Dear Editor,

As I look at the news and see the increase tension between the United States and Iran due to the US killing of Qassem Soleimani, an Iranian general, on January 3, 2020, in Baghdad it allowed me to decipher the nature of the new cold war.

The US’s struggle with Iran is part of its struggle to maintain global dominance.

There are two aspects of war — propaganda and operations. Most societal change fail because the ideology and ethics did not change. They win the operations, but lose because the new values were not internalised.

The US is using its usual tactics in a new situation. Both Russia and China have a much smaller debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio than the US. Russia learnt from the first cold war and now have more in reserve than it owes.

Many factors, including the US president being disliked internationally, make US warfare ineffective. The fact that Iraq that was recently under US control, calls for expulsion of US troops shows the ineptitude of US propaganda and position, even if it has military superiority.

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 Iraq fails by that metric.

The lesson for Jamaica is that US global leadership is being challenged with many successes. Whether it is failure to get rid of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, failure to win its trade war with China, failure to win support for Jerusalem being the capital of Israel at the United Nations, US hegemony is uncertain.

Revenge is almost sacred in Middle Eastern culture, so the military conflict will continue.

We are historically, financially, and politically linked to the US. It would be wise to pay attention to the US’s downward trajectory and make strategic manoeuvres for Jamaica’s prosperity.

Brian E Plummer

brianplummer@yahoo.com