Matthew Bellamy reveals the song to be inspired by "a book called The Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew Brzezinski," explaining that "Brzezinski has the viewpoint that the Eurasian landmass, ie Europe, Asia and the Middle East, needs to be controlled by America to secure the oil supply." Bellamy goes on to suggest that the song is also influenced by George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, in which Eurasia is one of Earth's three super-states.