Seriously, who thinks that fighting yet another war in the Middle East is a good idea for the United States right now?
I was opposed to George W. Bush's war with Iraq. Given that we were already fighting in Afghanistan, it seemed particularly foolish to then pursue another war simultaneously. Particularly since this is a region which, historically speaking, has many people who are not fans of the United States. Not surprisingly, Americans learned that the promises of Iraqis welcoming Americans with open arms as liberators was nothing but hype and lies, as were similar promises of a quick and decisive victory. In fact, the war raged on for the better part of twenty years. We were not well loved in either Iraq or Afghanistan, and both wars ended with us leaving not exactly on our preferred terms.
If there was one thing which I personally agreed with Donald Trump, it was that war in the Middle East is a terrible idea. Despite not supporting him, at least we could be sure that he would not get us involved in another foreign war, especially in the Middle East, right? That was one of the things which he promised, after all.
Yet, here we are. Another war in the region. This time it is Iran, the nation sandwiched in between Iraq and Afghanistan, the two countries specifically where we just had bad experiences.
At least George W. Bush made a point of trying to get as many nations on our side before launching the invasion, to try and make it seem like we had friends supporting us. He called it the "coalition of the willing," although it was an inconsistent list of allies, few of which actually put much effort in actually helping the United States fight the war in Iraq. But Trump did not even bother with that pretense. He went on and on about how the American military was just so powerful that it could pretty much do whatever the hell it wants, wherever the hell it wants, and get exactly the results it desires. Remember, he already invaded Venezuela and now Iran. He has threatened to militarily take over Panama, Colombia, Cuba, Greenland, and Gaza. Also, he suggested the American military might have "boots on the ground" in Mexico to take care of the drug problem there. Oh, and his imperialistic ambitions clearly extend to Canada, too, although he never outright threatened military action there. No, all he did was undermine their sovereignty and refer to them as the "51st state," and suggest that they should abandon their nationhood, for all intents and purposes, and join Trump's United States.
Am I missing something?
Hello?
This guy went from "no more foreign wars" to not being able to get enough foreign wars. In January, he invaded Venezuela and declared himself president of that country. In February, he launched this war with Iran. Beyond that, he has threatened to take military action against Greenland, Panama, Colombia, Cuba, and Gaza.
At a time when the United States is crushed by foreign debt, we are engaging in still more costly wars. Costly in every way, of course. But that includes literally costing a fortune, as this war - which a majority of Americans are opposed to, and which President Trump launched without bothering to seek approval from Congress - is costing an estimated $1 billion.
All of that while the United States is militarily engaged in another country: Venezuela. For now, it is true that Venezuela has faded from the headlines. But since the United States has claimed that all profits extracted from Venezuela will go to the United States, I am willing to bet that people there are less than thrilled with their new American occupiers. That, in fact, the political and military situation regarding American involvement might not be over, even if it has, for now, faded from the spotlight of news headlines around the world.
Plus, at a time when the reputation of the United States is collapsing around the world, and where people have learned not to rely on us as a trustworthy partner, this kind of antagonistic action is going to have the effect of isolating us even more.
Indeed, I don't see any real or major benefit to be had from this conflict. It seems like an extremely high risk, low reward situation. And it is difficult to understand the Trump White House making all sorts of excuses and rationales for the war. It still remains unclear to most Americans why we are fighting there, frankly.
Then, there was King Con Don this weekend, asking our "allies" to step in in order to help open the Straight of Hormuz. If our "allies" don't do this, Trump claims, they are facing a very bad future, according to him.
Now, you might have noticed that I used quotes around the word allies. That is because King Con Don has made it abundantly clear, at every single turn, that he simply does not value having allies. I mean, he insulted them and said that they were not pulling their weight, which some feel was a legitimate point that past presidents should have been making.
Fine.
However, he also threatened to invade the territory belonging to one of those allies (Greenland, which for now still belongs to Denmark) and at the spur of the moment, decided to try and economically boycott another of those allies (Spain) when it refused American jets to land there. Trump also relentlessly undermined the sovereignty of another of those allied nations (Canada) - or should it be clear that these are now former allies? - by repeatedly and relentlessly referring to it as the "51st state" and referring to their Prime Minister as "governor" and then, finally, suggesting numerous times that it should simply allow itself to be absorbed into the United States. Trump also took the Americentric tone that, because of World War II - a conflict which ended 80 years ago - our allies still owed us something. If not for us, you all would be speaking German now, he told them during the Davos conference, in a neutral country that is predominately speaks German. Oh, and let us not forget that Trump had each and every one of those former allies on his very long list of countries which he would impose significant tariffs on. Then as a coup de grâce, Trump went ahead and took military action in Venezuela and now, of course, in Iran, without bothering to warn those former allies first.
King Con Don declared premature victory, saying that the war "realistically" was won within the first hour. Except that, just like other Middle Eastern conflicts the United States got involved with, the war rages on. And now, King Con Don is suddenly showing the first signs of any humility in asking - actually probably more like demanding - help from those same allies that he has made every attempt at undermining and, frankly, insulting.
Anyone else see anything wrong with this picture?
