Anyone anywhere still wishing to see what World War III looks like, can simply switch-on and watch it anytime today — ‘Live & Direct’ – right now, on any TV, computer, telephone or other smart device.
And what’s on air is not just-another world war, but an unjust Holy War — between an Islamic State and a world power it considers The Great Satan.
The stakes are higher than steak.
The killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader (The Ayatollah) and the beheading of the Islamic State’s military, religious and political leadership is one thing.
But, executed in the middle of negotiations — and worse, during the Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan – this US-Israeli onslaught has significantly-changed the nature of Tehran’s response.
On the first day of the expected attack, close to 800 Iranians were officially reported as having been killed and 5,020 injured, with the first day alone costing Washington US $779 million.
Today, as Iran uses cheaper weapons, the war has cost the US billions.
It’s becoming increasingly evident that this war will not be as brief as the aggressors expected – and not one the US and Israel can say they’ve won, or will win easily.
Iran’s phased and coordinated response has dealt deadly damage to all US bases in nearby Gulf States, which are now are paying prices they wished they never had to, being simultaneously targeted and hit like sitting ducks.
But it’s not only the Middle East under fire, as the world’s economy is also at immediate stake – including the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and its Latin American neighbours.
The entire world is facing the usual consequences of any war, starting with the likely imported inflation in energy prices.
As with every US President facing re-election difficulties at home and with mid-term elections due in November, President Trump needs every deflection he can create – and he too has chosen to start a faraway war.
However, while Americans voted for candidate Trump’s anti-war platform., while talking ‘peace’ since taking office, the President’s been using bombs to display US ‘strength’.
Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia and Venezuela have all had bombs rain down on them, as well as on alleged ‘narco-terrorist’ fishing boats in Caribbean and Pacific waters, taking over 150 lives so-far.
Likewise, Israel and the US have thus-far bombed Gaza and the West Bank, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Qatar – and unleashed similar terror in the waters off Tunisia, Malta and Greece.
The January 3, 2026 US dawn rain on Venezuela and abduction of its President and First Lady emboldened the US President to launch yet-another naval blockade against Cuba, this time also threatening to punish any nation that dares send oil to Havana.
But, as it turns out, even while planning the final phases of the attack on Iran, President Trump was in advance-planning mode on Cuba, announcing he’d authorized oil taken from Venezuela by the US to now be made available to selected non-state Cuban suppliers.
Interception by Cuba’s border patrol of a group of armed Cubans from Florida who tried to enter with terrorist intent, added another layer of suspicion.
And then, after talks in St. Kitts and Nevis with a grandson of the late Cuban President Fidel Castro, came President Trump’s talk of ‘a peaceful takeover of Cuba…’
Never mind the President’s sweet talk, though, Americans have started dying in the Iran war, with both the President and the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff assuring there’ll be even-more coffins to come home draped in Stars and Stripes.
However, President and Commander-in-Chief Trump might just have bitten-off more than he can chew.
Whatever their early conclusions, no-one is ready to bet that Iran will be the walkover that President Trump and his advisors at the Department of War would have thought.
The Iranian response has been comprehensive and wide-ranging, simultaneously coordinated by waves of targeted strikes on almost every Gulf State hosting US missile launch sites.
The War on Iran’s global effect won’t exclude the wider Caribbean and Latin American Region.
Even with Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago and Venezuela as major players on the global energy stage today, there’s little the region can do but learn from the new lessons and adjust to the new times.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz (through which over 20% of the world’s oil flows), Qatar’s closure of its facilities exporting 20% of the world’s Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) and Saudi Arabia’s shutdown of its major oil exporting facility, together sent energy prices sky-high everywhere.
Governments unable to bear the costs of subsidizing the imported higher energy costs will expectedly pass-them-on to consumers – and only-then will most Caribbean citizens see and feel the direct connection between what’s happening faraway in the Middle East and their pockets.
CARICOM leaders have demonstrated they’re no-longer sitting and waiting to see how externally-generated changes in Caribbean politics will turn out and this also applies to preserving and protecting the region’s future energy supplies.
Trinidad & Tobago’s traditional dominance has considerably declined and been replaced by Guyana’s.
Together, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana and Venezuela sit on more oil and gas reserves than other competing regions.
The latest signs show Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago preparing to dance, while the US seems to be promising the latter better chances of sharing the jointly-owned Dragon field in the Gulf of Paria that separates the two oil-rich republics.
The high-stakes energy poker under way involves higher-stakes chips that continue to confuse those not watching closely-enough how-much regime change has affected global politics and governance since January 3.
The world is no-longer what it was in 2025 and Caribbean leaders today face the most-difficult challenges in the regional movement’s 50-year history, when the leader of the world’s richest nation, with the most-powerful army, has shown he’ll simply launch a war against any nation that dares to disagree with him.
That’s the dilemma facing the world today – and the Caribbean no-less!