Atlantic-Gate. A Rogue Message Stream.

A pissed-off Brit notes that Trump defense officials discussed attacking the Houthis as they willed--and sticking Egypt and Europe with the bill.

Image: Adobe Stock.

When I started to write this article a few days ago, I titled it:

Am I the Only One Who Spotted This???

The debate at that stage centered entirely around the medium (Signal) used by defense luminaries and the invitees list to discuss a potential American attack on Yemen’s Houthis. What appeared as an afterthought in the text—sent in error to “The Atlantic”—had largely been ignored by commentators.

The “this” in my heading was an extract from the debate amongst senior members of the U.S. government and therefore an illustration of that country’s foreign policy.

I quote: “We soon make it clear to Egypt and Europe what we expect in return.” Then “how to enforce.” If Europe does not pay up, “then what?” They then talked of further economic gain being “extracted” (at the point of a gunboat, perhaps?).

Having observed recent U.S. treatment of Ukraine, I do not believe it is an over-reaction to see this as a threat to my country and to others. The right wing of UK politics, and not just the recent Conservative Government, has relied on the “special relationship” to justify their hostility to the E.U. (Brexit anyone??). They were warned, and not just by me. I seem to recall Barack Obama saying much the same, though coming from a slightly different starting point. Birds are now coming home to roost.

I wrote back in November of how I was taught at University in the early 1970s that until Pearl Harbor, the USA would fight Hitler to the last Englishman, but that the actions of young men like my late Father-in-law (known to his children as “Pop”) in fighting across Europe from June 1944 onward gave the lie to that.

However, the U.S. government has now just disrespected and insulted all the present and past European (including UK and Commonwealth) military, civil servants, aid workers and civilians who have put their lives on the line in recent U.S. wars. An attack on you was an attack on us. I have family and friends who have come back in the last few decades from your wars with mental and physical scars. Your country’s highest representatives, in a government elected by U.S. voters, have just insulted and threatened my King, my country and my family, both present and past.

I am pissed. You know what? I am pretty sure that if Pop were still alive, he would be pissed, too.

P.S. Much of the material assistance we got from the US during WW2 (when we stood alone and defended you from the Nazis) was in the form of loans. We paid them all back. It took us until just a few years ago and was a serious drag on our economy, but you did get your pound of flesh.

Helen Chapman, a Pissed-Off Brit

April 2025