Nature of the new Cold War
THE EDITOR, Madam:
AS I look at the new year and see the increased tension between the United States and Iran due to the US killing Qassem Soleimani, an Iranian general, on January 3 in Baghdad, it allowed me to decipher the nature of the new Cold War. US’s struggle with Iran is part of its fight to maintain global dominance.
There are two aspects of war – propaganda and operations. Most societal change fails because the ideology and ethics did not change. They win the operations but lost because the new values were not internalised.
The United States is using its usual tactics in a new situation. Both Russia and China have a much smaller debt-to-gross domestic product ratio than the US. Russia learnt from the first Cold War and now has more in reserve than it owes.
Many factors, including the US president being disliked internationally, make US warfare inept. The fact that Iraq, that was recently under US control, called for an expulsion of US troops shows the ineptitude of US propaganda or aspects of warfare, even if it has military superiority.
PAY ATTENTION
The lesson of the US-Vietnam war illustrated that to be victorious, a war must be seen as the right thing to do. This US attack in Iran fails by that metric.
The lesson for Jamaica is that US global leadership is being challenged, with many successes. Whether it’s its failure to get rid of Maduro in Venezuela, failure to win its trade war with China, or failure to win support for Jerusalem being the capital of Israel at the United Nations, US hegemony is uncertain.
We are historically, financially and politically linked to the US. It would be wise to pay attention to US’s downward trajectory and make strategic manoeuvres for Jamaica’s prosperity.
Revenge is almost sacred in the Middle Eastern culture, so the military conflict will continue.
BRIAN E. PLUMMER