One trillion dollars. That is what the six Gulf monarchies have invested since 2017 to buy American protection. The result: a war triggered without warning, Iranian missiles raining down on their airports, hotels, and refineries. And a president who, before a crowd of Saudi investors in Miami—at a forum created by Saudi Arabia—publicly boasts that MBS “kisses his ass.” This isn’t diplomacy. It is a protection racket paired with humiliation.

But the real scandal lies in what follows. When Iran proposes taxing oil transit through the Strait of Hormuz, Trump responds: “It’s a beautiful thing; we could do it as a joint venture.” He just spent five weeks bombing Iran, and now he proposes sharing the loot with them—at the expense of his own Arab and Asian allies, who draw 80% of their energy from that very strait.

Asia is suffocating. Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines: shortages, skyrocketing prices, amputated growth. Meanwhile, China quietly steps into the vacuum left by Washington—without firing a single shot.

In the meantime, Ukraine—a country at war with a drained economy—has become the Gulf’s number one security consultant. Why? Because Kyiv knows how to destroy Shahed drones. American Patriots do not.

Pierre Lellouche said it rightly: America was long the solution. Today, it has become the problem.