British and Spanish Are Giving Waffles a Bad Name

Both of these meltdowns have been fascinating to watch and, I guess you could say, a long time in the making. Much of it thanks to American presidents who indulged European histrionics instead of forcing them to act like they’re the partners we play and pay handsomely to be with.

My VIP column from two days ago was on the Socialists in Spain, led by preening Newsom clone, Pedro Sanchez. They had summarily denied the United States use of their bases for support of the Iran invasion. Our military aircraft there in-country packed up and left in short order, without much ado or so much as an ‘adios’ wave.

It turns out there were three things the Socialists hadn’t counted on as they smugly smirked over their virtue-signaling victory to their large, oftentimes agitated, and hopefully satisfied-at-the-action Muslim population.

• that Portugal would gleefully leap into the breach, offering the Azores to the US and reaffirming their long-standing friendship, while digging mercilessly at the grandstanding Spanish
•  that Spanish citizens would be outraged by the decision, which only drew even more attention to Sanchez’s openly pro-Islamic policies, getting him dubbed the ‘ayatollah’s best friend in Europe‘
• That the US would lay the hammer down so swiftly and brutally on the Spanish government

That very afternoon, Trump started it off with a blistering statement that contained the following threat:

“So we’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain.”

Suddenly, all eyes were on Spain in between Iran updates, and the picture emerging wasn’t pretty.

What a bunch of weaselly slackers.

Why would we defend a country that allows a million young male immigrants to conquer their country, have no skills and their leader just basically told us to go pound rocks!

— Janet Garts (@janet_gart87502) March 2, 2026

Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent excoriated the Spaniards two days later, giving a ‘Who needs pain-in-the-ass leeches like those guys anyway?’ lesson, as only he can, to CNBC’s Joe Kernan.

🚨 HOLY CRAP! Sec. Scott Bessent just EVISCERATED Spain’s leftist government for BETRAYING America, saying they put US lives at risk

President Trump could cut off ALL trade with Spain

“They’ve been TERRIBLE actors. They are the only NATO member not meeting their NATO… pic.twitter.com/sdqMR5yFsT

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 4, 2026

…”They’ve been TERRIBLE actors. They are the only NATO member not meeting their NATO requirement. That’s known as a FREE RIDER.”

“So the Spanish government is intentionally free riding off the US government and all the other NATO allies who have stepped up.“

“NATO has never been stronger, thanks to President Trump. And the Spanish don’t want to pay their fair share!”

“It was unacceptable over the weekend that the Spanish were highly uncooperative regarding the US bases and what we could do with our planes as we began executing on Operation Epic Fury.“

“So anything that slows down our ability to engage and prosecute this war in the fastest, most effective manner puts American lives at risk. The Spanish put American lives at risk.”

By late yesterday, word came during a White House press briefing that there had been a Spanish crawl-down, as Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was ‘her understanding’ that the US would once again have access to Spanish bases for necessary operations.

Curiously, though, the Spanish then spent a lot of time denying it.

White House says Spain backtracks and has decided to cooperate with the US military while from the Spanish PM’s office they deny it and say they haven’t spoken with the US government. Someone got their wires crossed, don’t know which one. https://t.co/PTnE332SE1

— Alberto Miguel Fernandez (@AlbertoMiguelF5) March 4, 2026

It’s especially confusing, as apparently not everyone got the talking points. This woman is the Spanish defense minister in a meeting with our ambassador.

Spanish government accused Leavitt of lying about commitment to military cooperation.

Here is a clip of the meeting between Spain’s minister of Defense and the US ambassador in which she committed.

“No, no, I am with Trump” pic.twitter.com/UGC7eVs5hl

— Daniel Lacalle (@dlacalle_IA) March 5, 2026

Say one thing, do another time? Who knows with these mercurial leeches. The tell will be American airplanes on the tarmac at a Spanish airfield.

In the interim, it seems the Sanchez government is feeling the heat from its NATO partners, because the big peace talker is sending a lone ship to help guard the island of Cyrus, whose two British bases have come under missile attack.

BREAKING:

Spain announces it is sending its most capable warship, the frigate Cristóbal Colón, to the Eastern Mediterranean to protect Cyprus from Hezbollah drone attacks.

🇪🇸🇨🇾 pic.twitter.com/O2QjaePqzE

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 5, 2026

Now this stings sensitive and already tender British nerves pretty severely, as those are British bases hosted on foreign soil, and the British have done nothing to protect them.

