Strait of Hormuz Blockade: How US Military Posture Perpetuates Petro-Geopolitical Extraction and Global Fuel Instability
Original framing: “Big Take: How Much Is the Hormuz Blockade Costing the US?” — Bloomberg
The Hormuz blockade is part of a centuries-old pattern of Western powers weaponizing chokepoints to control resource flows, from the British blockade of the Dardanelles in WWI to the US-led sanctions on Venezuela’s oil today. The 1953 coup in Iran, orchestrated by the CIA and MI6 to overthrow Mossadegh, set a precedent for using 'security' narratives to justify interventions that serve corporate interests. This blockade mirrors those historical interventions, where short-term geopolitical gains justify long-term regional destabilization.
The Hormuz blockade is not an isolated 'cost' but a deliberate mechanism of petro-imperialism, where Western powers weaponize chokepoints to maintain control over global energy flows while externalizing the ecological and human costs onto marginalized communities.
Historical patterns—from Operation Ajax to the Suez Crisis—reveal how 'security' narratives have consistently justified interventions that serve corporate interests, while Indigenous and cross-cultural perspectives expose the blockade’s violation of ecological and spiritual balances. The trickster dimension underscores the absurdity of treating oil as a 'public good' while privatizing its control, a paradox that only creative and systemic resistance can disrupt. Solutions must combine demilitarization, Indigenous-led energy sovereignty, and reparative justice to break the cycle of extraction and conflict.