There are 372 days left in the presidency of Barack Obama. How much geopolitical instability will you see in that time? A lot, if the last 24 hours are any indication.
Just hours before the American president went up Pennsylvania Avenue to Capitol Hill to deliver the State of the Union address, Iranian military forces “detained” ten US Navy personnel off Farsi Island. Iranian authorities claim that two small US Navy craft encroached on Iranian territorial waters.
No shots were fired. Not yet. Here’s a disturbing thought: how long will it be before a commander on the ground – Iranian, Saudi, American or Russian – decides to escalate matters? Of course, there’s a chain of command and rules of engagement. But when you have so many sides in such close proximity and tensions running high, it’s a dangerous cocktail.
Tomorrow, more on banking, cash, the Bank of England, the Age of Man.
Category: Geopolitics