Hadn’t even thought about it until Hezbollah rockets were inbound, but now that that halcyon state’s been rudely interrupted, they couldn’t do anything in terms of immediate relief if they wanted to.

Because they have nothing to send. 

AWKWARD

In fact, the government of Cyprus was getting pretty irritated about the entire situation, even as the French and the Greeks came roaring – with what they had – to assist, as a juicy nugget in the Spectator’s Morning Press relates.

Cyprus is also unimpressed by Britain’s response. The country’s high commissioner to the UK Kyriacos Kouros said a forceful defence of his island – home to two British bases – was the ‘least’ his country could expect from an old ally. HMS Dragon, a British destroyer, will not set sail for Cyprus until next week as it has to be brought out of maintenance and equipped with the correct weaponry. Kouros ‘welcomed’ the arrival of the ship but contrasted the slowness of Britain’s response with that of Greece and France – the greatest humiliation.

That Starmer. Always making friends and influencing people.

Speaking of which, apparently his u-turn on allowing the United States to use Diego Garcia and now bases we pay to lease but were denied in the UK proper, was due in great part to the influence of the Gulf States losing their collective cookies – ‘undiluted FURY’ – straight at the wimpish Prime Minister.

Here’s a telling quote:

…One former minister said Jordan had been ‘f**king furious’ at Britain’s response while ‘the Emiratis, Kuwaitis, and even the Canadians are all asking, “What the f**k are you doing? Whose side are you on?”’

‘Whose side’ is Starmer on? Isn’t that funny? We were asking that very question ourselves.

Good to know everyone else felt the exact same way.

The answer emerging only highlights what a mewling, feckless, malicious, dangerously craven wimp Starmer is.

The American-Israeli attacks on Iran were publicly called Epic Fury, but behind the scenes, it is Britain’s handling of their part in the war effort that provoked that reaction – not just from Donald Trump but from the UK’s allies in the Gulf. A Labour peer was in Washington when the first missiles slammed into Tehran on Friday evening and Keir Starmer refused to voice support. A member of the Trump administration told the peer: ‘Britain used to not contribute that much, but you were a good ally. Now you’re contributing nothing and you’re not even a good ally.’

A version of events has quickly become established: a Prime Minister with a near-religious belief in international law hid behind the advice of his Attorney General, Richard Hermer, that the attacks were illegal.

The truth is more nuanced and highlights Starmer’s weakness. When the crunch came, in a National Security Council (NSC) meeting on Friday, the Prime Minister was not able to carry his own cabinet. While he did not want Britain to join the military action, he did think there was a case for allowing Trump to use the bases at Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford to launch the attacks. However, he was blocked by an alliance of Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary.

And why was the government of Cyprus furious?

Because as missiles started flying, so did the British – as they skeedaddled assets out of the area.

SHAMELESS PERFIDY

…After the initial US request, Britain could have sent two Type-45 destroyers, which have air defence capabilities, to the eastern Mediterranean to protect Cyprus and Jordan. Instead, some military assets were withdrawn. ‘The Cypriots are incandescent,’ a security source reveals. Only on Tuesday did it emerge that HMS Dragon will deploy – 20 days after the first US request for support. The only available Astute class submarine was near Australia. ‘It passed through the Gulf area a few weeks ago and it could have been kept there as a contingency,’ a former commander says.

This is not to say there aren’t British fighters in the skies – there are F-35s deployed, and they’ve sent supplies to allies.

An F-35B Lightning ll with the Royal Air Force managed to shoot down an Iranian one-way attack drone during defensive operations recently over Jordan, in the first ever operational air-to-air kill recorded by a British F-35, according to a statement and footage published by the… pic.twitter.com/KhqPZcZ5Ne

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 3, 2026

I thought this was an interesting chart of destroyed Iranian assets…

Iran’s Navy, which was fairly modern in many ways and included a lot of Chinese technology, was decisively crushed in less than a week.

If you think that statement wasn’t heard in Beijing, you’re insane. https://t.co/g5VaXW7KNy pic.twitter.com/NPnONLpzbB

— Andrew Follett (@AndrewCFollett) March 4, 2026

…when put side by side with what remains of the Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy sent more major surface combatants to the Falklands than it has in its entire fleet today. Incredible.

— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) March 4, 2026

There’s now a simple truth to British national security in its present state.

…A former defence chief says: ‘The UK is kept safe by three things: nuclear weapons, Nato and having America as our principal ally. We’re just about keeping the nuclear show on the road, but we are reneging on our Nato commitments and we’re weakening the relationship with our principal ally.’

Oh, the damage the feckless and faithless have done.

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