SATISH SHARMA - not just Rotigraphy.: By turning the Persian Gulf into a shooting gallery, Trump isn't projecting power; he is accelerating the obsolescence of the U.S. dollar.

Donald Trump does not seem to understand that American strength is not measured solely by the number of ships sent to the bottom of the ocean. 
He is fixated on the theater of war while the foundation of the empire crumbles beneath his feet.

The core of the problem is that the chaos he is manufacturing in the Middle East is actively dismantling American power. The entire post-war global order rested on a simple deal:  Persian Gulf oil would be chained to the U.S. dollar, with the resulting profits reinvested into American industries. In exchange, the U.S. acted as the ultimate guarantor, protecting these regimes from all foreign and domestic threats. Trump has incinerated that contract.

By turning the Persian Gulf into a shooting gallery, Trump isn't projecting power; he is accelerating the obsolescence of the U.S. dollar. Every missile fired and every tanker halted is a neon sign to the rest of the world that the American Security Umbrella is broken, leaking, and fundamentally unreliable.

The United Arab Emirates, once the bedrock of U.S. regional influence, has not only exited OPEC; it has pivoted decisively into the BRICS alliance. This is not a diplomatic reshuffle; it is a declaration of war against the petrodollar. 

By creating chaos in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. has forced its former allies to seek salvation elsewhere. Nations are now aggressively settling energy trades in Yuan, Rupees, and gold-backed digital assets. The UAE’s defection serves as the blueprint for other Gulf states to insulate their economies from the toxic volatility of U.S. sanctions and naval interventions. 

Second, the region is abandoning American-protected routes for non-aligned energy infrastructure. Because the United States can no longer guarantee the safety of the Strait of Hormuz, Gulf states are fast-tracking pipelines and land-based trade corridors that intentionally bypass waters patrolled by the U.S. Navy. These projects are increasingly financed and secured by the BRICS bloc, effectively carving out a sphere of influence in the heart of the world’s energy supply that completely excludes American oversight.

Third, central banks across the region are undergoing a violent diversification away from the dollar. Fear of U.S. asset seizure has triggered a frantic global rush toward physical gold and local currency reserves. These nations are dumping Treasuries because they no longer trust the dollar to be a store of value or a safe instrument of trade. The United States is losing its parasitic ability to export inflation because the rest of the world is now actively working to purge the very currency that causes it.

Trump’s reckless escalations have finally forced regional powers to seek mediation outside the reach of Washington. 
China and Russia are successfully positioning themselves as the primary power brokers between Saudi Arabia, Iran, and their neighbors. The illusion that Washington serves as a regional stabilizer has been shattered, and in its place, a new world order is being forged that views American involvement not as a necessity, but as a liability.