The news that Donald Trump seeks to unilaterally revise the US-Iran nuclear deal, with the UK bleating for a unified Western position, is yet another sign of our intellectual collapse. We are witnessing a re-run of the interwar years, where great powers fumble with treaties while the flames of chaos lick at the gates. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was never perfect, but to tear it up without a coherent alternative is to repeat the folly of the 1930s, when appeasement and bluster paved the road to war.
The UK’s call for unity is laughable: a nation that has outsourced its foreign policy to Washington and Brussels now pretends to lead. But what else can we expect from an age of intellectual decadence, where leaders mistake bombast for statecraft and confuse treaty revision with strength? The Victorians understood that diplomacy required patience and honour.
Today, we have men who think negotiating is a sign of weakness. The Iran deal may be flawed, but the alternative—a nuclear arms race in the Middle East—is far worse. Mr Trump, stop playing Nero while the West burns.
