In the long and uneasy relationship between geopolitical instability and the global economy, Monday brought another chapter: a drone strike on Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline forced a closure that now threatens roughly 4 percent of the world's oil supply, sending Brent crude past $107 a barrel for the first time since July. The attack is part of a broader intensification of conflict in the Gulf — Houthi strikes, Iranian naval aggression — where the line between regional war and global economic consequence has always been thin. Rising crude prices are now feeding directly into inflation fears