Despite conflicts and power games one might follow on the news, the world economy is totally global. This also includes supplies coming from armed conflict or p

Despite conflicts and power games one might follow on the news, the world economy is totally global. This also includes supplies coming from armed conflict or politically volatile regions. If you completely disassemble your Detroit-branded car, you will be surprised how many countries supplied parts for it, from all across the world, including Europe, Japan, China, etc. This isn't advertised as much, but for some components, Japan is the world leader due to quality, despite the situation of their overall economy. Just like Germany supplies many components or instruments you won't read about on news sites. Fifty percent of the world's surgical equipment is manufactured in Tuttlingen (Germany). Over 400 medical supply companies are situated there. It's like the Shenzhen of medical tools in terms of concentration and market penetration. It's even more interesting in the context of what you wrote, if you look at where the rest of the surgical supplies come from. Therefore, given that you trust a car which consists of many components built outside the US, and your surgeon probably operates on you with tools made in Germany, everyone is already trusting the global economy and "evil countries" with their lives. Now, to answer your question about email providers, I'm with StavrosK here that using a Russian or Chinese service is safer if you're a European or US resident because of data access laws. The US govt is still fighting Microsoft to provide access under US laws to data stored in European data centers, now in revision after initial defeat. You should still encrypt or skip email for sensitive communication, but the ease with which the government that can imprison you can access your emails is proportionally more difficult the farther away from your region and its close allies you get. EDIT: My impression is that the global economy began in earnest with the great European resource grab (or robbery if you like) via sea shipping across the globe, and it only got more global with time and stayed mostly on sea.