The Critical Minerals Race (ft. CSIS Expert Gracelin Baskaran), Poland’s Defense Surge, and Hungary After Orbán

2026-06-11

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The minerals inside your phone, your car, and U.S. fighter jets almost all pass through one country: China. Dr. Gracelin Baskaran, founding director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at CSIS, joins Sir Richard Dearlove and Rosanna Lockwood to explain how China built a stranglehold on rare earth production, and what it will actually take to break it. Critical Minerals are this century's defining supply chain vulnerability: it's a demand problem, a democracy problem, and, for the West, a race against a country that isn’t swayed by e...

The minerals inside your phone, your car, and U.S. fighter jets almost all pass through one country: China.

Dr. Gracelin Baskaran, founding director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at CSIS, joins Sir Richard Dearlove and Rosanna Lockwood to explain how China built a stranglehold on rare earth production, and what it will actually take to break it. Critical Minerals are this century's defining supply chain vulnerability: it's a demand problem, a democracy problem, and, for the West, a race against a country that isn’t swayed by elections.

Also: Israel's espionage escalation against US officials, Poland's rise as Europe's top defense power, and the fall of Orbán's Hungary.

In this episode:

(00:00) Intro: China's Rare Earth Minerals Takeover

(01:43) World Cup 2026 Preview

(03:50) Middle East Conflict Updates

(06:57) Israel Spying on US Officials?

(08:43) Bill Pulte Named Intelligence Director

(10:27) US APAC Strategy Shifts

(14:41) Poland Becomes Europe's Defense Power

(16:44) Hungary After Orbán's Fall

(19:57) China's Critical Minerals Chokehold

(27:12) Western Mining Supply Chain Crisis