Lifetime member of the Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador and author of over 20 books
Canada. The United States dominated the world soon after the world war after, unseating the British Empire. Ever since, the US has ruled the world unchallenged.
It was once challenged by the then USSR, which it outfoxed, slayed, and became the sole world superpower. It created what we academically call Hegemonia Americana or American hegemony.
Considering how the US is grappling with the war in the Middle East, I can comfortably say that, if things aren’t straightened up peacefully and end the war, it marks the beginning of the end of its hegemony. That’s natural, though we blame everything on the current President, Donald Trump. Who voted him in?
Empires rise, dominate for a certain time, and fall like everything else. The US can’t escape this natural law. There were other powerful empires, which went under like the US will.
Some of these empires were the Qing dynasty, the Inca, the Aztec, the Maya, the Songhai, the Mongol, the Greek, the Roman, the Ottoman, the British, and many more. Where are they? They died simply because everything has a certain non-negotiable lifespan.
Like any global superpower, the US enjoyed many feats but also created many enemies within and outside its own orbit before the then USSR came in as a challenger. However, in the late 90s, the US outfoxed and demised the USSR, and remained as a sole superpower.
Recently, the US attacked Iran, which historians know as an empire slayer. Weak as it might seem, Iran is one of the continuous civilisations that slayed many of them. Using its geographic and strategic significance, Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz, which transports close to 20 percent of the world's energy.
After the US bombed and killed its leaders, Iran took out its trump card and blocked the Strait of Hormuz knowingly what the ramifications would be to the global economy.
Although the Strait of Hormuz is in Iran and Oman, it’s a lot to do with US hegemony and economic muscle. It’s a door through which oil and gas pass to the world. Is it true that the US doesn’t have anything to do with the US, which doesn’t depend on energy from the Middle East?
Firstly, the gas and oil from the Middle East are priced and traded in the US dollar, hence the petrodollar system. Secondly, the US makes billions of, or even trillions of dollars, by selling weapons to the oil-rich Gulf States. Thirdly, it makes more money by protecting the monarchies in the region. Fourthly, the US uses the power of its dollar, which also draws its power from being the only currency in which oil is priced and traded. Fifthly, the US prints and mints dollars at will.
We all know. The petrodollar agreement with Saudi Arabia, which was entered into in the 1970s, has expired without any renewal. This means the dominance of the dollar will soon come to an end. Should this happen, the US dominance too will.
Equally, the US has lost its important allies, the EU and NATO, which have opposed and flatly refused to participate in this war of choice. This costs the US its economic clout as a world powerhouse, which currently spends billions of dollars on war while its people are suffering.
Historically, when a great empire is involved in wars, it starts to crumble. This means that the US has to shoulder the war expenses. Unfortunately, the US didn’t learn a lesson from Afghanistan and Iraq. When it started the war, its misguided plan was that Iranians would rise against their government. Sensing what transpired in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, Iranians united and refused to do the US’s dirty laundry and destroy themselves.
In the beginning, it was like a walk to the park. After Iran became a hard nut to crack, the US asked its allies to crack it for it. The duo flatly refused to be drawn into the US’s war of choice. Thereof, Trump fired back, saying that the US didn’t need them since they’re a tiger paper.
Blockading the Strait of Hormuz adversely affects the global economy. Underscoring that, the US wanted the international community to address this mess, pretending that the US had nothing to do with this danger to the world.
Ironically, when Trump started this foolish war, he ignored those he’s now blaming and coercing to do his dirty laundry. They know who the first casualty is. Instead of facing it and abandoning the war, currently, Trump is hollering at the top of his lungs that Iran is a danger to the world. Again, who started this war of choice? Is it the victim or the perpetrator? Who truly is the very danger?
Typically, without gas flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, the American dollar will lose value just overnight. The world knows how the US benefits and depends on the Middle East oil after sabotaging and abandoning the gold standard, wherein nations depended on the amount of gold they had in their treasuries.
Let the US know. Shall the war go on, the biggest victims won’t be Iran but the US. Why? That’s because the gas price will swell globally, which isn’t a problem only for the US. Again, since gas prices are globally interconnected and depend on capitalistic conjectures, the US will become the first to suffer.
Should this happen, though it’s already started to happen, the Republicans will lose the midterm elections, which are due soon. We know Americans. They love their beloved cars; whenever gas prices surge, they’ll stop at nothing but to show Trump’s party the door.
Neither Trump nor Republicans like this to happen. Why? First of all, Trump doesn’t want to soil his political standing. Secondly, losing the election will destroy his daydream of either running for a third term or deciding on who should run his megalomaniac dreams, which they surely will.
In sum, the war with Iran is the beginning of the end of Hegemonia Americana.
