{"id":155748,"date":"2026-04-18T12:41:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=155748"},"modified":"2026-04-18T12:41:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:41:39","slug":"americas-waterloo-in-the-indian-ocean-imperial-overstretch-and-energy-colonialism-in-the-fog-of-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/04\/18\/americas-waterloo-in-the-indian-ocean-imperial-overstretch-and-energy-colonialism-in-the-fog-of-war\/","title":{"rendered":"America\u2019s Waterloo in the Indian Ocean? Imperial Overstretch and Energy Colonialism in the Fog of War"},"content":{"rendered":"

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The United States Armada seems stranded half way around the world in the Indian Ocean whose energy trade routes it seeks to blockade to stymie Asian economies amid the fog of war on Iran. In the western reach of the vast Indian Ocean (IO), far from home bases in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the American Armada assembled against Iran is spilling blood and treasure that the US can ill afford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South and Southeast Asia, and China, the workshop of the world, are global growth hubs at this time. Perhaps President Trump reckons that by starving these economies of fuel and fertilizer from West Asia he may Make America Great Again\u201d (MAGA), and shore up the exorbitantly privileged Petrodollar? The oil backed US greenback\u2019s global reserve currency status is under pressure given America\u2019s whopping 39 trillion deficit and the rise of the Chinese Petro Yuan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US war machine is trying valiantly to blockade the Straits of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman in the Arabian Sea, all of which are part of the ancient Indian Ocean maritime Silk Route. This sea silk route connected the supercontinent of Asia and its civilizations for millennia- long before the United States came into existence in the new world. These past and present Asian Sea Lanes, are part of the modern Chinese Belt and Road (BRI) for global connectivity, and constitute the world\u2019s Superhighway for energy, trade and submarine data cable routes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was at the center of the same Indian Ocean in the Seas of Sri Lanka that a US torpedo sank the IRIS Dena, killing 84 Iranian sailors, while causing environmental damage and affecting local fisheries and tourist livelihoods in the first week of the US-Israel war on Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does Trump reckon that he may shore up the exorbitantly privileged US Petrodollar through energy colonialism and occupation of Indian Ocean SLOC; including oil grabbing, energy infrastructure destruction, and taxing global supply routes while playing war games targeting with Middle East proxy, Israel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indian Ocean Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOC), forged and traversed by monsoon winds and rains, have been increasingly subject to geoengineering, staged climate disasters and weather warfare, a la Operation Popeye during the Vietnam War. This was evident in a series of devastating twister storms unleashed last year on Aceh, North Sumatra at the Strait of Malacca Choke point and Sri Lanka, another SLOC chokepoint. The US and UK occupy the Chagos Island with the Diego Garcia military base due southwest of Sri Lanka at the center of the IO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With fuel prices through the roof and blackouts in many monsoon Asia countries, ridding the Indian Ocean of the US war machine and sending the American Armada back to the Atlantic Ocean is now a priority. Demilitarizing and shutting down foreign, mainly Euro-American military bases to end neocolonial occupation and looting of fisheries and sea bed mineral resources which belong to the littoral peoples of the Indian Ocean World is increasingly a security priority -to return to a modicum of Peace and Prosperity in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across maritime Asia there is a growing perception that America, an Atlantic and Pacific Ocean county has no right to be blockading the SLOC of the Indian Ocean with an environment despoiling war machine, of aircraft carriers, submarines, missiles, bombs, drone warfare and other environment despoiling war toys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imperial Overreach? Oil Grabbing in Venezuela, Iran, blockading Cuba<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the US Armada treading water in the Indian Ocean to blockade Iranian ports, a Russian tanker recently bought oil to Cuba in the Caribbean Sea \u2013 off the coast of Florida. The Socialist government of Cuba had been long sanctioned, and is now blockaded, starved of fuel and strangled by the Trump regime. Marco Rubio, Secretary of State seeks regime change in his country of ancestral origin, much as happened earlier this year in Venezuela and Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia discreetly stated that the oil delivery to Cuba which has suffered extended blackouts was a \u2018humanitarian\u2019 gesture.  The Russian tanker, Anatoly Kolodkin docked in Cuba in late March 2026, delivering approximately 730,000 barrels of crude oil to the Port of Matanzas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shades of American Imperial Overstretch: Has President Trump\u2019s operation Epic Fury to oil-grab in Iran, fresh from the oil-grab in Venezuela to control global oil supply, markets and pricing to shore up the exorbitantly privileged Petrodollar come a cropper in the Indian Ocean? Meanwhile, Iran allied Yemeni Houthis (Ansarallah) have also threatened to block the Red Sea !