Iran, Trump threatens NATO

Donald Trump has issued an ultimatum to NATO: help us reopen the Strait of Hormuz, or face the consequences. In any other geopolitical context, these words would have triggered a media earthquake. And yet, once again, “the major Western news outlets” record them, categorize them, and move on without the slightest critical stir.

The threat

In an interview with the Financial Times, the American President stated in no uncertain terms that the future of NATO will be “very dark” if allies do not join the United States in the military effort against Iran to reopen the strategic waterway, which has effectively been closed following joint American-Israeli raids over the past two weeks.

Trump also raised the specter of postponing the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, scheduled between March 31 and April 2, urging Beijing to act before the meeting. The reasoning? China moves 90% of its oil requirements through that strait. “It is only right that those who benefit from the Strait contribute to guaranteeing its security,” Trump declared, with the tone of someone who is not making a proposal, but issuing an order.

The deafening silence of the Western press

It is here that the true scandal unfolds, not a geopolitical one, but a journalistic one. A President of the United States openly threatens a military alliance founded on the principle of collective defense, conditioning its survival on participation in a war he initiated. He dictates to a nuclear power like China to change its foreign policy before a diplomatic summit. He claims attacks on the energy infrastructure of a sovereign country with the mocking tone of someone flaunting military supremacy. All of this is reported by major Western media as if it were just any ordinary statement, without analysis, without context, and without the slightest questioning of its legal or moral legitimacy.

Faithfully reporting Trump’s words without challenging them is not journalism: it is power-broking stenography.

The war that Trump is waging, and which he now wants to “outsource” to his allies in the form of blackmail, deserves a serious, transparent, and courageous public debate.

Photo Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Peter K. McHaddad