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You can find evidence of alliances and cooperative behavior in the earliest history of man; in fact, it is likely a key reason that Homo sapiens flourished on this planet. Only someone deluded and narcissistic enough to believe that they need no help whatsoever in any situation would have to learn how to cooperate and work together on the fly.
Such is the situation we find ourselves in with Donald Trump, strategic genius, who waited until day 15 of a misbegotten war with Iran to suggest—OK, demand—that he may need some assistance ensuring safe passage in the Strait of Hormuz. He directed nominal U.S. allies to send warships into the strait to allow cargo to cross through, the same allies he has been imposing tariffs on for close to a year. And they collectively responded, approximately: Fuck off.
The German defense minister reacted with incredulity to the notion that “a handful or two handfuls of European frigates” could “accomplish in the Strait of Hormuz that the powerful U.S. Navy there cannot achieve on its own.” Britain and France didn’t want to get involved until fighting ended. Not a single country has volunteered their services. Their logic, that they didn’t start the war, weren’t consulted about the war, and have no real way to advance any goals of the war, is pretty airtight.
So after about 24 hours of this fruitless begging, Trump went back to saying, “We don’t need anybody.”
Usually, you do the coalition-building before going off to war and getting into an impossible military predicament. Of course, usually you would check to see if the country you’re about to bomb has operational control of any strategic passages.
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