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump lifted sanctions on Iranian and Russian oil earlier this month only to do a volte face, moving to blockade the Straits of Hormuz and Indian Ocean energy trade routes. Are the flip-flops and Disinformation meant to distract from attempts to take down the Asian Century, while pumping and dumping countries as much as stock and bond markets with exogenous economic oil shocks enabling Oil companies to make big profits?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran after all had said that the straits were open to friendly countries. The Disinformation, flip flops contradictory messaging as a maximum pressure tactic by Trump signal another broader, global agenda besides shutting down Iran\u2019s uranium enrichment program. Control of Indian Ocean Sea Lanes to take down the Asian 21st<\/sup> Century?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presumably, Admirals of the American Armada would take note of these developments and history to look for an off ramp; a face saving Exit Strategy from the Indian Ocean World before Asia Unites to drive out the American Armada and restore the \u2018Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Cold War the Indian Ocean was demarcated a \u2018Zone of Peace\u2019 to be free of Nuclear weapons and big power rivalry by the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). The declaration of the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace was led by the world\u2019s first woman Head of State, Sri Lanka\u2019s Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike at the 1971 United Nations General Assembly. Resolution (2832) proposed by Sri Lanka, supported by Tanzania and NAM aimed to halt foreign military expansion, eliminate nuclear weapons, and remove great-power rivalries. It was formally adopted on December 1971, to create a secure maritime region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The history and memory of the NAM initiative to declare the \u2018Indian Ocean a Zone of Peace\u2019 have not died in Asia or the Indian Ocean World despite invention of the Indo-Pacific\u201d to Partition, Divide and Rule the Indian Ocean by US Central Intelligence Agency linked security think tanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the Petrodollar, Stupid!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Trump claimed that the US blockade of the Straits of Hormuz that runs in Iran\u2019s territorial waters was done to unblock it! Iran however, has made it clear that the Straits of Hormuz which carries almost 20 percent of global fuel supply are open to friends in the Asian neighborhood and the Indian Ocean World. Ships that pass through Hormuz may need to pay a Toll in Petro Yuan — rather than the exorbitantly privileged Petrodollar for safe passage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And here lies the rub. The US dollar which is a fiat currency or paper money without intrinsic value (unlike Gold for instance), is backed by Petroleum or Oil, which is the world\u2019s most traded commodity. It is hence that oil due to its near universal demand is sometimes referred to as black gold\u201d. However, the oil-backed Petrodollar is increasingly under pressure for many reasons, particularly, the ongoing transition to renewable energy sources like solar, wind and hydro, lowering demand, as well as, the BRICS de-dollarizing and trading in national currencies. Hence, the US push to monopolize oil sources, processing infrastructure, trade routes and choke points at this time also given the huge US deficit which puts pressure on the dollar which is increasingly and unsafe haven. The IMF has warned that America\u2019s debt to GDP ratio is unsustainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having first claimed that the purpose of moving the American Armada to the IO was to prevent Iran\u2019s nuclear enrichment program, President Trump seems to have shifted goal posts to the Straits of Hormuz and control of Indian Ocean sea lanes via war on Iran. Energy supply chain disruption and blockade would of course starve Asian economies. Was this the Endgame of President Trump\u2019s latest war of choice–taking down the Asian 21st<\/sup> century to Make America Great Again? Mixed motives, none of which are particularly attractive are par for the course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energy Colonialism in the Fog of War: Shades of a Staged Emergency<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a recent Primer from the Tri-continental Institute noted: The US-Israeli war on Iran is exposing the Oil-Dollar-Wall Street complex that binds oil, financial markets, and dollar power, with consequences that reach far beyond the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pattern of energy neocolonialism is emerging at this time as the US Armada tests the waters toward establishing a new normal of control across Indian Ocean SLOC, under the guise of a free and open Indo-Pacific\u201d. The blockade on Iranian ports and oil shipments establishes a US presence in the IO, even as US corporations profit maximize by rerouting energy supply chains and establishing new markets in Asia and other parts of the world, particularly in geostrategic countries that it seeks to control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amid the fog of war and Hormuz blockade, US oil companies sold overpriced American sweet crude oil and gas at exorbitant prices and transport cost to Asian countries already ensnared in Petrodollar Eurobond debt traps. If not for the blockade these countries would source cheaper energy closer home in Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, geostrategic Sri Lanka at the center of the Indian recently purchased American gas and oil at astronomical prices. Citizens saw a 25 percent increase overnight in gas prices. [i]<\/a>Meanwhile