Latest update October 17th, 2026 10:25 AM
Latest News
- Feasibility, EIA studies must be done for all project funded by US EXIM Bank – Ambassador
- Mohamed, staff granted $750,000 bail each for firearm, obstruction charges
- EU rallies in support of Ukraine amid Trump standoff
- Subcontractor electrocuted by live GPL wire
- Rodrigues-Birkett pushes multilateralism as path to ending global conflict
Chewing gum
(Kaieteur News) – The first US objective was to batter Iran into submission. A rain of bombs from the skies, a groundswell of internal resistance from the streets of Teheran, and it would be just a matter of mopping up operations, all over. The Iranians have not played along, and what was projected to last a few weeks only has now extended to months. Instead of chewing gum, the US is now chewing on nails.
US involvement in the Middle East has not reached the state of a quagmire, but it is beginning to take the shape of one. Start out with bright hopes, expect the enemy to cave in, only for the opposite to occur. It is not Vietnam from over a half century ago, but it is not the successes of Desert Storm and Desert Shield. Not by the reports coming out of the ground. The Middle East has always been a place of old feuds, one with a tinderbox atmosphere, and where vengeance is a matter of honor. This is where the US entered with its technology and its allies, and now finds itself trapped, without the face-saving way of an honorable extrication available at this time.
In the meantime, the Houthis have entered the fray, and they are known proxies of the Iranians. Saudi Arabia is coming under intensifying fire, and Turkey and Pakistan have voiced their support for the Saudis. What started out as a textbook exercise, part of the war games’ scenarios developed by the Pentagon, has since been anything but a textbook exercise in military dominance. Different parts of this always combustible region are already dragged into a fight that they do not have much of a stomach for.
For its part, Iran has been struck by a long shower of hard blows. It has lost senior figures that inspired. It has cracked at the seams and reeled from its bombardments of punishments. But Iran has not broken. It has taken its licks, and sucked the US into a struggle that it prefers not to be a part of. In the beginning, the first objectives were military driven, with regime change, and a compliant Iran. More recently, the emphasis on the US side of the now drawn-out battle is on economic pressure. Squeeze the economy of Iran until it crumbles. The people cannot take it anymore, the resisters split apart and collapse. On their side, the stubborn Iranian regime has its own card up its sleeve.
The US midterm elections are now about three weeks away. To say that they are pivotal, can be a gamechanger, is as feeble as an understatement could get. Americans do not relish long foreign engagements, especially when inflation makes life so difficult for ordinary Americans. The truth of the matter is that they are locked in both, with no way out. Forty-five years ago, the Iranian mullahs timed their release of US hostages in such a way that Democrat Jimmy Carter lost the presidency to Republican Ronald Reagan. Though the masterminds of that action in walking a political tightrope have been killed by US bombs, the lesson has been well learned by the new Iranian regime. It could have another move of its own that goes in the opposite direction this time. Instead of Republicans coming out on top, the Democrats could be the winners.
The Houthis are the wildcard, and the concern is how much trouble they can initiate, and how much damage inflict, including psychological ones. A larger, still unanswered question, is how many other proxies do the Iranians have, and where are they located? The US had mapped out a small, neat, war. Iran’s preference has been for a tangled, untidy, one.
The fallout from this conflict is now felt by many countries across the globe. Higher oil prices translate to harsh economic pain on many peoples. Guyana’s oil has led to more earnings for its treasury. Despite more millions for Guyana, citizens continue to struggle, have difficulty coping. Making it in Guyana’s world beating economy is also equivalent to chewing nails. Higher oil prices have those ripple effects. Meanwhile, the US-Iran conflict languishes. The US is not chewing gum, it is chewing nails. So are Guyanese.
Share this:
Discover more from Kaieteur News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Similar Articles
Website Hits
Blunt of the day
Sports
Features/Columnists
Sir. Ronald Sanders
The GHK Lall Column
Weekend Cartoon
