And the whole US hegemony largely rests on legitimacy. The US was able to dictate to countries because nobody wanted to test the US militarily or economically. Russia and China showed that you don’t need the US for trade, and that you don’t even have to use their financial system. Iran is showing that you can defeat the US on the ground and that they’re unable to protect their vassals. All the Gulf states are now seeing that they were just pawns all along. Their countries are burning, their source of income has been cut off, and the hegemon can’t do anything for them. That’s the legitimacy crisis the US faces now. Any country they try to convince to be part of their protectorate is going to look at what happened to the Gulf states and hedge their bets.
It’s a very long tradition of the US Navy sucking. If you want a good laugh look up the story of the US first battleship, the USS Massachusetts. It was useless before it even rolled off the line and succeeded in killing DOZENS of its own sailors and never seeing actual combat.
And the whole US hegemony largely rests on legitimacy. The US was able to dictate to countries because nobody wanted to test the US militarily or economically. Russia and China showed that you don’t need the US for trade, and that you don’t even have to use their financial system. Iran is showing that you can defeat the US on the ground and that they’re unable to protect their vassals. All the Gulf states are now seeing that they were just pawns all along. Their countries are burning, their source of income has been cut off, and the hegemon can’t do anything for them. That’s the legitimacy crisis the US faces now. Any country they try to convince to be part of their protectorate is going to look at what happened to the Gulf states and hedge their bets.
Also unable to protect their vessels.
Yup, we now see that the American blue water navy is impotent in terms of protecting shipping.
It’s a very long tradition of the US Navy sucking. If you want a good laugh look up the story of the US first battleship, the USS Massachusetts. It was useless before it even rolled off the line and succeeded in killing DOZENS of its own sailors and never seeing actual combat.