By: Armin Sijamić
The American-Israeli war against Iran creates consequences worldwide every day. This important issue has also reached Europe, affecting those who are considered part of the political right and left.
At the beginning of last year, Argentine President Javier Milei spoke with great enthusiasm about the new right led by US President Donald Trump, which includes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several European politicians. This new right will differ from the existing one, Milei explained. The goal is the definitive defeat of the existing leftists.
Behind Milei stands big capital, primarily American, which supports him in implementing a political, economic, and social experiment in Argentina, testing the extent to which the population can tolerate the absence of their own state. Milei's stance that, for example, education is not a human right, that he is cutting off medication for the seriously ill and pensioners, and that he is indebting the state to foreign creditors leads to such a conclusion. Such policies have led to queues for free meals across Argentina, a country known for its agriculture and a cattle population larger than Russia, Turkey, and France combined. Recently, donkey meat has appeared on the shelves of Argentine butchers because citizens cannot afford anything else, and media close to the government provide recipes for its preparation and highlight its nutritional value.
Therefore, Milei's right wing clearly does not intend to deal with the quality of life of the population. The main problem for such a right wing is, at least when addressing voters, the "ideology" of the current left, which they see as "woke" and with wide-open doors for migrants and minorities of all kinds.
The European Scene
Europe's wealth, accumulated over centuries, may give Europeans hope that the Argentine scenario will not happen to them. However, the policies pursued in Argentina and elsewhere are already at Europe's doorstep, or the doorstep of countries around the world.
In mid-May, European and global leftists, both genuine ones and those who call themselves such in line with the aforementioned division with the right, gathered in Barcelona. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón hosted, among others, the leftist presidents of Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, as well as some European politicians who have never questioned the existing economic and political model that increasingly suits the right and centers of power outside the political system.
The meeting concluded with optimistic messages, but with an unwritten and realistic conclusion that a good part of the West does not want to seek an end to the war against Iran, save the Gaza Strip and Lebanon from complete destruction, and treat Netanyahu like Russian President Vladimir Putin after the aggression against Ukraine.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met with Sánchez on this occasion and said that he does not want war anywhere and that the world must be given hope, "otherwise, what happened with Hitler will be repeated." He called for respect for international law and continued to advocate for multilateralism.
The war in the Middle East has once again shown Europe's weaknesses. The European Union and most European countries cannot even condemn the war that is causing great damage to Europeans facing rising energy prices, possible commodity shortages, the spread of conflict, and the influx of migrants.
Things become stranger with the fact that Trump is striking Europe, threatening to take Greenland from Denmark and imposing tariffs while Europeans try to fulfill what he demands of them. Recently, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, told the Financial Times that the United States "wants to divide Europe" and "does not like the European Union." At the same time, Kallas does not condemn the American-Israeli attack on Iran and imposes sanctions on Tehran.
Silence Does Not Help
This entanglement of European countries on issues that are clear in themselves and only require consistency foreshadows consequences. Namely, these days several EU member states are trying to sanction Israel in some way, but they are not succeeding. Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia are not receiving support from the majority led by Germany and Italy.
Belgian MEP Rudi Kennes called this "scandalous" because it is a policy of double standards and will have "long-term consequences for the global position" of the European Union. His colleague Marc Botenga said that the "European Commission announced sanctions against the Venice Biennale for hosting Russian artists, but is unable to sanction Israel" for crimes in several Middle Eastern countries.
The silence of most European leaders on the events in the Middle East shows the state of both the left and the right, as most of them are not prepared to stand by what they supposedly advocate for. Numerous human rights advocates are unable to state that Palestinians, Israelis, Lebanese, or Iranians also have human rights, the right to peace, and that they should be protected like others. Some self-proclaimed advocates of "Christian values" in politics in the West appear tragicomic as they are unable to support the Pope, neither the current one nor his predecessor, in their appeals for peace in the Middle East and around the world.
Appeals by Pope Leo XIV to stop the wars in the Middle East do not have majority support from those in the West who call themselves the conservative Christian right. It sounds unbelievable that they have sided with Trump and Netanyahu and against the Vatican when it calls for an end to the killing and destruction of villages and cities in the lands from which the Abrahamic religions originated.
This stance of the Catholic Church means that this issue will not be forgotten. Moreover, such a stance by the Vatican will reach believers, at least as a lesson about the moral values that the West is losing, even though there are more and more people who supposedly want to stop it by blaming the left, minorities, or migrants.
The consequences will be felt by European proponents of realpolitik who attach little importance to morality and ethics in politics. The prolonged American-Israeli war against Iran can bring numerous problems to the European Union, just as the war in Ukraine is doing, with the possible addition of sharp internal divisions that, in the case of relations with Moscow and Kyiv, almost did not exist.
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