A Foolish NATO Was a Big Loser in the Iran War By Victor Davis Hanson

[mystery-ak]

A Foolish NATO Was a Big Loser in the Iran War › American Greatness
Victor Davis Hanson


NATO members are not legally required to join any member’s military operations that are not formally sanctioned by the alliance or not aimed at protecting the homelands of the membership.

But they often do just that.

Some NATO members joined the Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq on the theory that, in the post-9/11 environment, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein were dangers to all Western security.

They followed the precedent set by America’s 1999 intervention in the distant Balkans, leading a three-month NATO campaign to dismantle Slobodan Milošević’s often bloody ambitions of a Greater Serbia. The U.S. also joined the 2011 U.N.-approved, and French- and British-inspired, NATO “coalition of the willing” bombing campaign in Libya.

That effort proved a seven-month misadventure—especially since the targeted Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi had given up his nuclear weapons program and was desperately trying to cut a deal with the West.

When NATO members in the past have operated unilaterally to defend their own national interests, they have often called on the U.S., as NATO’s strongest member, for overt help.

more
https://amgreatness.com/2026/04/02/a-foolish-nato-was-a-big-loser-in-the-iran-war/

[IsailedawayfromFR]

With the rebuffing of American efforts to simply land or refuel closer to the action, our alternatives are either to withdraw to take care of ourselves and let the complacent and nauseant Europeans fend for themselves, or to begin to acquire areas of the world where we can have our own territory.

That is the effort to have a presence in Greenland, and it seems it may be necessary in areas of the world where we need to protect our interests, such as the ME.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Yeah, there have been so many "winners" in Middle East wars.

This is not NATO's war.  NATO is not America's cleanup crew nor fixers.

If Iran is so defeated, why hasn't the US secured the Strait of Hormuz?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Yeah, there have been so many "winners" in Middle East wars.

This is not NATO's war.  NATO is not America's cleanup crew nor fixers.

If Iran is so defeated, why hasn't the US secured the Strait of Hormuz?

You and I do not have the intelligence strategy being deployed.

Israel is in this to keep from being blown to smithereens.

US is in this to stop/set back Iran's nuclear program and to ensure enemies like China do not gain unfettered access to ME oil and gas.

The US does not need that crude, but is seeking to deny China's access to it.

The EU needs the ME oil and gas as its overly stupid reliance on renewables and Russia natural gas, cessation of energy from reliable nuclear and coal plants, has placed it in a position that requires it to have access to ME crude and gas.

Getting the EU to control Hormuz is preferable to China providing that control.

IMO, if it comes down to it, in the end the US will provide that control if the EU does not, simply because of the China threat.

He who controls the resources is the one who controls power.

[DefiantMassRINO]

China's shortage of Mid East oil may prompt them to be more aggressive in the South China Sea and the East China Sea to secure new(er) sources of oil.

[Free Vulcan]

Do you keep a long time employee around that basically refuses to work? We've saved Europe's butt in two World Wars, the Cold War, and with our  blood and treasure kept everyone else at bay while Europe basically self-destructs.

What use are they anymore? Are we supposed to stay hitched because of good times, great oldies, grins, giggles and fond memories?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

China's shortage of Mid East oil may prompt them to be more aggressive in the South China Sea and the East China Sea to secure new(er) sources of oil.

Likely.

I have been involved in worldwide hydrocarbon resources for decades, and there is simply very few potential +billion barrel resources still available on the horizon in that theater.

China would have a better chance geologically and politically doing something like that in Africa which has large fields and new emerging hydrocarbon plays.

Having said that, China will most certainly not be locked out of ME oil, as it is too important to the world.

[Fishrrman]

Vulcan spits flames with:
"Do you keep a long time employee around that basically refuses to work? We've saved Europe's butt in two World Wars, the Cold War, and with our  blood and treasure kept everyone else at bay while Europe basically self-destructs."

Most of (all of?) Western Europe will be muslim by the end of the century.
What point is there in "defending them", when they seem to be walking (rushing?) headlong into it of their own volition...?

[MeganC]

They followed the precedent set by America’s 1999 intervention in the distant Balkans, leading a three-month NATO campaign to dismantle Slobodan Milošević’s often bloody ambitions of a Greater Serbia.

The US and NATO were on the wrong side in that conflict. We supported Albanian Muslim illegal immigrants in their takeover of previously Christian Kosovo.

Even The US Government tacitly admits to this via Radio Free Europe:

https://www.rferl.org/a/kosovo-churches-serbs-destroyed/33079905.html

[Smokin Joe]

The US and NATO were on the wrong side in that conflict. We supported Albanian Muslim illegal immigrants in their takeover of previously Christian Kosovo.

Even The US Government tacitly admits to this via Radio Free Europe:

https://www.rferl.org/a/kosovo-churches-serbs-destroyed/33079905.html