Oppose U.S. attacking Iran? Trump prepares retaliation against European allies
Trump seems to have already chosen his next target for extortion.
On the 24th, Reuters cited a U.S. official saying that the Pentagon has compiled several punitive options targeting NATO allies.
The report stated that due to certain NATO allies failing to express support for the United States in the U.S.-Iran war, the Trump administration decided to impose "punishment," with possible measures including suspending Spain's NATO membership, re-evaluating the U.S. stance on the Falkland Islands issue, and Trump repeatedly emphasizing that he "does not rule out exiting NATO."
If these options are actually implemented by Trump, the familiar "classic scene" between the U.S. and Europe will unfold once again: first, Trump roars aggressively threatening Europe; Europe outwardly displays an unyielding posture, but behind the scenes quietly pleads with Trump to show mercy and not withdraw from NATO—until Trump’s attention shifts to a new topic.
The Greenland dispute between the U.S. and Europe last year followed exactly this script, although at that time Trump did not extract much tangible benefit from Europe. Therefore, now that Trump is raising the big stick of "punishing NATO" once more, it remains to be seen how much leverage he can extract this time.
Certainly, some might argue that such actions by Trump would accelerate the estrangement between the U.S. and Europe, even pushing Europe toward defense autonomy. However, this view is somewhat inaccurate. While disintegration between the U.S. and Europe is indeed possible, as long as the U.S. military remains stationed in Europe, so-called "European defense autonomy" remains nothing but empty talk.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1863354466173952/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.