With friends like these, who needs enemies? The US is supposed to be Australia's "closest ally, and our principal economic and strategic partner", but it is clearer than ever that US President Donald Trump represents a direct threat to our security, our economy and our stability, unleashing a global energy crisis. But in politics, you should never waste a crisis - will Anthony Albanese seize the moment?

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It is no exaggeration to say the world was preparing itself for the worst last week, up to and including the threat of nuclear war.

"A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will," Trump said in a post on Truth Social, threatening the existence of the roughly 90 million people who live in Iran if the country refused to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump did not wipe out civilization in Iran, but it still does not feel beyond the realm of possibility, given his past behaviour and pronouncements. Together, the US and Israel have killed many civilians by targeting civilian infrastructure in Iran and Lebanon, the latter of which is not part of the ceasefire agreement agreed to after Trump threatened to annihilate Iran. First Trump sparked a global energy crisis and then he criticised other countries for not helping to fix the mess he and Netanyahu created.

Europe has seen the illegal war on Iran as the latest in a long and painful series of lessons that the US can no longer be trusted as an ally, including its betrayal of Ukraine and the fact that Denmark was preparing to blow up airport runways in Greenland in response to a US invasion. Let's be clear, many European countries backed the war in Iran initially. But as Trump demonstrates that he went to war with no clear plans, objectives or exit strategy, more and more European countries are withholding cooperation with the US and pursuing practical ways........

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