By Atilio Baron May 5, 2026 from Buenos Aires
The US Embassy in Havana. foto: Efe
Trump and his mediocre team of advisors never learn. The United States got bogged down in the Vietnam War and suffered a humiliating defeat. It then did the same in Iraq and Afghanistan, with identical results. The chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces stationed in Kabul is one of the most embarrassing chapters in U.S. military history. Now it is attacking Iran, indiscriminately bombing military and civilian targets, and threatening to send that country back to the “Stone Age.” But Tehran’s retaliation was devastating: it destroyed nearly all military installations in the Gulf petro-monarchies and closed the Strait of Hormuz, causing a sharp rise in oil prices and putting the global economy in check.
According to leaked information from U.S. CENTCOM, there were between 40,000 and 50,000 troops at those bases. But Western Asia, which, as the Bible reflects, is a land abundant in miracles, caused the White House to acknowledge a mere fourteen fatalities—a biblical miracle if ever there was one!—and some four hundred wounded soldiers, figures that are utterly false and will sooner or later have to be corrected. Unless, that is, that large military contingent had fled in a panic at the first shots, seeking refuge in some friendly country in the region, or returned to the United States covered in disgrace. Let us remember that the first casualty of war is the truth, and the empire cannot be believed “even a tiny bit,” as Che rightly warned.
The destruction of the radar system installed by successive U.S. administrations at those bases coincided with a sudden and radical change in weather conditions beginning in late April, when the endless and extreme drought that had plagued Iran for several years gave way to torrential rains across much of its territory. This rapid shift would seem to confirm the Iranian authorities’ suspicions that U.S. and Israeli radars were guiding the movement of aircraft that were releasing substances capable of affecting cloud formation and reducing rainfall. The technique of “cloud seeding,” carried out for the purpose of inducing rain, is well known. But little or nothing was known about the effectiveness certain substances might have in preventing rain. Now we know a little more: a drought can be induced and sustained. Climate warfare has entered the scene.
Returning to the thread of our argument, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Iran are all milestones of predictable defeats, which raises the question of why this “mistake” persists. Answer: Because it is not a “mistake,” but rather the relentless implementation of the business plan of the gigantic “industrial-IT-military” complex, whose profitability is fueled by the endless wars that the empire provokes and wages.
Profits that, let us not forget, are partly derived from the financing of the political careers of national or state legislators, governors, and, of course, those who wish to become tenants of the White House. It goes without saying that these politicians, with very few exceptions, once they take office, know very well what they have to do: promote wars, in every corner of the planet, and maintain this kind of perverse Keynesianism based on exorbitant military spending. Without the super profits of the fateful complex, private financing of political activity comes to an end, and no one in the political class wants that to happen.
Trump has reiterated that, once the U.S. victory in Iran is secured, “he will take control of Cuba almost immediately.” If he does so, he is heading toward another disaster, like the one Washington suffered at Playa Girón in April 1961. The winged cowards may bomb the island and cause extensive material damage to buildings and infrastructure, but to “take control” of that country, military experts estimate that a force of some 220,000 troops would need to be deployed on the ground to maintain control and order following the invasion—an invasion that will trigger a fierce struggle with Cuba’s FAR and the popular militias still active even in the island’s smallest towns. This initiative by Trump would also deliver the coup de grâce to the shaky foundations of the moribund world order and establish a sort of law of the jungle where, following the Trump doctrine, any country could invade and seize another’s territory.
Beijing and Moscow have already warned of this danger and voiced their criticism of Trump’s ambitions. But someone should also tell the loud-mouthed New Yorker that if he moves militarily against Cuba, he would be handing on a silver platter the justification for a similar operation that the People’s Republic of China might carry out to reintegrate the strategic rebel province of Taiwan by force.
If such a thing were to happen, how could Washington possibly condemn Beijing for forcibly reclaiming one of its own provinces when it attempted to do the same, but against an independent country like Cuba?
Source: Pagina 12, translation, Resumen Latinoamericano – English