David Vance SubstackRead More
It seems to me that NATO in its current manifestation is the biggest casualty of the Iran war. In a sense, President Trump has exposed the many European freeloaders who benefit from US largesse and then run away the moment their assistance is requested.
France, Spain and Italy have all denied the US access to their airspace for any military attacks on Iran. The UK has made it abundantly clear that it will NOT be part of the war. Germany takes a similar stance. This exposes the NATO alliance for the sham that it has become. ALL of these European countries have long relied on US expenditure and competence under the NATO shield without having to cough up enough of their own GDP to help fund it. Instead they luxuriated in high end welfare systems and let Uncle Sam take up the military slack.
Now, it is too late. Trump has asked for their help, in a fairly modest way, and they have made it clear that they WILL NOT help. “It’s not our war”
OK, well Ukraine-Russia is not America’s war. There is no longer any reason for Trump provide ANY form of help here. This is a European conflict and it is up to the European powers to DO something about it. There’s just one problem – they entirely lack the military muscle to do what is necessary. They TALK a lot but it has been the US which does all the delivery.
President Trump needs to review the NATO relationship because some of those in it, like France, are behaving more like enemies than allies
