I have seen nations boast of power and I have seen individuals boast of knowledge. There’s nothing wrong with that. In normal times, what you know may put you in a position of strength but in abnormal times, what you don’t know may spell your defeat faster than all that you know. Let that sink.
The world has travelled this route many times before. Hence, we cannot call it the road less travelled. The ongoing w@r in the Middle East is not new to history, when super powers flaunt their powers based on the strength of their knowledge of the gladiators, forgetting that nostalgia is not a strategy.
In recent history, Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, expecting a sting operation-like strike that would see Ukraine crumbling in a few days or weeks. It’s been four years but Ukraine has held Russia down to the consternation of pundits. Russia assumed she had sufficient knowledge of Ukraine’s strength less than she actually had.
The ongoing w@r between the US/Israel and Iran is a w@r of ego. The purpose is ill-defined, the strategy is ill-conceived. The initiator apparently had insufficient knowledge of the expected response from Iran. This has kept tongues wagging, suggesting that America mistook nostalgia as a strategy to fight a w@r that is now shaking the fabric of the world’s sociopolitical economy.
“Might is right” has never been right. Not even now that the world has become so interconnected and interdependent would any super power ride roughshod on an assumed underdog and expect a smooth-sailing victory. Military might is a show of strength but no longer sufficient to prosecute geopolitical w@rs in the 21st century.
It started like a show of strength between the United States, Israel and Iran but the world faces an energy crisis from America to Asia, to Europe, to Africa and the Miiddle East as Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz from where substantial energy flows to the rest of the world. For how long can Iran stifle the rest of the world to avoid a conflagration? May reason prevail.
As it is with international geopolitics, so it is with national and local politics, even with individuals. To think you are in charge based on the strength of your knowledge has proven inadequate. If you score nine out of ten in a normal examination, it is excellent but in an abnormal situation like w@r times, lack of knowledge in one out of ten could mean a fatal failure.
As I look across the seashore, I imagine how a single indiscretion by one or two can trigger an economic crisis across the globe as energy ceases to flow from the Strait of Hormuz. It reminds me of how deceptive nostalgia could be. Nostalgia can feed your ego, it can boost your confidence and nurture your fantasy but nostalgia is not a strategy.
©️ Akin Oluwadare Jnr
16 March 2026
