“May the Force be with you” is a phrase that all Star Wars fans recognize. Briefly, for those readers who may not be Star War fans, the expression corresponds to our “Godspeed” or “God bless”. It was the parting wish among members of the Rebel Alliance against dark Emperor Palpatine and his evil sidekick, Darth Vader. It is no Star Wars nostalgia that inspires this article, though. It is the unfortunate realization that today’s geopolitical situation on Earth has a lot in common with the Star Wars saga that took place “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”. Below we will explore some striking similarities between the two.
What is the connection between what is happening today and the Star Wars epic? Well, “Epic Fury”, the US-Israel operation against Iran launched on 28 February 2026 is the short answer. But let’s take the story from the start. A multi-cultural Republic declines and falls into the hands of a cunning autocrat, who gets initially elected to the highest office but eventually declares himself Emperor and dissolves the Republic. The US is this year celebrating its 250th anniversary since its establishment as a republic. For decades if not centuries, though, it has been acting like an empire towards “its” so-called “Western Hemisphere” but also other parts of the world, like Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. Now, its elected leader is attempting to rule through executive orders, using the argument of threats to national security in order to bypass Congress and the Judiciary and install an autocratic form of government centered on him and his immediate circle. Externally, and with the Gaza ceasefire as a pretext, he has established a “Board of Peace” with select world leaders, which he is supposed to chair for life, in his individual capacity. Exhibit 1: Long live Emperor Palpatine, aka D. J. Trump!
The Emperor is surrounded by a small group of confidantes and flatterers, which includes Vice President J. D. Vance, Secretary of Defence/War Pete Hegseth and Secretary-of-State-cum-National-Security-Advisor Marco Rubio. They could easily be members of the Star Wars Sith Order, devoted to the dark side of the Force. The Emperor’s senior-most collaborator, master conspirator and trusted advisor, though, his Darth Vader to say it all, is without doubt Benjamin Natanyahu. Together they use all available means, from the dark side of the Force to the dark side of science, and from the cocky generals with their fancy AI and other tools to the obedient and expendable stormtroopers, to eliminate opponents or potential opponents, terrify friends and foes alike, and keep the universe in order, an order cast in their unstable minds’ likeness.
As for the Rebel Alliance, it is all too easy to identify who they are, as they go around calling themselves “Axis of Resistance”. It is Iran with its regional allies like Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and more. The rebels are, of course, cast as dangerous terrorists and non-believers in the Emperor’s cult. Opinions may differ on the distribution of specific roles among them, such as the legendary Princess Leia, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. Well, we might as well forget the Princess because the status of women on the side of this Resistance is quite problematic. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian could be the not-so-young Jedi Master Luke, with the latest surviving Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander as the heroic but rather reckless Han Solo. Other rebel protagonists would include Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who has the looks and the demeanour of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, while the senior Jedi Master, Yoda, must have been the early eliminated former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, now continuing in the form of his surviving son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded him. Exhibit 2: Long live the Rebel Resistance!
The war between the Empire and the Resistance has been going on for a long time, with numerous victims, including whole planets destroyed by the Empire’s military might, like Alderaan, aka Gaza. The Force that connects the universe and is used by the protagonists to advance their respective causes, for good (the bright side) or for evil (the dark side), goes through ups-and-downs, depending on which side prevails each time. To complicate things, sometimes it is not clear whether the good side is really good, when it releases its own killer instincts for example, or whether the evil side may have a soft spot, with fears and obsessions that drive its actions. Exhibit 3: It is a messy Star Wars universe coming together almost seamlessly with our messy world of today.
To return to the main script and the big picture, we now seem to be close to the point where Darth Vader realizes his mistakes, repents for his sins and kills the Emperor, saving millions of lives from the Death Star’s killer beam. Stretching the parallels but sticking to the substance, one is waiting to see whether the Emperor’s close association with Darth Vader will lead him to political death in the US mid-term elections in November 2026. For the Resistance, though, that may be too late. That is why they have been attacking the Death Star and the Emperor’s people as hard as they can, while waiting / hoping for reinforcements of the likes of Russia and China. There are the Europeans too, but they think that they are still in the times of the Republic and try to deal with the Emperor with velvet gloves, possibly not realizing what exactly is at stake. Between the Emperor’s cult and the Jedi cult of the Resistance, the European “Senators” are lost in their own Enlightenment paradigm that no longer applies to the real world – but don’t break the news to them too suddenly, please. Exhibit 4: Mysterious are the ways of the Force!
All this may sound sacrilegious or revolting, but is it that far from the truth? And what about the article’s title, that the Force is with the Resistance, always? Well, somehow now and again in history a superpower stumbles on a third-rate power. Despite possessing overwhelming capabilities and a killer instinct, Goliath is stopped by David. The universe seems to intervene and balance even some very unbalanced situations. Of course, there is no such thing as total victory or total defeat for one side or the other. It is all in the eye of the beholder, and also depends on the time scale used. It is part of one and the same test for all, though, and has to do with humanity’s state and future. That is where all seem to be failing the Force, humanity and their own people. To be continued…
