It’s always impressive to see how much international law expertise Europe can bring to bear. In the wake of America’s extraordinary weekend operation to apprehend and extract Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, Ursula von der Leyen, Antonio Costa, and Kaja Kallas all weighed in to remind the world of the “principles of international law and the UN Charter.”
The real question is what they hoped to achieve with their principled bleating, which served only to remind the rest of the world how weak they are.
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Europe’s economic and security dependence on the US has tied the tongues of its leaders, who are too terrified of Trump’s wrath to admit how much they hate him and all he stands for. And so, they resort to half-measures, such as invoking the Covenant of International Law. Those same instincts are sure to guide their response to Trump’s looming action in Greenland. The outcome will be no less disappointing.
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Instead of taking on Trump and losing, Europe would do well to focus on matters relevant to European security that they can actually influence – like Iran. In recent days, Iranians have taken to the streets in the thousands, the latest in a long-running wave of protests that is gradually eroding the mullahs’ hold on power.
Unlike Venezuela or even Greenland, Iran’s trajectory has a direct bearing on European security for the simple reason that the ballistic missiles the country has been perfecting in recent years can easily reach Europe. Tehran has also been a key and energetic supporter of Russia’s war in Ukraine, providing a seemingly endless supply of drones.
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Supporting the demonstrations in Iran would not only be strategically wise; it is also plainly the right thing to do. Alas, von der Leyen & Co. won’t find that category in their international law textbooks, which might explain why they have been silent on Iran in recent days, even as they’ve promised to “stand by the people of Venezuela.”
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Yet there can be no question that the protestors in Iran are standing up for what most Europeans consider their core values: human dignity and individual freedom. As the latest protests have spread beyond Tehran, Europe has the opportunity to stand on the right side of history by encouraging them.
There would be another advantage, as well: For once, they’d have a common cause with Donald Trump.
See the original of his opinion piece by Euractiv’s Editor-in-Chief Matthew Karnitschnig here.
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.