The author is a geostrategic analyst and freelance columnist on international affairs. ISTANBUL In the dying days of the telegraph, empires fought over copper cables in the same way navies once clashed over spice routes. In 2025, the prize is less tangible but no less strategic: the packet-switched arteries that carry our data, our dreams and, crucially, our leverage. Silicon Valley’s giants still own most of those arteries - and the rules that govern them. Unless the BRICS bloc (now swelled to