You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Europe
Trump has Europeans caught in a trap
2020-01-07
Nobody likes to feel that they aren’t in control.
[DW] Once again, Europe
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
 is suffering under the way Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons......
 makes political decisions on the fly. The only option left is to appeal to Iran's interest in self-preservation.
Posted by:trailing wife

#17  Life was so much simpler for the European Ruling Class when they could depend on their colonial subjects to fight and die for them.
Posted by: magpie   2020-01-07 17:27  

#16  Funny, during the Vietnam war the US escalated as part of the plan to withdraw. Bring the North to the table begging for the bombing to stop was the plan I believe. then once we had a peace treaty we could walk.

This isn't so different except trump has taken the civilians out of the picture and applied the pain directly to decision makers.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2020-01-07 14:11  

#15  Trump, quoted during the early 1980s: "I play fair. But screw me, and I screw back -- in spades."

...spoken like a true Jacksonian. A wise ethos for us.
Posted by: Lex   2020-01-07 13:22  

#14  ...Jacksonian.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2020-01-07 13:07  

#13  Trumps wants peace but he will not be pushed.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2020-01-07 12:33  

#12  You see, Herb? It fits with Trump's modus operandi. Neocons like Bush wouldn't have had the balls.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2020-01-07 12:32  

#11  
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2020-01-07 12:30  

#10  Trump's strategy is pretty obvious, really. Anyone who has watched him at all should know it: If you hit him, he hits back harder. Solemeini doesn't seem to have studied Sun Tsu. You must know your enemy.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2020-01-07 12:27  

#9  Once again, Europe is suffering under the way Donald Trump makes political decisions on the fly.

Perhaps you and your cultured, nuanced friends misunderestimate the President. The fact that you didn't see the hard-breaking curve ball does not mean the pitch wasn't thrown deliberately.

The only option left is to appeal to Iran's interest in self-preservation,

Is that a bad thing? Appeasement and pallets of cash have not stopped them. Even murderous lunatics can be rational actors (in the game theory sense).
Posted by: SteveS   2020-01-07 12:26  

#8  The Europeans, whose holiday peace was upset by the news of the unexpected killing of Iran's second-most powerful man, must now suffer the consequences. Uninformed and powerless as usual, they once again face the fallout from the US president's spontaneous unilateral decisions. They are caught in the Trump trap and cannot free themselves on their own.

They fear there is no strategy to follow up on the current blind flurry of activity, including the drone attack at Baghdad airport.

So, Barbara Wesel can we assume you are not a Trump fan and that you would be a Dem if you were in the U.S.
Posted by: JohnQC   2020-01-07 11:03  

#7  DW whines: "Any illusions about the possibility of an even partially rational cooperation on foreign policy with the government in Washington have long been shattered." And who in Washington and in their right mind would trust Germany? I guess the answer to that is the Pentagon, which still has more than a score of "bases" in Hunland.
Posted by: b   2020-01-07 07:27  

#6  The eurines always wanted iran as a counterbalance to US power. Selling dual use stuff to them was about more than money. Now Trump has flushed the punch bowl.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2020-01-07 07:20  

#5  Is there still room for a political solution?

Clausewitz's best-known aphorism - that war is a continuation of politics by other means. They don't even read German in Germany anymore (other than Marx)? Well, yeah, I guess given that American journalist haven't even read the American Constitution. So, I guess this requires a '/rhet question' on it.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2020-01-07 07:02  

#4  The US president had actually promised to end endless wars in the Middle East and bring American soldiers home. Even experienced observers of US Middle East policy have been unable to explain how this fits in with the strike against Soleimani.

Well that's easy. I don't think Trump was consulted on the escalation at all. Large parts of the US government operate independently with no oversight. THey pursue their own goals to the detriment of us all.

I think they either outmaneuvered him, or presented him with a fait accompli. Trump's way is to get out on front of events when he can't control them, claiming it was what he wanted to do all along. See: the dissolving of his business council.

It looks like the bloodthirsty neo-cons might have their war after all. Literally nobody in America supports it except a few ten thousands of people around DC and NYC, and their fellow travelers. How about before we go to war, we take General Smedley Butler's advice and take a plebiscite of the men who are to fight and die, and see if they think it's worthwhile.

Imagine if we took General Butler's advice and in wartime forced corporations to join our soldiers in making sacrifices for their country. We could pass laws which guarantee that corporate profits decrease during war rather than increase.
Posted by: Herb McCoy   2020-01-07 05:18  

#3  Don't cry EUropeans - you can still condemn Israel and set your imported Jew Killers free.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2020-01-07 02:48  

#2  The US president had actually promised to end endless wars in the Middle East and bring American soldiers home. Even experienced observers of US Middle East policy have been unable to explain how this fits in with the strike against Soleimani.

Is this a joke?

Suleimani was a monster, drenched in blood: Mr. Chaos.

He spread death, destruction, anarchy across the entire region and beyond. Does anyone remember 80+ innocents slaughtered by this monster in Buenos Aires? Anyone?

Ridding the world of this agent of death achieves several excellent things:

1) the Iranians are finally, after decades of gross incompetence bordering on treason committed by multiple presidents of both parties - remember Reagan's birthday cake for the Ayatollah? - finally, at long last, the Iranians are on the back foot.

2) the corrupt, shi'a & Iran-dominated Shitshow that is the Iraqi government is on notice: we will not tolerate a Persian satrapy in Baghdad.

3) most important of all, the US, whatever it's political soap operas at home, possesses complete, uncontested dominance of the skies and of global communications. We know where you f---heads are, what you're saying, where you're going, and we can slice you into hamburger with laser-accurate hypersonic missiles before you even know what's coming at you.

All of the above imply a new US policy: the Offshore Balancer who does not need to be bogged down, ever again, in any major land war outside of our own continental US.

Iran is down, for good.

Now it is up to us and our allies, with the participation of Russia, the Turks and the Egyptians, to suppress the region-wide violence and chaos that were stoked for 40 years by these vicious, wicked and nihilistic Iranian madmen.

Now quitcher bitchin' and accept reality. There will never be an Iran deal. The mullahs' Iran is finished.
Posted by: Lex   2020-01-07 01:55  

#1  Mean while the "Art of the Deal" guy will be stirring up internal strife against the regime via the regime's disgruntled population to keep them tied down.
Posted by: Goober Tingle7365   2020-01-07 01:30  

00:00