The writer is a senior fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations
A European official visiting Washington told me recently, in bewilderment: “The Iran war is like a black hole in which everything is disappearing — including Nato.” From a European perspective, it is incomprehensible why Nato is on the chopping block because of the war. Iran is not Nato territory, the US chose not to consult European allies and could not seriously have expected Europeans to join them in what they saw as reckless adventurism.
But within the US administration, the frustration and grievance is real, and even extends beyond Maga into conservative foreign policy circles. Europeans did not have to join us, but they could at least stand with us. How is refusing base usage not a breach of solidarity and loyalty?