Europe's Last Stand Ends Not With a Bang but a Whimper
Our European Allies Were Absolutely Not Going to Help Us in Iran... Until They Were
Two days ago, The Atlantic had some bad news: Trump spent all year pissing off our European allies, demeaning them and telling them they need to pull their own weight, and now that he needs them, they are getting their revenge and turning their backs on the U.S. amid Trump’s calls for help opening the Strait of Hormuz, much to the delight of the liberal media.
“Donald Trump does not think strategically. Nor does he think historically, geographically, or even rationally,” wrote Anne Applebaum. “He does not connect actions he takes on one day to events that occur weeks later. He does not think about how his behavior in one place will change the behavior of other people in other places.”
For the past 14 months, writes Applebaum, President Trump utterly alienated our European allies. He put tariffs on allies. He threatened NATO. He curtailed aid to Ukraine. The result, writes Applebaum, is clear:
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has declared that Canada will not participate in the “offensive operations of Israel and the U.S., and it never will.” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius says, “This is not our war, and we didn’t start it.” The Spanish prime minister refused to let the United States use bases for the beginning of the war. The U.K. and France might send some ships to protect their own bases or allies in the Gulf, but neither will send their soldiers or sailors into offensive operations started without their assent.
What a difference a couple of days make!
After weeks of huffily insisting that no, they would not help the President in his effort to rid our grandchildren of the burden of dealing with a nuclear-armed Islamic Regime, our European allies have decided it’s better to be there at the finish line than not have helped at all.
This morning, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Netherlands and Japan issued a joint statement condemning Iran and expressing their collective readiness to heed the President’s call and contribute to efforts ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
“We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait. We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning,” read a joint statement.
Well well well!
Some have pointed out that the specific commitments here are vague and that’s true. But the point isn’t what they’re willing to send. It’s that they have been forced to acquiesce to Donald Trump’s demand that they stand with us, not against us, in this effort, after weeks of prevaricating.
Europe, whose freedoms exist at the largesse of NATO—which means, at the largesse of the American taxpayer—has been forced to acknowledge that it is the U.S. who determines what a threat to the free world is, and Europe can get on board or face the consequences.
Like the Democrats, our European allies are enjoying the fruits of a mission they freely admit is in the world’s best interest—ridding the world of the threat of a nuclear Iran. But like the Democrats, they want the privilege of freeloading off the benefits of that mission while complaining about it, holding their noses and pretending to be above it.
President Trump has called their bluff.
Some in Europe know what time it is—like NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Rutte has been praising President Trump since the start of his incursion into Iran, urging our European allies to put up and shut up. He’s pointed out the hypocrisy of criticizing the U.S. while doing something everyone agrees must be done: degrading Iran’s capabilities, and removing its ability to close the Strait of Hormuz.
But too many got it backwards, like Applebaum, incapable of realizing that it is precisely because President Trump was willing to put Europe on blast that they showed up. On behalf of the American taxpayer, Trump takes it personally when they freeload off of us—while having the absolute chuztpah to simultaneously sneer at everything that makes us great.
Despite what you read in the media and on Twitter all day every day, the operation in Iran is going exceptionally well. Nice of our European allies to join us at the finish line—better late than never I guess!
Writers @ The Atlantic & the NYT hardest hit! ;<)
I’m not sure better late than never. I was kind of enjoying the thought of history, writing out any help from NATO countries. Looking forward to the additional military expenditures that we could spend on our own military instead of sending to Europe.
Let them cook their own goose