What they're not telling you: The loss of Europe’s geopolitical power is the defining decline narrative of our time. As Europeans, we are condemned to become unwilling witnesses of continental decay . And in no field of politics does the toxic amalgam of eco-socialism, elite arrogance, and rampant infantilism become more visible than at the level of the European Union.
# THE TAKE: Europe's Hormuz Gambit Is Spectacle, Not Strategy Kolbe's framing is backwards. Europe isn't losing power—it's *choosing* irrelevance while cosplaying autonomy. The "European-led" Strait of Hormuz mission (EMASOH) launched 2019 with exactly three ships. France talked big about strategic independence; delivered a patrol boat. Germany sat it out entirely. Meanwhile, the US Navy maintains 30+ vessels in the region. This isn't decline. It's theater masquerading as geopolitics. Europe had leverage—JCPOA enforcement, sanctions coordination, market access. Instead, leadership capitulated to American pressure, abandoned Iran negotiations, then performed independence through symbolic missions that move zero strategic needles. The real story: When tested, Europe outsourced its backbone to Washington *again*. Calling that a power struggle insults basic analysis. Kolbe identifies the symptom. He misdiagnoses the disease as external when it's structural European dysfunction.
What the Documents Show
What we are witnessing in Brussels and the leading capitals of the EU are desperate attempts at coordinated foreign policy – and the realization that the cooperation of powerless individual entities does not necessarily lead to better outcomes than bilateral cooperation. That this realization must have reached the highest circles of European politics could be observed at the end of this week. The four “big ones” – Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy – called for a maritime alliance and the protection of the Strait of Hormuz. Fifty additional states – according to the initiators of this rather peculiar political camouflage – are expected to join the European alliance. Leadership claims are naturally being made by the former maritime powers Britain and France, above all France, whose aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle may stand as the last remaining symbol of Europe’s great naval tradition at the center of these activities – if one can even approach the Persian Gulf at all.
Follow the Money
The situation remains fragile: the currently stable ceasefire ends on Wednesday. And negotiations between the United States, Israel, and Iran are entering their final phase. From a European perspective, our assumptions are once again confirmed: the EU and its slowly re-approaching partner the United Kingdom are staging a political cabaret. First came the wait-and-see approach until Americans and Israel had militarily decided the situation. Meanwhile, some NATO members refused cooperation with the United States, only to now, after everything has been decided, attempt to place themselves at the forefront of political forces seeking to guarantee the security of the Strait of Hormuz. Through constant media overdrive, Starmer, Macron, Meloni, and Merz present themselves as the decision-makers of the moment – it is their harvest time, collecting cheap public dividends.
What Else We Know
But is that really the case? Do they seriously believe that the majority of Europeans are not fully aware of what is happening? That European power is essentially the product of media magic – permanent propaganda wrapped in moral excess? A shadow of past greatness, reduced to virtual impotence, ultimately dissolving into the very media theatre that we, as embarrassed Europeans, are forced to endure every day. The German contribution to the mission, as announced by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, is predictably modest: mine countermeasure vessels (eight available), one supply ship, and two P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft . No frigates – they are tied up in a NATO deployment in the North Atlantic.
Primary Sources
- Source: ZeroHedge
- Category: Government Secrets
- Cross-reference independently — don't take our word for it.
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