Sovereignty isn't about isolation. It's about optionality.

A country that can feed itself but chooses to import doesn't lose sovereignty. A country that MUST import because it destroyed domestic production does.

A country that can manufacture but prefers to outsource maintains leverage. A country that hollowed out its industrial base and now depends on adversarial supply chains is vulnerable.

The risk isn't trade. The risk is irreversible dependency.

You see this in energy, semiconductors, rare earths, pharmaceuticals. When production capacity leaves and doesn't come back, the optionality is gone. You're not choosing—you're captive.

The trade-off is real. Efficiency vs. resilience. Lowest cost vs. strategic autonomy. There's no free lunch. But pretending the trade-off doesn't exist leads to outcomes like Europe's energy crisis or US generic drug shortages.

Real sovereignty is maintaining the CAPACITY to act independently, even if you choose not to most of the time. Once the capacity is gone, the choice is gone. And rebuilding it takes decades, not months.

Where do you see this pattern playing out next?