Bridgewater's Ray Dalio: Control of the Strait of Hormuz Will Determine Whether U.S. Global Hegemony Continues or Collapses

Maritime Finance News reports that on March 17, Bridgewater Fund founder Ray Dalio published a lengthy article titled “Who Controls the Strait of Hormuz: The Final Battle.” The article points out one obvious fact in the Iran war: everything will come down to who controls the Strait of Hormuz. If Iran still controls who can pass through the Strait of Hormuz, or even retains the power to negotiate, the United States will be deemed to have lost this war. If Trump and the U.S. cannot win this war, they will be seen as creating an irreparable catastrophic situation. Regardless of the reasons why the U.S. failed to control the Strait of Hormuz, Trump and the U.S. will lose. Losing influence over the Strait of Hormuz will be similar to the impact of the 1956 Suez Canal Crisis on Britain, and comparable to the decline of the Dutch Empire in the 18th century and the Spanish Empire in the 17th century. The pattern of events leading to the collapse of empires is almost always the same, and this decisive “final battle” will determine whether U.S. global hegemony endures or collapses.