Link: https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/iran-war-shows-why-europe-no-longer-relevant

The initial statement from E3 leaders (France, Germany and the UK), shameful and cynical, turned reality on its head by squarely putting the blame on Iran and only Iran - the nation under attack - without a single word to condemn the aggressors, the US and Israel, or the legality of the war.

Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte appeared ecstatic about the attack. Seeming disconnected from reality, as Iranian missiles were already hitting Arab Gulf states, he claimed in a televised interview that the Israeli-American war was “making us all safer”, noting that the “many European leaders” he had spoken with were “all extremely glad with this action”.

The unelected yet all-powerful president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen; her vice president, Kaja Kallas; and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz apparently had nothing to say about international law or the culpability of the US and Israel in launching this war.

Instead, in Orwellian mode, European leaders blamed Iran’s “reckless and indiscriminate attacks” and its “destabilisation” of the region, and called on Tehran to immediately halt all strikes - deliberately oblivious to the fact that these were a purely defensive response to the Israeli-American aggression.

Europe has shown yet again that it remains unable - and unwilling - to act as a middle power capable of defending its own strategic interests. EU states can no longer hide their weakness, incompetence, cowardice and hypocrisy, particularly when it comes to their own professed moral and civilisational values, such as universal human rights.

act as a middle power capable of defending its own strategic interests

i bet it's intentional to poison the well for their successors; they all know that they're going to get cooked in the next election and giving them a situation that's on fire will help them regain control in the election after that.