No Naval Escort for Trump: US Allies and the Strait of Hormuz

Photograph Source: Official U.S. Navy Page – Public Domain

With each dragged out day, President Donald Trump begins resembling a mad emperor who has not only taken leave of his senses but leave of everything else.  Having hitched his wagon to the Israeli program of chaos and destabilisation in the Middle East, he is stuck in a war he is incapable of controlling or dictating.  The periodic announcement of the next assassination of a notable Iranian leader is trumpeted like a holy ritual.  The next round of ecstatic bombing is hailed in the court as the biggest yet.  But behind these gestures lies an expansive emptiness.

Perhaps most telling of such emptiness is the sham of the alliance system he has sought to distance himself from even as he mocks its members.  Whether it is members of NATO or allies such as Canada and Australia, Trump has been treated with scrupulous, sometimes grovelling care.   Flaring tantrums and spontaneous interpretations of world politics mingle in ugly consummation.  Views are contradicted in the same slurry of words.  The allies can only nod.

Of late, he is showing greater concern towards the increasing distance shown by the Pax Americana family.  Initially, almost all of them made sure not to call his administration or that of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brigands for having violated the United Nations Charter in attacking Iran.  Australia bolted out puffing with a condemnation of Iran for having, supposedly, a viable nuclear weapons program that needed to be eliminated.  Canada and various countries in the European Union all adopted variations of the same theme, taking care to demonise Tehran for its........

© CounterPunch