Donald Trump has expressed frustration over a lack of military assistance from allies, but European leaders are reluctant to join a conflict he started without consulting them. The US President has long been sceptical about the value of alliances. Two weeks into his war with Iran, he was seeking to build one on Tuesday (local time). Faced with Tehran’s successful effort to cut off the flow of oil and gas tankers through a vital shipping choke point, Trump has importuned a sweep of nations to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. He has blasted Britain, Germany, Japan, South Korea and others for their reluctance. And he has revived his long-standing complaints about the Nato alliance, musing that he could rethink the US relationship with allies without congressional approval. But days of demands appear to have yielded little concrete assistance, with countries reluctant to join a conflict Trump unleashed without their input, and one that is deeply unpopular in their countries. European nations are still reeling from Trump’s January efforts to wrest Greenland from Danish control – an experience some of them feared would involve a US military operation – and Trump is increasingly toxic among European voters. AND…Still, European leaders are cautious about joining a fight that they did not seek. And the crisis spreading across the Middle East is also shaping up to be a new source of tension in a rocky transatlantic relationship. “We’re beginning to see the effects of a real break of trust across the Atlantic,” Nathalie Tocci, the director of the Rome-based Institute for International Affairs, said. “I mean, why on earth would Europeans do this, right?” she said. “We’re talking about a President that has withdrawn military assistance from Ukraine, that has imposed tariffs on Europe, that has threatened a European country with annexation.” Remember, The Iraq War also became a lesson on the political risk of backing American adventurism. Ultimately, it left a sense across Europe that the 2003 US invasion yielded a long, bloody and war under false pretences. European involvement there and in Afghanistan is widely viewed as a mistake and has made it complicated for European leaders to join America in another Middle East war, especially led by a President they clash with often. Excerpts from an article in The New Zealand Herald
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