Personal Finance Topics / Macroeconomic Trends and Risks
No. of Recommendations: 20
… looks like allies are hard to get with the current attitude:
BRUSSELS — Europe's message to Donald Trump on Monday was clear: We're not helping you secure the Strait of Hormuz. “Europe has no interest in an open-ended war,” EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said Monday evening after the meeting. “This is not Europe’s war, but Europe’s interests are directly at stake.”
“The Americans chose this path, together with the Israelis,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said, adding that Germany’s main responsibility was to defend NATO territory. “We did not start this war,” Pistorius stressed. …. “NATO is a defensive alliance, not an interventionist one. And that is precisely why NATO has no place here at all,” Merz said. "I hope that we will treat one another with the necessary respect within the alliance,” Merz added, in an apparent rebuke to Trump’s grousing.
Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister Xavier Bettel went even further, stressing his country would not give in to "blackmail" from Washington. “Don't ask us” to send troops, Bettel told reporters in Brussels.https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-donald-trum...
No. of Recommendations: 5
Europe is uniting under "MAGA". In their case, it means "make America go away".
A clumsy, stupid, inept way to do it. But a united Europe is a good thing. I doubt that was his goal, but that's what is happening.
No. of Recommendations: 1
How many bet Trump the Perfect and Virile will cancel the trade deal he did with the EU, and punish them with tariffs for not fighting his war for him?
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 1
Yep, hope my NeoCon friends are happy.'
And now, it's possible Europe won't wake up to a nuclear ready Iran like they deserved to do.
We are Israel's bitch.
And inadvertently, Europe's bitch.
Hopefully they get Europe from inside.
Slowly.....
No. of Recommendations: 3
But Merz's claim is demonstrably false.
Ukraine is not, and never has been, a part of NATO. (It wants to be, but that's a different kettle of fish.)
Why is NATO intervening in the Russo-Ukraine war?
No. of Recommendations: 10
is NATO intervening in the Russo-Ukraine war?
Though Ukraine is not a part of NATO, it IS a part of Europe.
And the Russian invasion of Ukraine threatens all of Europe.
No. of Recommendations: 4
Similarly, the flow of oil through the Straits of Hormuz affects all of Europe, and arguably, all of the world.
And the ability of Iran to project nuclear power via ballistic missiles thousands of miles beyond its borders arguably affects the NATO countries as well. Or, hopefully, the prevention of the acquisition of that power. Two sides of the same coin.
Thank you for agreeing with me, Rev. It's refreshing.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Similarly, the flow of oil through the Straits of Hormuz affects all of Europe, and arguably, all of the world.Did you notice this tidbit on the wire?
U.S. is allowing Iranian oil tankers through Strait of Hormuz, says Bessent
“The Iranian ships have been getting out already, and we’ve let that happen to supply the rest of the world,” Bessent told CNBC’s Brian Sullivan in a “Squawk Box” interview in Paris. The Treasury secretary is in France for trade talks with China.
“We think that there will be a natural opening that the Iranians are letting out, and for now we’re fine with that. We want the world to be well supplied,” Bessent said. President Donald Trump is pressuring nations that rely on the strait for oil to help the U.S. protect tankers from attacks by Iran. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/16/us-is-allowing-ira...Iran has consistently said that ships not affiliated with US/Israeli aggressors against Iran will be allowed to pass. China, in particular, has told Trump the Manley and Virile to pound sand, wrt his demand other countries, including China, send their navies to prosecute his war. Most of the crude Iran exports goes to China, so they are not, currently, suffering a crimp in supply doe to Trump's made up war.
Trump says U.S. asked China to delay Xi meeting ‘a month or so’ due to Iran war
President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. has asked to delay his planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing by “a month or so” due to the ongoing war with Iran.
“We’re speaking to China. I’d love to, but because of the war, I want to be here. I have to be here, I feel,” Trump said. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/16/trump-china-iran-x...In his usual "JC" style, Trump the Great and Powerful insists everything is in his control. It's possible China told him where to shove his meeting, because their crude supply is endangered by the US, not by Iran.
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 19
Similarly, the flow of oil through the Straits of Hormuz affects all of Europe, and arguably, all of the world.
And it was flowing just fine before Trump decided to start a war.
And the ability of Iran to project nuclear power via ballistic missiles thousands of miles beyond its borders arguably affects the NATO countries as well. Or, hopefully, the prevention of the acquisition of that power. Two sides of the same coin.
Initiating a war based upon what another country might do in the future.
You really want to justify that as a casus belli?
Looks like every other country thinks Trump is full of horseshit on this one. Almost all of them are telling him he’s on his own. He started this thing….let him get out of the mess he created.
Which shouldn’t surprise him given how he’s treated them over the past year.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Initiating a war based upon what another country might do in the future.
You really want to justify that as a casus belli?
Bush #43, and his NeoCon posse instituted the concept of "preemptive war". So, if the POTUS decides he wants to invade a country, and makes up an excuse, it's legal to start a war.
What would happen if Iran launched a nuke at NATO, or Israel, or the US? The UK, France, US, and Israel would nuke them back and turn Tehran into a big chunk of glass. Unless the Mullahs are more deranged that Trump the Magnificent, they would not start that war. MAD has kept the peace between the US, Russia, China, and North Korea, for decades. The only "national leader" I ever heard insane enough to insist that a nuclear war was "winnable", was Saint Reagan.
Steve
