PIRATES OF THE HORMUZ

Most of us recall the Disney movie series “Pirates of the Carribean” with Captain Jack Sparrow’s iconic role being played by Johnny Depp. That off course was a fictional account of the piracy prevalent in the high seas in the seventeenth-eighteenth centuries. While piracy on the seas has been romanticised and even glorified, it remains a nemesis of the sea farers since times immemorial. It was the Somalian pirates who posed a genuine threat for the ships near the Horn of Africa. Somalia as we all know is an anarchy and there is obviously no rule of law, so piracy is a way of life there. For Trump, it is business as usual, with no faith in the rules based world order, he is living his fantasy; now essaying the character of Sparrow himself. 

The  self styled ‘Guardian of Hormuz’, naturally demands his cut of 20% for guess what, ‘providing security to the ships transiting through’. In India we call it “hafta”, which literally means a calendar week, but is a euphemism for the money paid to the local goons for similar kind of security. Since it is in the high seas so it is outright piracy, oh slip of tongue ‘policing’. He better be warned the policing can always be undermined by “Chai-Pani”(bribe), where greasing the palms of the traffic policeman is far easier and cheaper than subjecting oneself to the penalties/tariffs. Since  his tariffs have been undone by the US Supreme Court, he had to find some other way to ‘Make America Great Again’ and what better way than to follow the age old pirates of the seas. It is Hormuz today, may be Malacca tomorrow, Panama in any case  has been more or less usurped by US in its true hegemonic ways. 

Shipping has traditionally been the major means of international trade since ages and keeping the seas safe for commercial maritime traffic even during times of conflict was a sine-qua-non. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS), 1982 clearly lays down “Freedom of navigation”, “Transit passage through international straits” and “Maritime jurisdiction rules” guaranteeing sea farers security and freedom to navigate. But real life Sparrow doesn’t like to believe in tying himself down to any tethers whatsoever. In the bargain, making some moolah, obviously isn’t a bad choice. He may soon earn himself the new moniker of Mr 20%, like Mr Zardari of Pakistan, who was known as Mr 10%  for demanding his cut of 10% on all govt contracts awarded, when he was the President there. 

Imagine the turmoil in international trade and commerce, with this energy crisis, global economy will be literally in the doldrums. As hopes of a resolution to this US-Iran  crisis are belied, so is it the ‘new normal’ then? China ignored the US diktats the last time around too, and is likely to do the same even now. India will avoid a direct confrontation with the US, as it still does not have the heft to challenge it. Will there be a worldwide  hue and cry, unlikely, economies of smaller countries will be in peril, if this state continues for long. Alternate sources of energy will have to be found to overcome this crisis. But the moot question then is, with UN as good as dead, are we witnessing the 20th century pre-Second World War geo-strategic scenario? It was League of Nations which succumbed then, it is the UN which is probably writing its own epitaph now. Law of the jungle prevails globally. Are we then really headed towards a declared World War III? Highly unlikely, as there are no clear cut allies and adversaries in this interconnected world of today.

Trump in his quest to follow the screen persona of Captain Jack Sparrow probably should recall, what Spiderman said, “With great power comes great responsibility”. It is high time, the global powers bury the hatchet and reign in this bull in the china shop. He is out to wreck everything as it stood prior to his second inning.