The administration officials gave Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic a front-row seat to the planning for the strike against the Houthis – a stunning intelligence leak that has caused anger against Republicans who called for criminal investigations against Hillary Clinton and others for playing fast and loose with sensitive information.
On the face of it, the strike against the Houthis had far more to do with the administration’s policies on protecting maritime trade and containing Iran than its concerns about Europe freeloading on US defense spending and military prowess.
But Vance appears determined to push that angle as a reason to postpone the strike.
“I think we are making a mistake,” wrote Vance, adding that while only 3% of US trade goes through the Suez canal, 40% of European trade does. “There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary,” he added. “The strongest reason to do this is, as [Trump] said, to send a message.”
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Older thread with the original article from The Atlantic: https://feddit.org/post/9727375
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Another submission on the same topic (thread removed): https://www.dw.com/en/signal-group-chat-had-us-plans-for-yemen-attack/a-72023690 (via @Mbingu@lemm.ee.)
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That was wild. Like JD Vance quietly saying to hold off and you’re like “Hey, maybe there is a voice of reason behind the scenes.”
Nope. He just hates Europe so much he doesn’t want to do something that benefits them more than the US. What an asshole.
Not entirely sure if Vance was using the Europe angle as a strawman to voice his disapproval of bombing Yemen knowing that the rest of the administration hates Europe,
Or that Vance himself hates Europe.
Either way, the fact that this was the angle Vance took shows that dunking on Europe is accepted as a good argument in the Trump administration.
Not entirely sure if Vance was using the Europe angle as a strawman to voice his disapproval of bombing Yemen knowing that the rest of the administration hates Europe,
Yeah, unfortunately I think that dude is a lot smarter than we all give him credit for. Like Boris Johnson, his perceived idiocy makes him fly under the radar a lot of times, which makes them more dangerous.
The way he kinda flipped a switch at the VP debate and acted like an actual human being whole Belgium directly compared to Walz, then turned right back into a couch-fucking cretin afterwards, seems to support this.
Yep, unfortunately (?) JD Vance is not an idiot. He’s an opportunist who knows how to play the game.
They hate a strong Europe and Canada the most, because a liberal world order is the biggest threat to their Big Tech Gilead goal.
Once they start imprisoning and killing prominent American intellectuals, the remainder will seek asylum in Canada and Europe.
Russia and China are their buddies, the hate for China and sanctions on Russia are performative.
But the hate for Canada and Europe is real.
Yeah, they hate Europe for our Values, but I would say they hate Russia and China as well, because they are competition
“If you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again,” Vance replied. Hegseth agreed that “I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.” But, he added, “we are the only ones on the planet (on our side of the ledger) who can do this.”
The American exceptionalism mind virus.
The only reason the Houthies are attacking is because the States’ vassal state is doing a genocide, it has nothing to do with Europe, unless you count a country as European because they managed to get on Eurovision
(Western) Europe is better than America in everything except warfare and giant megacorps I think.
Actually the US are lagging behind a few decades regarding military equipment in quite a few categories already and have also failed several modernisation attempts in the last years looking at offers from European producers again now.
I don’t see any new loathing revealed here, because the participants’ private attitudes appear to be consistent with their public statements. Did the people who are surprised by this think that the public hostility was just an act?
(On the contrary, I think this was a relatively reasonable discussion aside from some gratuitous insults. Isolationism is a normal ideology compared to, say, trying to annex Canada.)
Knowing their behavior in is consistent with their behavior in public is very valuable. It signifies their disdain towards Europe is not an act or negotiating tactic. They actually believe they are getting ripped off by the EU.
I’d argue that this is not private private behavior, but rather professional semi-public behavior. Vance in particular I’d think is rather adept at scheming.
I’m not saying it isn’t valuable - only that it isn’t surprising. With that said, leaking a private discussion which just coincidentally shows they’re not bluffing is awfully convenient…
Hate and greed are all they have.
Yeah, he called y’all free loaders right?
