In West Asia, the ruins of globalisation

Donald Trump's tenure has destroyed the defining principle of globalisation, which is not just about inter-dependence but also integration

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In a Trumpian age — and the world may behave in this manner even after he’s gone — there is no better protection than the power of your markets and military.

(AFP)

S President Donald Trump has lost control of the reckless war he began on Iran. As an Indian whose country has been at the receiving end of the Trump administration's unstable imperialism, I wish his Iran debacle could allow me some moments of schadenfreude. But alas, I can’t draw any satisfaction from America’s crazed military delusions because of the cataclysmic consequences for our economy, our energy security, and our geopolitical calculations.

You know the numbers by now. Nearly 10 million Indians who live in the Gulf countries have been pulled into conflict they did not plan for. Forty per cent of India’s crude imports travel through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway today controlled entirely by the Iranians. And America's so-called waiver on India’s purchase of Russian oil — for the record, India never stopped buying Russian oil as the White House routinely claims — won't insulate us from the pain of higher oil prices. This, in turn, will have a spiralling impact on the Indian economy.