Could US forces in Europe face a refusal of supply and support?

Haltbakk Bunkers, a Norwegian marine fuel supplier, started a boycott of the US navy and began a boycott of the US fleet.

Haltbakk CEO Gunnar Gran allegedly expressed anger over US President Donald Trump’s alleged indignation at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s alleged disregard for US military support in order to protect his nation from a Russian invasion.

“Huge praise should be paid to the Ukrainian president for restraining himself and remaining calm despite the USA’s staging of a hate-mongering TV show. We became ill from it. No “Fool for Americans”! in a Facebook post from the business.

The Norwegian government quickly resisted the company’s decision to later delete the post, saying that US warships would continue to receive “the supply and support they require.”

However, the incident highlighted how dependent local businesses and the government are on US forces in Europe.

Historical circumstances have caused significant difficulties for US operations because of European disapproval of US forces.

Greece and Cyprus both refused to permit US ships and planes assisting Israel in refueling at the start of the Arab-Israeli War, making them rely on British assistance.

Prior to George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003, Turkiye forbade US aircraft to fly over Turkish airspace.

US forces’ supply chains have been redundancies built into their supply chain, partially due to these factors.

In Souda Bay, Greece’s largest resupply facility, the US Sixth Fleet’s mayor in 2005 wrote to the US ambassador saying, “We don’t want your warships. We want lawyers and doctors on board your cruise ships.

Demetries Andrew Grimes, the US naval attache to Greece at the time, expanded US access from three to eleven ports because other mayors liked the deal.

A single small ship entering a port facility will charge between $80, 000 and $ 120, 000 per day, [including] the costs of the water, the fuel, the supplies, the trash removal, and, conversely, the tugboat operations. He claimed that we were only spending 350 million euros (379 million euros) on bunkering fuel annually in Greece.

European NATO officers depicted seamless cooperation in interviews with Al Jazeera.

A military source in Europe told Al Jazeera, “Military-to-military it’s business as usual.” The US’s commitment to its obligations in Europe is unconstrained in any way. We just need to focus on what we do best, what we do well, and who we are as friends with.

According to Keir Giles, a specialist in Russia and Eurasia at Chatham House think tank, Haltbakk’s refusal to provide bunkering service alienated “precisely people that we need to keep on side, which are actually US forces that are present in place.”

Changing the truth?

Prior to this, the US assumed that its own security depended on it.

Former US General Ben Hodges, who commanded US forces in Europe from 2014 to 2018, stated, “The access we have in Europe with our ports and bases from Spain to Italy to Greece to Turkey to Germany is for our benefit.” They aren’t defending Greeks, Turks, or Germans.

For instance, any Russian marine traffic entering the Atlantic Ocean from St. Petersburg must pass through Denmark’s Skagerrak Strait, which is at its widest point less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) across.

A sea denial operation could prevent even Russian nuclear-armed submarines from entering, according to NATO officers.

The Norwegian and British navies patrol the Barents Sea, but Russia’s ships can enter the Atlantic via it. Additionally, the passages around Greenland, Iceland, and Norway are sometimes referred to as a “kill zone” for Russian navy ships and submarines.

No other US president has offended Denmark by claiming that it will seize Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, and offended Norway and other European allies by saying it won’t defend Europeans who “don’t pay” their fair share to NATO, and by putting its mutual defense clause in question.

Trump has threatened Canada in recent weeks.

“These actions, threatening Canada and Denmark, will have consequences for us,” Hodges said. When asked if he anticipated more incidents, he responded, “It’s possible.”

According to some experts, the Trump White House has abandoned the practice of a “common cause” with Europe when it comes to security.

The United States Navy will be very interested in [these forward positions] [. Will the Trump administration be interested in that? That’s a completely different question, Giles said.

Former deputy commander of the Hellenic army, retired Greek General Andreas Iliopoulos, said, “The events that are happening in Europe today are what have happened in Iraq and Libya years ago.

These bases in Europe lose all of their strategic value if the US attempts to reset with Russia in the manner that Trump attempts to do it. Iliopoulos told Al Jazeera, “That’s obvious.” The Russian threat has vanished from the world. Putin and Trump are currently acting like allies.

According to Iliopoulos, Trump’s goal in entering a security agreement with Russia is to “dilute Russia’s relationship with China,” but it also has a lot to gain from cost savings.

More than a third of the US’s total overseas personnel are stationed in Europe, according to the US European Command (EUCOM). The US covers all costs associated with personnel and equipment, but benefits from Europe’s sales of weapons. Europe enjoys income from basing while absorbing a third of basing costs.

Faith in NATO’s mutual defense guarantee has been undermined by doubts about US commitment to European security. Trump has reaffirmed it, but Pete Hegseth has made it contingent on his own, undefined, defense spending levels.

In the event of an attack, many Europeans have questioned whether US forces stationed in Europe would actually be ordered to intervene.

If the Trump-Musk actions continue to have anticonstitutional bias to the point where there finally starts to show signs of resistance from the US system, Giles said, referring to Trump’s arbitrary devolution of Elon Musk’s power to shrink the federal government.

Source: Aljazeera