Middle East

[steross]

A day after calling on other countries to send warships to end the de facto Iranian blockade of the economically vital Strait of Hormuz, President Trump turned up the pressure on them to agree.

“If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO,” he told The Financial Times in a short interview on Sunday. In the interview, Mr. Trump suggested that China, too, should send warships to help secure the gulf.

His comments come as fears have been rising about the global economic fallout from the war in Iran and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz — through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes. Earlier in the day, the U.S. energy secretary, Chris Wright, acknowledged in a televised interview that there were “no guarantees” that oil prices would fall in the coming weeks.

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First of all, he is clearly out of his mind. Does he somehow think CHINA is going to send warships to clean up the mess he started in the Middle East? That makes no sense.

Second, our president does not seem to realize that he has completely lost our allies. His bluffing and blathering threats no longer cause them to do anything like they did when he was in the process of using up all the political capital that the USA had built up over decades. They now know he is a reckless, idiotic wannabe dictator with nukes who is prone to TACO syndrome, so they will do nothing he says. They know they are no longer beholden to the USA in any way. They are going to form alliances without us. They will just avoid as best they can pissing him off to the point that he attacks them militarily, but otherwise see him as powerless and no longer an ally.

 

[steross]

BTW: here are the responses of our "closest" allies:

Germany:
Germany rejected a U.S. demand for military support to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, after President Trump warned that it would be bad for NATO if American allies did not do more to help.“This is not our war; we did not start it,” Boris Pistorius, the German defense minister, said at a news conference in Berlin on Monday. “We want diplomatic solutions and a swift end to the conflict, but sending more warships to the region will likely not help achieve that,” he said.
“What does Donald Trump expect from, say, a handful or two of European frigates in the Strait of Hormuz?” he added. “He needs them to achieve what the mighty US Navy cannot manage on its own there, is that it? That’s the question I’m asking myself.”

United Kingdom:
Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain said on Monday that his government was working with allies on a viable plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz but cautioned that Britain would not be “drawn into wider war,” hours after a call with President Trump.

Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Starmer for his initial refusal to join the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran. But Starmer said at a news conference that he had a good relationship with the president, and stood by his decision for British forces to only take part in defensive actions to protect British interests and regional allies.

Australia:
Australia does not intend to send ships to the Strait of Hormuz, Catherine King, the transport minister, said on Monday, after President Trump called over the weekend for other countries to help end the de facto Iranian blockade of the waterway. “We know how incredibly important that is, but that’s not something that we’ve been asked or that we’re contributing to,” King told Australia’s national broadcaster.

Japan:
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of Japan is facing pressure on Monday to clarify how she would respond if President Trump pushes her to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz when she meets with him this week in Washington.

“The Japanese government is currently considering how to take the necessary measures,” she said during an appearance before Japan’s Parliament. “Of course, this will be within the scope of Japanese law, but we are considering how to protect the lives of Japanese-related vessels and their crews, and what we can do.”

I'm guessing Canada no longer feels sufficiently allied with the US to even bother responding.

 

[steross]

IRAN PREPARED FOR LONG WAR.

In the past with the US government claiming that the effort on the ground was going well and the enemy was claiming that we were failing, I would laugh at the enemy and know our government was truthful.

Now, we have a government led by a person who repeatedly has stated that what he says is "the truth" even when it is obviously lies. We can't possibly know if this Iranian is giving propaganda or honesty.

The fact that the Iranians, instead of capitulating, have shut down the Strait and we are begging anyone out there willing to come help us doesn't lead me to believe our propaganda over theirs.

 

[Polds4OSU]