 min
1. How the Dollar Became a Chokepoint3 min
2. Iran and the Financial Campaign3 min
3. Russia in 2014: The Allied Scalpel2 min
4. China and the Technology Chokepoint2 min
5. Deterrence Before the 2022 Invasion2 min
6. The Central Bank Surprise2 min
7. Oil, Insurance, and the Price Cap3 min
8. Economic Security and a Dividing World3 min
9. Strategy, Sacrifice, and Political Purpose3 min
Conclusion: The Impossible Trinity2 min

Recommended by

Paul KennedyHistorian and author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers
One of the most important books on economic warfare ever written.

About the author

Edward FishmanFormer US State Department official and adjunct professor at Columbia University
- Grew up in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
- BA in history from Yale, MPhil from Cambridge, MBA from Stanford
- Served at State, Defense and Treasury 2011 to 2017
- First Russia and Europe Lead in the State Department sanctions office after Crimea 2014
- Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff 2015 to 2017
- Now Senior Fellow and Director of the Greenberg Center for Geoeconomics at the Council on Foreign Relations