nordic table talk
Last week in Helsinki, 10 European leaders met for a private dinner without their officials and aides in the intimate surroundings of the Mannerheim Museum, the home of Finland’s World War II leader Gustaf Mannerheim.
In 1940s-era interiors decorated with former presidents’ hunting trophies, leaders of countries including the UK, Sweden, Finland and Norway candidly discussed the dire state of the transatlantic alliance. They all agreed that the stream of Trump condemnation via social media is bad and getting worse.
But they decided that they could not agree to the US President’s demands to join the fight against Iran.
An official briefed on the discussions said, “We all want the war to end but we are not in agreement with America.” Trump wants NATO to help, but leaders remain resistant because “most Europeans were not informed in advance and the Gulf has nothing to do with NATO.” In Europe, by contrast, the crisis is having a unifying effect: “These 10 countries have always been very close to each other, but I would say they are even closer now,” the official said.
The decision by these governments, which include Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and the Netherlands, is not limited to Northern Europe.
Indeed, what is remarkable about the international reaction to the war in Iran is how united European leaders are in their refusal to send military assets to join the American and Israeli bombardment.
