ABSTRACT  |  This academic blog integrates Ray Dalio's long-wave framework from The Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail (2021) with Bloomberg Intelligence and Bloomberg Economics data to analyze three pivotal conflicts across three millennia: the Trojan War (c. 1180 BCE), the Greco-Persian Wars (490–479 BCE), and the 2025–2026 U.S.–Iran confrontation under President Donald Trump. Through the lens of Dalio's Big Cycle — encompassing monetary debasement, internal disorder, and the rise-and-fall of reserve currency empires — the paper argues that contemporary geopolitical and financial dynamics reflect structural patterns first visible in the ancient world. The conclusion offers a forward-looking analysis of the Iran dilemma as of March 17, 2026, and forecasts the transformative role of the Central Asian Silk Road in the emerging global economic order.   Keywords: Dalio, Big Cycle, Trojan War, Persian Empire, Iran, Trump, Bloomberg Intelligence, Sil...