Europe has a big problem: near-total dependence on China, Russia and the BRICS. For everything.

Europe has a big problem: near-total dependence on China, Russia and the BRICS. For everything.
The European Union relies on the BRICS economic bloc for nearly all the raw materials vital for modern life. Besides industrial and rare earth metals that are critical for the newest technologies, the EU is heavily dependent on Russia for energy, and -- strangely -- is buying record volumes from India to get around their own sanctions on oil from Russia.

The EU has recently enacted a comprehensive system of reforms, designed to reduce their dependency on natural resources economies, and source more of these critical materials in their home markets.

But Europe's problem is not lack of supply, but one of economics: everything costs too much, takes too long, and China and the other BRICS suppliers enjoy costs of production that are far below those of the EU. Companies in the emerging BRICS bloc can easily manage pricing in metals and energy markets to ensure that no new competitors can succeed in Europe.