Wars, rumours of wars, and a game of oil and fire

THE questions on our minds these days are manifold.

- By Wijith DeChickera

The petroleum factor is the most powerful constraint in the game of oil being played. Motorists in Sri Lanka queuing up for fuel now... provided via the QR Code system

(Pic by Sameera Wiiesinghe)

They range from the practical to the philosophical. Where did the good years go? Will fuel stocks be sufficient, despite/because of the fuel quota? And is there a blessed end in sight to this wretched war that arguably heralds a desperate empire in decline?A US-Israeli war on Iran - or is it another game of oil and fire to choke China and Russia? — has a current strategic shape that holds out some hope in regard to the end of a conflict. Some have characterised the ongoing conflagration as verging on WWIII while others have downplayed it as business as usual: the pursuit of geopolitics by whatever means feasible for a superpower.

This round of a bout that’s been in the making since MAGA came to the fore Stateside began on 28 February 2026, when and since when coordinated US-Israeli strikes targeted Iranian leadership; military facilities; and sadly, shockingly, civilian targets.

While Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on Israeli and US bases, as well as strikes on Gulf infrastructure, the disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz brought other global players into the game.

This latter development halted tanker traffic through one of the world’s most strategic energy corridors, pushing the amplitude button in the Islamic Republic’s cause and dividing the world into sundry ‘us’ and ‘them’ camps: combatants and observers, consumers and suppliers, conspiracy theorists and the straight-laced, the moral right wing and maverick liberals, et al.