the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) purchased diesel at a whopping 286$ a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia\u2019s offer to supply oil and gas at lower cost was cold shouldered by the Colombo regime, which wears a mask of neutrality, being caught in a Eurobond Petrodollar debt trap and subject to IMF advice and control of the Central Bank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energy has become a battleground for geopolitical control through development aid, loans, and other bilateral and multilateral assistance in the geostrategic island which has a high potential for renewables – solar and hydro \u2013 which are being underutilized at this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has described BRICS and the attempts of Global South countries to become energy independent, de-dollarize and conduct bi-lateral trade in local currencies as an attack on the Petrodollar. Colombo and its business elites fear US sanctions would cripple the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka which staged a first ever Sovereign Default into the waiting arms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in 2022, like other Petrodollar Eurobond debt trapped countries has lost economic sovereignty and Energy policy autonomy to the Washington Twins (IMF and World Bank) at this time and now buys exorbitantly priced US sourced energy with exorbitantly privileged US dollars that it does not have!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IMF Reforms and Energy Corruption Rackets: The New Normal?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energy Sector corruption and price gouging in the fog of war has become the new normal thanks also to IMF reforms of the Energy Sector, which fragmented the national electricity grid and infrastructure, while decimating oversight mechanisms. The substandard coal scandal is the tip of the iceberg of external networks embedded in the electricity sector which has been subject to IMF reforms in the past 2 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically in the name of \u2018good governance\u2019, IMF-induced reforms in the Energy Sector have enabled unprecedented corruption rackets to thrive extending energy neocolonialism also as part of the green transition, now exacerbated in the fog of war and Energy Emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, corrupt officials at the Ceylon Electricity Board and Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), have been also embolden by Ministers dancing to Washington\u2019s oil sanctions tunes. Just this week in Sri Lanka, the Minister of Power and Energy, Kumara Jayakody already under investigation for fertilizer and coal tender scams was finally forced to resign after the expose of the CPC purchase of diesel at $ 286 per barrel. [ii]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was the Minister a casualty of US energy colonialism in the fog of Disinformation and War in Iran as much as IMF reforms to extend Energy colonialism in the geostrategic Indian Ocean island? Many shady energy deals like the US Gas deal pass through Dubai, Swiss and Singapore companies. Singapore, proximate to the Strait of Malacca choke point also houses a US military base. Meanwhile, Malaysia and Indonesia on the Malacca Strait were recently persuaded like Sri Lanka to sign defense corporation agreements with the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, there are Shades of the Covid-19 virus and vaccine Pandemic Emergency and global transport, trade and supply disruptions across the Indian Ocean world at this time. The CV-19 panicdemic, global lockdown and supply chain disruption enabled massive wealth transfers from the Global South to north, Big Pharma profit maximizing with Emergency authorized mRNA injections and GAFAM Digital colonialism and GAFAM Digital colonialism. Today oil companies and their stockholders are making a chilling killing on Trumps energy markets chaos strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much like the Covid-19 chaos operation to disrupt the global economy, the current US blockade of Indian Ocean SLOC is being used to promote QR coded fuel rationing for tracking and surveilling populations for the Great Reset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is increasingly clear that the US Armada is testing IO waters to promote a new normal of energy colonialism to contain Asian economies and Make America Great Again (MAGA), but may needs an Exit Strategy to return home soon to Atlantic and Pacific shores– before Asia Unites to evict it from the Indian Ocean World. Trump clearly overplayed its hand when he boasted that he would \u2018destroy a civilization overnight\u2019. TO BE CONTINUED: America\u2019s Waterloo, Enter China, Exit India<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[i]<\/a> https:\/\/www.dailymirror.lk\/breaking-news\/Sri-Lanka-turns-to-American-gas-for-cooking\/108-335535<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[ii]<\/a> https:\/\/www.dailymirror.lk\/top-story\/CPC-confirms-286-diesel-barrel-purchase-rejects-overpricing-claims\/155-338057<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake The United States Armada seems stranded half way around the world in the Indian Ocean whose energy trade routes it seeks to blockade to stymie Asian economies amid the fog of war on Iran. In the western reach of the vast Indian Ocean (IO), far from home bases in the Atlantic and Pacific […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,189],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-darini-rajasingham-senanayake","category-189"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155749,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155748\/revisions\/155749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}