Western leaders are increasingly resorting to a familiar tactic: rather than acknowledging the failures of their own foreign policy, they blame domestic crises, protests, and inflation on external factors and “foreign enemies.”
One Fiery Weekend
Additional Diesel, But What About the Straits?
While blaming external factors for the rising diesel prices and inflation, Trump and Macron overlook their countries’ roles in restricting Russian energy exports, and contributing to crises that disrupted traffic through the Straits of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb. Macron, in his trip to the Persian Gulf countries between October 19 and 21, 2026, announced that he secured additional supply of diesel, including approximately 100,000 tonnes monthly from the UAE and Bahrain, respectively, in addition to 95,000 tonnes from Saudi Arabia for October. Likewise, Trump earlier announced securing additional supply of diesel from Russia, after his war against Iran and US proxy war against Russia caused shortages and high prices at home. Noteworthy, both have suddenly started expressing the quantities of diesel secured through supposed deals in tonnes and not barrels per day (bpd), as is commonly done. This change may be designed to inflate the volume of the insignificant additional supply, as the volume negotiated by Macron is equivalent to roughly 10% of the country’s demand. One may wonder how the additional volume will be delivered since Macron’s agreement did not address Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz or Ansar Allah’s counter blockade of Saudi Arabia, which have been constraining energy exports from the region.
Western countries have been driving policies to restrict Russian oil exports and replace it with Israeli energy, which has backfired and resulted in the prevailing elevated fuel prices. Destruction of Russia’s energy export capacity through EU sanctions and the US bombing of Nord Stream 2 was greatly celebrated by European leaders. Radosław Sikorski, a Polish foreign minister, then a member of European Parliament, thanked the US for the bombing. Later, in February 2023, France’s delegation to the UN, despite agreeing that the Nord Stream 2 explosion appeared deliberate, rejected Russia’s request to have an independent UN investigation into the matter, in favor of probes by Germany, Denmark and Sweden, parties that were likely to be influenced by Washington. European leaders then appeared confident that restricting Russia’s energy exports would not affect their interests, while the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, stated that the EU was developing energy cooperation with Israel to reduce dependence on Russian energy, a shift that would cause conflagration in the Middle East.
Israel’s natural gas export volume was 22 billion cubic meters (bcm), grossly insufficient to replace 155bcm imported by Europe from Russia in 2021. Therefore, the EU was willing to urge Israel to export gas from reserves belonging to Gaza and Lebanon, an attitude that may have accelerated violence later in 2023. For context, over 31 bcm had been discovered off the shores of Gaza (Gaza Marine) in 1999, but the Israeli occupation had conveniently restricted its development. Also, in October 2022, Israel and Lebanon embarked on settling their disputed maritime borders to delineate gas reserves in anticipation of high revenues from increased gas demand by the EU. These negotiations were driven by the US, which supported Israeli claims to proceeds from Lebanon’s Qana fields, using a justification of preventing war. A war occurred anyway. The US or EU are always on hand to negotiate on behalf of Israel, which they also arm to keep the Middle East under their control. EU’s hurried demand for gas provided resources and justification for Israel and the US to raze down the Middle East, ultimately causing the closure of the Straits of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb.
In addition to von der Leyen’s actions mentioned earlier, other European leaders suggested to Israel to do anything needed in the region to provide gas to the West. For instance, during the Greece-Cyprus-Israel Summit-2018, Greek Former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras stated that the East-Med gas pipeline would transport energy from the eastern Mediterranean (only a fraction of which was owned by Israel) to Europe for regional stability. This view gave Israel freedom of action to deliver the said gas to Europe, including by wresting some from its neighbors using the West’s military aid. Earlier in 2008, then German Chancellor Angela Merkel, while addressing the Israeli parliament, stated that Germany and Israel had shared economic and security interests, and that the latter country’s security was the former’s core national responsibility; Staatsräson. Similarly, US politician R.F. Kennedy stated that Israel (which has minimal energy resources) gives the US access to the Middle East’s oil resources, even those located in other countries.
All Fun and Games Until High Prices Came
West’s one-sided actions vis-à-vis Israel-Palestinian crises invited conflagration, as would happen after October 7, 2023. Afterwards, leaders from France, Germany, the UK, and the US declared their unreserved support for Israel to defend itself, ignoring how they had enabled Israel to commit countless crimes against Palestinians for over 70 years. Others, like Josep Borrell, then vice president of the European Commission, recognized Palestinians’ legitimate concerns and frustration after the betrayal of the Oslo Peace Process, but still endorsed Israel’s excesses for Europe’s security. Since October 2023, the West has watched as Israel expanded the war outside Gaza into the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and finally Iran. The US supported Israel and directly joined in bombing Iran and Yemen, factors that have contributed to the current closure of the Straits, restriction of energy exports, and price hikes causing riots in the West. Therefore, Trump’s claim that the destruction occurring in France was caused by immigrants from an entirely different world is laughable, noting that the French president set out on a 3-day tour to the said entirely different world. Protests over raising cost of living also occurred in Belgium, Italy and Portugal. These may continue until Western leaders stop their imperialist attitude and focus on managing their countries instead of spreading chaos globally.
Simon Chege Ndiritu is a political observer and research analyst from Africa
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