First myth is that expensive weapons will always win no matter what happens has now been torn to pieces by Iran, a precedent that China will undoubtedly take good note. Iran has proven that cheap drones and missiles can also do a good job against top end weaponry. One interceptor cost five times or more to take down one cheap Iranian drone. And it is honestly highly optimistic to suggest that only one interceptor will be fired to take down one incoming drone. For the same price, Iran can fire five or more drones, which will in turn specify that the USA needs to fire five interceptors to take them down. Calculate the math.
Second myth is that aircraft carriers will always be used to project power has been proven and obsolete idea by Iran using cheap hypersonic missiles and drones, so much so that aircraft carriers have now turned into sitting ducks, having to stay far offshore carrying fighter jets that are now unable to take advantage of close to shore take off and return. In other words, the projection of power advantage delegated to aircraft carriers is no longer achievable and could be lost for good. More so, when the reach of hypersonic drones and missiles keep increasing. The USA was reported to have predicted that Iranian hypersonic missiles were not capable of going for targets more than two thousand kilometers away. The shock came when Iran showed its threat by firing two missiles at Diego Garcia, four thousand kilometers away. So much for the much-touted USA intelligence.
The third myth being broken to pieces is that blockading the Straits of Hormuz is going to strangle China over Persian Gulf oil. Iranian oil can still enter China by rail, still paid in Yuan, while Russia has assured China of taking up the slack. Meanwhile China is going all out by leveraging on renewable energy and building Thorium nuclear plants to provide unlimited nuclear energy on top of hydropower, wind and solar energy. Oil imports will slowly not figure most prominently in China's manufacturing sector in time to come. So, what will become of those choke points that can no longer be instrumental in choking China? Who else is the USA going to choke.
Many countries are also migrating to renewable energy in the face of the Middle East turmoil. For example, Pakistan has already been following the Chinese by harvesting hydropower with huge dams and solar farms. More countries will realize that depending on oil alone is disastrous as global oil reserves are limited and turning to renewables is the answer for the future.
Now, here again one country is going to laugh all the way to the bank. Chinese wind turbines, solar panels, EVs and even Thorium nuclear power plants for export are planned, all of which China is already dominating globally and will be sought after in years to come. Which other country has the capacity to supply all the equipment demanded at scale?
All the showboating about the USA having so much oil is perhaps just a short-term feel-good moment, when the rest of the world start migrating to renewables, while Trump keeps demonizing wind turbines for killing birds and Chinese solar panels spying on citizens and all the hubris. Oh, maybe Trump will threaten them with high tariffs if they turn to clean energy, lol.
USA still needs to import 30 to 35% of its oil needs. The USA cannot use all the oil that it produces as its own refineries are not built to process those lighter crude. The lighter crude may be sold to refineries outside USA that are able to process them elsewhere. So, what affects most countries around the world, also does affect the USA as well if the Strait of Hormuz remain closed. The fact that USA pump prices are now reaching for unscalable heights shows the reality of what I am saying. So much oil and yet cannot keep pump prices down does prove a thing or two.
Anonymous
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As most of the old obsolete myths fall, a new era will rise. The world will look at the USA in a different light.
The world had already been looking for alternatives to the US$ hegemony after seeing the evil designs that had arisen through the weaponization of the US$. That weaponization move, I think, kills all the appetite of continuing to worship the US$ hegemony. But for decades, the world could do nothing about it, as everything is still stuck in the deep-seated reliance on the US$ for the purchase of oil.
No one could come up with a viable alternative - not even Saddam Hussein who tried and wanted to do oil in Euros and had to be destroyed for floating a provocative idea in the minds of the USA. No country was strong enough to undertake another attempt to confront the US$ hegemony, and Saddam Hussein was to be the 'chicken killed to teach the monkeys'. Not until BRICS came quietly into the picture. Touted just an irritant and brushed aside.
BRICS was created to provide a viable alternative to the US$ hegemonic system. It was never meant to be an overnight mission to create a system that can rival the long-standing US$ hegemony, but one that does enough just by chipping away at the US$ foundation. Several global currencies were designated global reserve currencies before the US$, so do not assume that any change of status cannot come forth going forward.
The importance of oil catapulted the US$ to its prime, but that presumption could always change with renewables becoming mainstream and overtaking oil. Does that answer the question why Trump had always been against renewables undermining oil? Trump does not subscribe to climate change. His only preoccupation is 'drill baby drill'.
Trump can have all the oil for himself in time to come, just like having all the unprocessed rare earth dirt that he boasted about. Does the possession of so much rare earth dirt make any difference without to logistics to turn them into useful elements?
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