Modern military begins underground

We've known all these substances for decades. The only thing that changed is that without them, the modern military, the defence industry, and the energy manufacture just halt working. In a planet where wars are won not only by tanks, but by supply chains, dolitium access, uncommon earth metals or tungsten becomes as crucial as the number of divisions. The problem is that their extraction and processing concentrated at respective delicate points of the globe, frequently outside Western control. And that's where the silent, raw-material competition for safety begins. It is little spectacular than parades, but much more decisive.