As the crisis of capitalism deepens, conflicts between the competing ruling classes in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere become ever sharper. Washington’s decision to go to war against Iran has exacerbated divisions between the U.S. rulers and the governments of France, Germany and the U.K.
Imperialist powers in Europe have all separated themselves from the U.S. war. President Donald Trump blasted the French and U.K. governments March 31 for their refusal to join Washington’s assault on Iran. “You’ll have to start learning now to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” Trump wrote. “Go get your own oil!”
Trump also took aim at the NATO military alliance. The U.S.-dominated bloc was established after Washington’s victory at the end of World War II and now includes the rulers of 29 European countries, plus Canada and Turkey. “I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too,” he told the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph.
French President Emmanuel Macron warned that Trump’s repeated denunciation of NATO will “hollow it out.”
But NATO has no army of its own. It’s dependent on forces fielded by the competing capitalist ruling classes that make up the alliance, and from the beginning has relied overwhelmingly on the U.S. military. That reality was bluntly expressed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month. “Without the United States, there is no NATO,” he said.
Imperialist powers in Western Europe see the Trump administration’s moves to expand the U.S. military and are concerned their dependence on Washington makes them more vulnerable, especially in the wake of Moscow’s war to conquer Ukraine. Each is seeking to rebuild its own armed forces, as the largest ground war in Europe since World War II continues with no end in sight. Each fears that Washington will use its war against Iran to gain ground in the oil-rich Middle East at their expense and freeze them out of the plunder of the region’s resources.
At the start of the war, the Spanish government announced it will refuse to let U.S. forces use jointly operated air bases in Spain. “No one’s going to tell us not to use them,” Trump asserted, before threatening to halt U.S. trade with Spain. In response, the Spanish rulers blocked U.S. military aircraft from using their airspace.
The Italian government refused to let U.S. bombers on their way to the Middle East land at an air base in Sicily March 27. The Spanish and Italian governments are both NATO members, and Rome is an avowed ally of the Trump administration.
“There will be no going back to transatlantic relations to before Jan. 20, 2025,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier proclaimed March 24, after calling the war against Iran a “disastrous mistake.”
“As long as the war continues, we will not participate in ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared March 18. The strait has been closed since the start of the war as Tehran has targeted ships whose governments are allied with Washington.
Government officials from France, Germany, the U.K. and elsewhere pledged to provide forces to reopen the strait, but only after a ceasefire. This must be done “in coordination with Iran,” Macron said April 2. The same day the Iranian regime let a French-owned container ship pass through the strait.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is moving his government more toward a bloc with Paris and Berlin and away from Washington. “As the world continues down this volatile path, our long-term national interests require closer partnership with our allies in Europe,” he said April 1.
But none of the rival imperialist powers in Europe come close to being able to defend themselves without Washington’s military clout. Having let its forces decay for decades, the German government is now planning to spend more than a trillion dollars to field the largest army on the continent over the next decade.
But that sum is dwarfed by the Trump administration calling for $1.5 trillion in military spending over the coming year. Trump aims to rebuild the U.S. rulers’ world supremacy for the even more devastating wars that lie ahead. The U.S. budget proposal includes expanding munitions production, buying 34 new warships and constructing a missile defense shield.
The war against Iran is aimed at extending the U.S. imperialists’ domination across the Middle East and pushing back their rivals — especially Beijing — as well as their “allies” in Europe.
Those goals are nothing new. Washington systematically imposed its place as the unmatched imperialist power in the Middle East after 1956, at the expense of the previous colonial rulers of Britain and France. That year London and Paris launched a war to try to retake control of the Suez Canal after it was nationalized by the Egyptian government. Washington intervened, forcing London and Paris to withdraw.