Can We Hide From Geopolitics? And Can Geopolitics Hide From Us?

A little side note, this is still a part of the Thursday pieces on game theory, but I’m going to not include the numbered parts in the title. If somebody just sees a part 3 of something, chances are they aren’t going to read it. Plus the overarching topic is game theory, but each piece isn’t strongly connected to the others, so numbering parts doesn’t really make sense.

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Perfect vs Imperfect Information

Perfect information is when every player knows every other player’s previous moves. In geopolitics, this is often the case in the long term. But, in the short-term, just like with Nord Stream explosions, it can be unknown which player made a specific move, or you could know a player made a move, but not yet see that move reflected in the game because it hasn’t had an impact. The move hasn’t paid off yet, whether positively or negatively.

Evaluating strategic information is a key element of geopolitics. It’s the classic “they don’t know that we know what they know.” With this comes the power of information. Information can allow geopolitical players to be moves ahead of their rivals. In periods of tension where power is up for grabs, information can be priceless.

So imperfect information describes where a player doesn’t know what move has been made by a country. For example, the Manhattan Project designed the nuclear bombs that the United States dropped on Japan in World War Two.

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Information Control, Manipulation, Misinformation, and Propaganda

Limiting access to information for some players or covering up information that wouldn’t paint you in a good light are uses of information in geopolitics. It maintains imperfect information from any rival point of view regarding what you are up to.