The latest war engulfing the Middle East risks being portrayed as a local clash between rival states. In reality, what is happening can only be understood within the context of the crisis of the international order, constructed by the United States, and the difficult transition to a new global balance. --- For over forty years, US dominance has been based on a combination of military superiority, financial centrality, and control of global trade flows. Today, this model is showing clear signs of crisis. The rise of China and other Asian economies calls into question the United States' ability to maintain the centrality of the dollar and its financial market as the obligatory reference point of the global economy.
In this context, control of energy resources takes on a meaning that goes far beyond simple supply. The United States no longer needs Middle Eastern oil as it once did, but it continues to have an interest in controlling the energy flows on which its competitors and allies depend. The Venezuelan affair, the Ukrainian conflict, and the tension with Iran can be interpreted as different episodes in a global competition for control of energy infrastructure and trade routes.
Iran occupies a crucial position. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the main transit points for global oil trade. For this reason, the confrontation with Tehran takes on a significance that far transcends the regional dimension. Israel, a key US ally in the Eastern Mediterranean, is also pursuing its own strategic agenda aimed at consolidating its regional hegemony, ethnically cleansing Palestinian territories, and eliminating its main competitors in the area.
However, the project faces significant obstacles. The Iranian state apparatus has demonstrated a resilience beyond the expectations of many observers, and the threat of a restriction of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz would affect not only Asian economies but also numerous US allies.
The situation, however, must be seen within the context of an even more profound transformation. As Giovanni Arrighi observed in "Adam Smith in Beijing," China's rise challenges not only the distribution of global wealth but also the idea, entrenched in Western ruling classes, that the center of the world economy must necessarily coincide with the West. Behind America's resistance to the relative decline of its hegemony lie not only economic and strategic interests, but also a long tradition of cultural, political, and historically colonial superiority.
The current crisis is also intertwined with the ecological crisis and the material limits of growth. The integration of billions of people into the global market has generated a growing demand for energy, raw materials, and consumption. China invests heavily in renewable energy but continues to have enormous energy needs; the United States is focusing on digital infrastructure and data centers that require increasing quantities of energy and water. Competition for resources is destined to intensify.
In this scenario, an increasingly evident contradiction between capital and territory emerges. Global financial capital continues to use the United States as a privileged platform, but this no longer necessarily aligns with the long-term interests of American society. We are thus witnessing a progressive decoupling between the logic of financial accumulation and that of state power.
The war against Iran therefore appears not as a sign of the unchallenged strength of the American empire, but rather as a manifestation of its difficulties. The old power is no longer able to govern the system as it once was, while no new power yet possesses the capacity to build a stable order. The result is growing international instability.
It is clear to us that there are no fronts to support in this contest. There is nothing to be gained by choosing between US imperialism and that of the emerging powers, between Israeli nationalism and Iranian authoritarianism. Those who pay the price for this competition are always the people involved.
The instability sweeping the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia isn't born from the madness of a few leaders: it stems from the crisis of a world order no longer capable of guaranteeing the mechanisms of accumulation that have sustained it for decades. In this scenario, there are no just wars, nor progressive imperialisms. There are populations dragged into conflicts they didn't choose, and ruling classes seeking to unload the cost of their own crisis onto war. This is why libertarian internationalism isn't about choosing which power should prevail, but about building universal opposition to war, to the states, and to the economic system that produces it.
Stefano Capello
https://umanitanova.org/instabilita-internazionale-iran-israele-e-la-crisi-dellordine-americano/
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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