When Brent crude crosses $US127 and diesel reaches $FJ3.82 at the Fijian pump, the Strait of Hormuz is no longer a distant strategic concern — it is a domestic economic condition. Fiji imports every litre of its liquid fuel, carries a national debt approaching $FJ11.70 billion, and has no strategic petroleum reserve, no refining capacity, and no fiscal buffer large enough to absorb a sustained energy shock. The IMF calls it a close call for global recession. Fiji’s institutions must decide whether they are on the right side of that call. [....]