<
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/03/trump-us-power-iran/686567/>
"Whenever and however America’s war with Iran ends, it has both exposed and
exacerbated the dangers of our new, fractured, multipolar reality—driving
deeper wedges between the United States and former friends and allies;
strengthening the hands of the expansionist great powers, Russia and China;
accelerating global political and economic chaos; and leaving the United States
weaker and more isolated than at any time since the 1930s. Even success against
Iran will be hollow if it hastens the collapse of the alliance system that for
eight decades has been the true source of America’s power, influence, and
security.
For America’s friends and allies in Europe, the Iran war has been a significant
strategic setback. As Russia and Ukraine wage a grinding war that will be “won”
by whoever can hold on the longest, the Iran war has materially and
psychologically helped Russia and hurt Ukraine. Even before Donald Trump lifted
oil sanctions on Russia, oil prices were skyrocketing—and filling Vladimir
Putin’s war chest with billions of dollars, just as Russia’s wartime deficits
were starting to cause significant pain. The unexpected windfall gives Putin
more time and capacity to continue destroying Ukraine’s economic infrastructure
and energy grid. Meanwhile, the Persian Gulf states are burning through
U.S.-provided stocks of air-defense interceptors, drawing on the same limited
supply that Ukraine depends on to defend its largest cities from Russian
missile strikes.
More worrying for European allies has been the evident indifference of the
United States to the consequences of its actions. For Europeans, the
existential threat today comes not from a weakened and impoverished Iran but
from a nuclear-armed Russia that invaded Ukraine in the most brazen act of
cross-border territorial aggression in Europe since World War II. Secretary of
Defense Pete Hegseth told the Europeans last year to be ready by 2027 to defend
themselves without American help, and so they have been desperately reorienting
their economies and military strategies to take on the Russian threat without
the United States. They have also taken on the bulk of military and economic
support for Ukraine because they fear, as many American analysts do, that
Putin’s territorial ambitions are extensive, and other European states may be
next. Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on Russian oil, over the opposition of
Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and the European Union,
showed just how little regard the United States has for Europe’s security. The
message to Europe, as the scholar Ivan Krastev has noted, is that “the
trans-Atlantic relationship no longer matters.”"
Via Kenny Chaffin.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
