Trump’s Silly War!

 

Are we slipping into World War Three (WWIII)? After eight decades of relative, we are now in the throes of a four-year-old Ukrainian war and an escalating Israel-US-Iran conflict. 

In 1984, American historian Barbara Tuchman, famous for her analysis of WWI – “The Guns of August”, wrote “The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam” on how throughout history, governments pursued policies contrary to their own best interests, even though there are better alternatives. Governments make horrible mistakes when they are blinded by individual egos, excessive political shenanigans and lack of moral direction leading to outcomes that become catastrophic for everyone.

 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org

Having bitterly lost in Vietnam, bogged down in the ruinous Iraq war, estimated to cost US$2.9 trillion, why should Trump repeat forever wars when he was elected as a president who will bring home the troops? Trump can blame Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan or his predecessors but this Iranian war, which did not receive Congressional approval will be known either as Trump’s silly war or Trump’s dangerous war. 

Tuchman argued that folly thrives where few key advisers or experts have the moral courage to speak truth to power, because many succumb to personal ambition or fear of being outcast in an institutionalised groupthink.History never repeats itself unless we have not learned. And we are now sliding into a dangerous psychological phase of a looming nuclear WWIII. 

Barring how difficult it would be to negotiate peace after both sides have suffered seriously damaged infrastructure, including desalination plants, the only solution to a tenuous peace arrangement is the presence of a United Nations peace-keeping force that would inevitably include Russia, China, possibly India and Europe. No single power can again guarantee the strategic security arrangement in the region. 

America is fighting a war against a smaller enemy that it can afford less and less. The Pentagon has asked for another US$200bil to fight this war. The US Treasury Debt is already at a mind-boggling US$39 trillion, which according to monetarist Steve Hanke and Paul Walker (former comptroller of the currency) mean technical insolvency. If US off-balance sheet liabilities like unfunded pension liabilities are added to official off-balance sheet liabilities, “total federal obligations would now exceed US$136.2 trillion – roughly five times US annual gross domestic product.” 

The world marches to folly because there are no checks and balance back to rationality. The world’s institutions like the Security Council or the United Nations are all impotent or emasculated by Trump. There has to be a global, people movement to stop this march of evil!

 

Reference:

The folly of Trump’s war, Tan Sri Andrew Sheng, The Star, 04 Apr 2026