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August 31, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 4
“We convinced the US president [to exit the deal] and I had to stand up against the whole world and come out against this agreement,” Netanyahu says in the video, cited by the Times of Israel. “And we didn’t give up.”
Brussels was incensed by the decision and called on EU businesses to defy the US threat of retali- atory sanctions for any firm that does business with Iran.
“We are encouraging small and medium enter- prises in particular to increase business with
and in Iran as part of something [that] for us is a security priority,” EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on August 7, insisting the member states of the 28-nation European bloc would not let the Iran nuclear deal die. SMEs are less likely to have business in the US and so should be im- mune to US threats.
Running battles
These two fights have been dramatic, but Washing- ton and Brussels are now fighting a whole series of low key wars — or in other cases Europe is simply getting hurt by the shrapnel Trump is throwing
off. The chaos on the metal markets caused the ill conceived April 6 round of sanctions that targeted Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska’s aluminium
firm Rusal hit the London Metals Market hardest and cost everyone a lot of money. The US energy sanctions proposed before that would have meant sanctions on European companies with business in Russia as well as the Russian targets.
European efforts to mediate in a broad range of situations including Russia, Palestine, Syria and the war in Yemen have all become unpredictable, as Washington increasingly acts without coordi- nating with its allies. The difference boils down to the US “might makes right” attitude to foreign policy that comic pianist Tom Lehrer sang about in the 40s and epitomised by the giagantic scale of US military might compared to its allies, vs the EU sticking to its core values as the guiding prin- ciples of policy making. The US and the EU have fundamentally different approaches to military
strategy that could be characterised as "shock & awe" vs "jaw jaw."
“In recent days and weeks in particular, we are finding that where the US Administration overtly calls our values and interests into question, we will certainly need to take a more robust stance in the future” Maas said in his “Courage to Stand Up for Europe” speech to his foreign ministry col- leagues in June. “The first test of this approach will be the nuclear agreement with Iran. We Euro- peans want to defend this agreement and we are united on that. Our aim is not to support Tehran, but rather to prevent a nuclear arms race in the Middle East – something that would also have devastating consequences for our own security here. This can only be achieved if we join forces with France on a very wide range of issues.”
Arms fuel fights
One of the biggest differences in approach be- tween the two camps is the attitude to military support. The US default foreign policy is pouring arms into a disputed region as a way of obtain- ing control over a government and making some money in the process.
The US has swamped the Middle East with arms, as was highlighted by an infographic that was widely shared on social media in June showing US arms exports over the last 67 years.
There is little Europe can do to curb US arms ex- ports, but what unsettles Brussels is now the US is starting to supply arms to Ukraine. President Barack Obama resisted sending lethal weapons to Kyiv out of fear of escalating the showdown with Russia, but the Trump administration has been less shy, supplying sought-after US sniper rifles and the tank-busting Javelin missiles, which were deployed in May. The latest US budget drafts in- clude $250mn of military aid to Ukraine, including $50mn for lethal military supplies.
Germany prefers to negotiate and engage. Mer- kel came under fire for meeting Putin in Sochi in May and then again in Germany at the Meseberg