Donald Trump has been badgering European countries to join the Iran War now that he is losing it. But he did not consult them beforehand, and did not try to assemble a ‘coalition of the willing’ as George W. Bush did before the Iraq War. Now that he is flailing, he wants to draw Europeans into his mess. As one French general put it last week, Europeans joining this war now would be like buying a ticket for the Titanic after it already started sinking. And yet, we see some countries slowly getting drawn in - most notably the UK.

I spoke with Luke Johnson from the Public Sphere Substack about how the war is impacting Europe and what European leaders should do. We discussed my Substack post from last week where I explored whether it would make sense to agree to Trump’s demand to send ships to the strait of Hormuz in exchange for concessions on Ukraine and tariffs. In the end, I concluded that such a bargain might sound like a smooth play at first, but when you fully explore it, you realise it doesn’t make any sense.

We also discussed why Europe’s failure to ramp up renewables after the loss of Russian gas in 2022 has made it very vulnerable in the current crisis, particularly for the least-prepared countries including Germany and Italy. Unfortunately, I concluded, the instinct of many European leaders right now seems to be to halt climate action and renewables investment in reaction to the current crisis, as we saw at last week’s European Council summit.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit davekeating.substack.com/subscribe