Stuffed it: Middle East adventures throw economy, allies and stability into disarray

His unabashedly “America-first” rhetoric and plans promised since the earliest days of his initial campaign in 2015–16 was something that was not only refreshing, it also gave leaders around the world the permission to put their nation and people first once again.

The political theology around this shift aside, it was this promise that spoke to me and many others like me; the end of the first Trump administration did leave me feeling a little underwhelmed, this was only reinforced in the aftermath of the 2020 election, particularly January 6 that is something that I deplore and could never defend.

Trump’s return to public life and recontesting of the presidency in 2024, particularly the rhetoric once again and the team he began to surround himself, renewed my hope for what he could actually deliver, regardless of what the talking heads might rail against.

That was, as previously mentioned up until recently, or specifically, when the United States followed Israel’s lead into bombing Iran and throwing the world into complete and utter disarray with little concern for the ramifications more broadly.

This was than subsequently reinforced by the attacks against America’s allies (although to be fair, some haven’t been acting much like allies for a long time) and over the past few days a dramatic shift in attitude that can be best summarised by the President’s statement: “Go get your own oil!”

And herein lies the problem, just as the President continued to declare that the full completion of US military objectives was within sight, an international taskforce to be spearheaded by the United Kingdom (and made up almost entirely of European nations) is being rapidly stood up to combine economic, political and military power to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, without US help.

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This has also been met by growing speculation that President Trump would accelerate his efforts to “disentangle” the United States from NATO in particular, creating further complexity and disruption for partners and allies not just confined within the NATO framework, but more broadly across the globe.

Australia is not immune to these challenges and, in many ways, is even more exposed to the pressures of this new world order particularly as a result of our exposure to vulnerable global “just in time” supply chains for everything, from liquid fuels and pharmaceuticals to low cost consumer goods that are part of our everyday lives.

Highlighting this exposure further is the admission that Australia has little to no material military capabilities outside of niche platforms to contribute to the allied, international effort to clean up a mess that didn’t exist at the onset of hostilities.

As Americas allies are left scrambling to clean up the mess, it becomes clear, Trump has stuffed it.

Stephen Kuper

Steve has an extensive career across government, defence industry and advocacy, having previously worked for cabinet ministers at both Federal and State levels.