The Imperial Presidency, Part 2

[robkelk]

Why allies aren't leaping to Trump's aid in Strait of Hormuz

Wendy Gilmour, a former NATO assistant secretary general for defence investment, said many countries may be reluctant to join a U.S.-led coalition and become a belligerent in a conflict with Iran.

"The NATO allies in particular, are going to be incredibly cautious before coming in behind the United States, frankly," Gilmour told CBC News on Monday.

"The U.S. and Israel have launched a war of choice by attacking Iran. The aftermath of that does not seem to have been particularly well thought through."

Jim Townsend, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defence for European and NATO policy, said that while it is in Europe's economic interests to keep traffic flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, many countries are "stung" by how Trump has treated them.

"There's not a lot of good feelings [from European countries] towards the United States right now, particularly because they were not part of the process in the run up to this war," Townsend told CNN on Monday.

Although one wonders why the USA is even looking for allies in this matter.

Trump appeared to realize — at least implicitly — that his call for help against Iran could be in vain by contradicting himself on the issue several times during his comments Monday at the White House.

Despite insisting that countries need to get involved, he also said: "We don't need anybody. We're the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far in the world. We don't need them."

You don't need us? Then we'll stay on the sidelines.