Rather than citing international law to denounce U.S.-Israeli aggression, Western Europe’s leaders are happily blaming the victim—Iran
At a time when Iran is under attack from U.S. and Israeli missiles, the EU’s prevailing message is that Tehran should simply endure the assault and then negotiate with its attackers.
“It is essential that the war does not spread any further. The Iranian regime has choices to make,” the bloc’s chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas stated. ”The Iranian regime must understand that it now has no other option but to engage in good faith in negotiations to end its nuclear and ballistic programs, as well as its regional destabilization activities,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.
France, for one, has long promoted its backing of the EU’s so-called feminist foreign policy, described as “a framework that applies a gender lens to a country’s external actions and diplomacy.” Does this mean that when you see someone brandishing a ballistic weapon and imposing it on a weaker nation—someone who also keeps threatening to take advantage of you—you stand by cheering them on while telling the victim they brought it on themselves?
“France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have consistently urged the Iranian regime to end Iran’s nuclear program, curb its ballistic missile program, refrain from its destabilizing activity in the region and our homelands, and to cease the appalling violence and repression against its own people,” these countries stated in a joint statement. “We condemn Iranian attacks on countries in the region in the strongest terms. Iran must refrain from indiscriminate military strikes.”
That’s rather naive. Europeans are acting as if Trump and Netanyahu’s bombing of Iran isn’t about serving Trump’s personal and political allies in Israel. Instead, they claim it’s all about Iran’s nuclear program— which Trump boasted he’d destroyed less than a year ago— along with its destabilizing regional actions and domestic crackdowns.
So what is the EU doing? It’s backing the U.S. government— which is arguably more associated with all those issues combined than any other nation today. The EU is even increasing its defense budget, not because Iran is threatening to invade Europe, but because Trump (with his fixation on Greenland) is citing national security— just as he did when bombing Iran and Venezuela. And their response? “Iran hasn’t cut back on missile production!” Weapons and nuclear programs are now the equivalent of short skirts, supposedly inviting arbitrary violations of sovereignty. How very feminist!
Has it ever crossed the minds of these European jokers that Trump just proved their point by unilaterally bombing Tehran while negotiations were ongoing? It’s like saying, “Come to the negotiating table so we can perfect our GPS targeting.”
And speaking of “indiscriminate strikes,” has anyone from Trump’s global police team explained the bombing of those Iranian schoolchildren yet?
The U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran continues, and “Queen Ursula” (unelected European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen) talks about the need to turn Iran into an American vassal state— oops, I mean “democracy.” She seems to think that the recently assassinated 87-year-old Ayatollah was the only barrier preventing 90 million Iranians from waiting around for him to pass so they could dance freely in the streets, as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights supposedly intends.
She’s fully embraced (or is pretending to embrace) the U.S. narrative that this targeted killing equals regime change, as if those two are even remotely similar.
Like, alright, the old regime is done! Time for democracy, everyone! And the EU will help shape Iran, she claims. The many layers of IRGC members in the line of succession can just enroll in EU-run civil society classes. Maybe they should first get good at building their own nations before trying to fix Iran?
The EU acts like it’s ready to implement some plan, even though Trump recently told ABC News that he killed all the candidates he wanted to install as puppets in Iran. “It’s not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead. Second- or third-place is dead,” Trump said.
Why would Iran listen to anything the Europeans say now, let alone let them meddle, when their response to Trump unilaterally withdrawing from the Obama-era nuclear deal (which all of them signed to regulate Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions) was to impose sanctions on Tehran instead of the U.S. for breaking the agreement?
It seems EU leaders have long been unable to assign blame where it truly lies. Perhaps because they’re a collective mind, mindlessly repeating the word “destabilization” in unison— not about Trump’s joint strikes with Israel, but about Iran’s desire to exist on its own terms and defend itself against those who oppose that.
But hey, at least some Europeans are thinking independently and calling for sanctions on the U.S. and Israel. Just joking— they’re only mad that no one asked their permission first.
“The US is currently operating outside traditional international law. Usually, justification for these types of attacks has been sought – either from the UN or at least from allies. Now, it has not been requested. It was not requested regarding Venezuela, it was not requested neither before the 12-day war, nor in this latest case,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb said.
And what’s EU ally Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney thinking when he supports Trump’s “security” justification for attacking Iran, even as Trump repeatedly threatens to annex Canada as the 51st state using the same excuse? Canada’s top military officials have recently discussed defending themselves from the U.S., yet Carney can’t seem to see the similarity. It’s as if Canada is flipping through a catalogue of short skirts (inviting trouble).
Maybe Trump will take his friends’ and allies’ advice and ask their permission before invading Greenland or Canada. Then, to be consistent, they can issue joint statements celebrating their “liberation” by Washington, call for a smooth handover of whatever’s left of their sovereignty, and then go barefoot to the kitchen to make Uncle Sam a sandwich.