Not surprisingly, these former allies were less than enthusiastic about getting themselves involved in a war which they did not start, and which Trump made clear they initially that they were not needed for, anyway. Britain said no. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that this was "not a matter for NATO." German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius pretty much echoed those sentiments, saying, “This is not our war, we have not started it.” That's a no from Germany, and a no from Great Britain. Italy also said no. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told reporters that “diplomacy needs to prevail.”
How about Spain? Maybe they wanted to mend fences after Trump got explosively angry at them a few weeks ago for refusing to allow Americans to use their airspace in their war with Iran?
“Spain will never accept any stopgap measures” to keep the strait open, Defense Minister Margarita Robles said, “because the objective must be for the war to end, and for it to end now.”
Soooo.... that would be a no from Spain, as well.
Okay, so maybe western Europe is still mad over that whole threatening to take over Greenland thing, right? Perhaps Trump just went a little too far with Europeans, and they are still a little sore. How about other allies? Australia, maybe? Japen, perhaps?
No and no.
My personal favorite response came from former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves. He explained the absurdity of the situation, and of Trump even having the gall to even ask such a huge "favor" from former allies:
"It's a bit rich — after you've been threatening Denmark and insulting the memory of around 1,000 NATO troops who fought in Afghanistan — to say, 'Oh, you all have to come and help us now," said Ilves, who was Estonian president between 2006 and 2016.
"If countries send troops and something happens to them, is he going to make fun of them again?" he added. "It's a political nonstarter from the get-go," he said. "I'm not sure what he expected."
Turns out that when you act like a conceited, narcissistic asshole all of the time, and bend over backwards - completely unnecessarily and entirely unprovoked - to consistently insult and undermine allies for a very long time, those "allies" - excuse me, former allies - really are not all that keen on the idea of helping you out of a mess that you got yourself into in the first place. Especially when it concerns a war in the Middle East.
Should that come as a surprise?
After all, time and time again, Trump has declared that the United States is just so powerful that, for all intents and purposes, it does not need any other country for anything, really.
What was the official American response?
Once again, it reflected the tired old Americentric viewpoint. Something to the effect of how they should be so thankful for the United States that they should bend over backwards to help us out.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that all of those countries should help out because they “are benefiting greatly from the United States military taking out the threat of Iran.”
She added that “the president is absolutely right to call on these countries to do more to help the United States to reopen the Strait of Hormuz so that we can stop this terrorist regime from restricting the free flow of energy.”
In other words, the spirit of friendship does not apply to us towards them, but it should absolutely apply from them towards us. In short, Trump can insult and threaten and punish our "allies," but they are crazy and insolent and ungrateful if they respond with anything but gratitude and do not help us out immediately and without question when we get ourselves involved in a sticky situation which apparently we cannot easily get out of. At least not without losing face.
Yes, this is the approach of the self-described "very stable genius."
Meanwhile, the war is going badly, and the entire world is watching. And criticizing us for it.
Almost every other country is opposed to this war. They warned that it would be a bad idea. And as this war which - again let's remind everyone - Trump insisted we won in the first hour instead drags on, it is indeed looking like it was not well thought out. Indeed, it is looking increasingly like a "Wag the Dog" kind of a war to distract from bad news domestically. Trump clearly knows the strategy, since he accused President Obama of this same strategy back in 2011, almost a decade-and-a-half ago now.
Once again, the United States is in a war in the Middle East which is causing much more damaging than the American media is covering. A war which is hurting America's reputation worldwide. A war which, far from demonstrating American military might, is now beginning to show the limits of American military capabilities, much like other recent Middle Eastern conflicts. A war that is costing the United States significantly every single day, and which literally costs something like $1 billion every single day. A war which, lest anyone forget, King Con Don never got Congressional approval for, which seems like it makes this war not just immoral, but also illegal. Yet another example of a dictator's overreach of power.
Let's all take a moment to "thank" the man truly and almost solely responsible for getting the United States into this situation singlehandedly: "King" Donald Trump.
Below are the links to the articles which got me onto this topic for this blog entry to begin with, and from which I obtained all of the quotes used above:
Trump says he's 'not happy' with UK after Starmer says it won't be drawn into wider Iran war by BBC News, 16, March, 2016:
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cx2lr40g17kt
'Not our war': U.S. allies balk at Trump's Strait of Hormuz demands by Alexander Smith, March 16, 2026:
Many European governments expressed reservations Monday about providing military support to reopen the crucial waterway.
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/us-allies-respond-trump-strait-of-hormuz-demands-nato-iran-war-rcna263650
U.S. allies respond to Trump's Strait of Hormuz demands with caution
Here’s the news from Iran – Donald Trump is making America lose wars again by Simon Tisdall, Sun 15 Mar 2026.
Humiliating failure now looms, as symbolically damaging to US global standing and national self-esteem as Afghanistan or Iraq
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/15/us-iran-war-donald-trump-failure?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawQjyydleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeJ-alBS3r9L8AeEs2ty-GDJG_FE5fSuBTxzgax86XKKDciFHn7X2UemJuI9A_aem_CzALF6Ffo6ERJuALgImORw#Echobox=1773576435
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