NAURU AND THE DELAYED ARMAGEDDON ECHOES OF WORLD WAR BETWEEN LEAN COWS AND STRATEGIC ACTIONS Despite being lost in the Pacific Ocean, the islet of Micronesia (21 km² for 10,834 inhabitants, DMS coordinates: 0°31'38.24" N 166°56'12.21" E) holds strategic value. The Japanese, who invaded it during Operation RY during the Second World War, and the British, who in 1900 discovered its rich deposits of phosphates, which are very useful for producing meat and fertilizers, are well aware of this. Today, after a phase of prosperity that made its inhabitants among the richest and most obese in the world, the deposits of this microscopic Republic are almost completely exhausted. However, the government has preferred to rely on the fleeting benefits of an extractive industry that is destined to disappear. The Hubbert peak, the maximum extraction phase, is now just a distant memory, and even though phosphate is an inelastic good not susceptible to price fluctuations, a primary com...