Telluric means relating to the earth. Thalassocracy means a state of the ocean. Or a maritime empire. I take their overall point there to draw a parallel to

Telluric means relating to the earth. Thalassocracy means a state of the ocean. Or a maritime empire. I take their overall point there to draw a parallel to small states as islands, small spits of sand, connected by the thalassocracies, or oceans, of the US and USSR. In some sense, this is actually reality, especially under the US system of global economic hegemony via free trade (or some approximate, thereof).