Geopolitics, or, more appropriately, its pursuance, will determine, positively or negatively, the shape of global politics as is, until the next phase arrives in time and distance, not to say the shape of global configuration, to titillate political elements in power in different key parts of the world. Not to overstate, this phenomenon could well be a heavy substitute for global political elements to play some heavy games with each other bringing intense excitement to not a few, especially for or against especially those at the helms of power of the relatively strong governments.

More times than not, it will signal the drive of a nation or a cluster/cohort of nations, to maneuver other groups or primarily a singular power, to shape global politics for some time to come, until another singular proponent, or a group of them together maneuver to determine their ascendancy as a temporal, more likely a group of hegemonists, to maneuver the extant world system around to their world through various means, including chicanery and/or force of arms. That is happening now, and the existing system has given up some leeway to the group pressing under the machinations of President Donald Trump and his cohorts in a number of countries, some acting as opportunists tagging along with the American President.

Just a short while back, following other skirmishes and other maneuverings, the two principal current lead protagonists have had a number of cracks that have not only been instrumental in opening up cracks, some worryingly precarious, others then moving along the same lines, only waiting for the right timing, to unmask the very sores that will only open up the fissures in the world system to a worrying extent.

Geopolitics, in the execution of planned games designed to bring benefit to a nation and/or a group of them to benefit at the expense of an opposing group. Like the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran that the Americans want to exploit to its advantage and, by extension, to make it into an overbred overmuch of the existing probability system. The objectives within essentially the American strategy is to be able to press a large portion of the world system to look favorably towards them whenever an unpleasant situation arrives to benefit the US and its close allies — essentially with the support of its close collaterals to be a kind of overlord of the geopolitical system it had helped create.

Almost as a matter of routine, changes occur within and/or among nation-states. After all, power objectives within states and between states occur, mostly surreptitiously, others with sharp visibility, and still a few with overt nasty intent. Donald Trump has taken it upon himself, it seems, to change the world order to his viewpoint and loose liking, and, in the process, has let loose some unpleasant happenings in some parts of the world. And made a few cold relations with erstwhile close ones (UK, Italy, to name two prominent ones), while leaning on the side of a few entities with otherwise pacific states (although some of these upset geopolitical tranquility to benefit their own domestic/personal issues) irrespective of the greater harm done to the geopolitical system that need no major correction.

Really, GEOPOLITICS is a multi-faceted instrument! It does play pleasant and/or unpleasant tricks every now and then!!

(GM Shahidul Alam is the Professor of Media and Communication Department at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB))