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News & Current Events Apr 18, 2026 at 8:51 AM

Italy's Meloni breaks with Trump over war in Iran, pope

Posted by FantasticQuartet

Italy's Meloni breaks with Trump over war in Iran, pope
dw.com
Italy's Meloni breaks with Trump over war in Iran, pope
The war in Iran and a spat between two of the world's most influential Americans has forced Giorgia Meloni to choose sides, potentially pushing the Italian prime minister to align herself with Europe's center-right.
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Herb-Alpert Apr 18, 2026 +975
USA will end up with just Israel and Russia as allies
975
secretaire Apr 18, 2026 +388
He promised isolationism but I don’t think people understand that soft power means the power to control the chessboard of the world without any military action at all. The ability to economically cripple your enemies by having allies follow suit was a huge part of the American success story and people pissed it away for a dumba$s
388
curious_dead Apr 18, 2026 +143
Idiots hear "soft power" and react like cavemen. "Hurr durr big strong man no need soft power. Soft power for soft man. Me hard man, me wanna hard power!" And they're in government, and they vote.
143
secretaire Apr 18, 2026 +33
I think a lot of people think it’s just cultural influence (and it is definitely that too) but it’s mostly just engineering a world that works in your favor.
33
Anleme Apr 18, 2026 +22
I agree. "Soft power" props up whole industries, like Hollywood, tourism, beverage, higher education, finance (petrodollar), etc. So many of these got kneecapped by Trump for zero reason.
22
SoftlySpokenPromises Apr 18, 2026 +16
Tourism in particular is severely reduced from before. Might start seeing those horrid resorts crowding the shoreline start to go up for sale.
16
Armadylspark Apr 19, 2026 +7
I crave the destruction of the petrodollar. Let's see how the US fares when they can't outsource their debt by just printing more money and expecting the rest of the world to pick up the bill because they're the reserve currency.
7
mediumwetsock Apr 18, 2026 +9
So glad they are losing their soft power. America is a curse for the world and their own citizens.
9
MakoSmiler Apr 18, 2026 +12
They made their bed, they can lie in it.
12
secretaire Apr 18, 2026 +8
here, playin my violin as the ship sinks.
8
musiccman2020 Apr 18, 2026 +1
But hegseth told them they didn't need UN. They didn't even come to help the u.s. with iran. Such a loser coalition /s
1
secretaire Apr 19, 2026 +2
Nobody competent will work for this admin.
2
Right_Chip_2393 Apr 18, 2026 +319
USA have no allies. Being an asset is not the same.
319
TeaAndLifting Apr 18, 2026 +12
I still don't get how the US has become subservient to Russia, and it's not just Trump being wrapped around Putin's little finger and admiring him while admonishing leaders of "allied" states. There is nothing Russia has, that the US needs, but Americans, and especially conservatives, love it.
12
hedoeswhathewants Apr 18, 2026 +10
Some are compromised, some are bought, and the rest simply fall in line The populace are rubes who have fallen for culture war antics
10
Flatus_Diabolic Apr 19, 2026 +3
> There is nothing Russia has, that the US needs, but Americans, and especially conservatives, love it. You’re right, but you’re assuming this administration is acting for America and not just for themselves. Russia has plenty that Trump, and a bunch of people like him, want: the corruption and graft they’ve gotten away with in the West so far is absolute amateur hour compared to Russian kleptocracy, and Trump and his cronies want in on that action. They’re wanting to pour billions of taxpayer dollars into “joint funded” prestige projects and initiatives in Russia, and the Russian system will launder it all through a “Russian corruption scandal”. The investigation will say that it couldn’t find where the money went, they’ll throw a few scapegoats in prison, then Trump and everyone gets a cut of the “missing” money, and the Russian people get to absorb a year or two of sanctions. While they’re waiting for that to play out, they’ll celebrate the lack of regulation and red tape, which means things “just get done” so much more quickly, and they’ll travel to and from Russia for business meetings where every vice and depravity is indulged free of charge and simply for being one of the elite. But when it comes time to collect, they’ll never see a dime, or they’ll be told the money needs to be invested into other Russian initiatives. There are dozens of ex-oligarchs who’ve fled to the west who’ve been saying this, just like they warned about Putin, but still nobody listens and they turn out to be right every time.
3
xnmyl Apr 18, 2026 +51
Russia is not a US ally. They do not respect the US at all, simply use Trump as a useful asset Israel also has little respect for the US or Americans. They celebrated and joked about Rachel Corrie's death every year on the anniversary of when she was murdered
51
SPQR-Tightanus Apr 18, 2026 +133
The US is an ally of Israel, but Israel is not an ally of the US. Same applies to Russia.
133
3_Thumbs_Up Apr 18, 2026 +6
That's called a vassal state.
6
mr_birkenblatt Apr 18, 2026 +7
They're not allies. An ally would help the other out. They will never move a finger for the US
7
IntermittentCaribu Apr 18, 2026 +4
Russia kinda has to choose US or china at some point i guess.
4
ConnectEmphasis2420 Apr 18, 2026 +14
They've already chosen a china. The have a useful idiot running the US
14
AnewTest Apr 18, 2026 +3
They'll be a new Axis, it seems.
3
MakoSmiler Apr 18, 2026 +5
I think the world should completely shun the US. Even in the next term when Trump is voted out (because we all know bollocks American politics by now, they just swing from from side to side. Therefore, NEVER can the world trust such people.
5
Few_Advisor3536 Apr 18, 2026 +4
Two cheeks with a turd in the middle. Sounds about right.
4
FLGator314 Apr 19, 2026 +2
The Russia one will be a one way alliance as Russia will continue help advisories kill US service members and destroy military equipment.
2
Sea-Cheesecake301 Apr 18, 2026 -53
lol thankfully foreign relations don't work that way.
-53
Gammelpreiss Apr 18, 2026 +27
they do if you have a pedophile manchild in charge
27
MercantileReptile Apr 18, 2026 +230
Every single one has to find out for themselves. No matter how much people think him useful, butter him up, even bribe him. The soulless prick will always be hostile and *never* return any favour shown. Yet he always finds someone else to kiss his ass. Its bizarre.
230
VladimiroPudding Apr 18, 2026 +60
That's why Marco Rubio has a cocaine problem and Kash Patel a drinking one: the only way by being this loyalist sycophantic is numbing themselves down
60
Dvulture Apr 18, 2026 +22
And some, like Hegsetg, first get the alcoholism, than decide to trust Trump.
22
VladimiroPudding Apr 18, 2026 +30
Oh, Hegseth is the real deal, and much worse because of that. People like Patel and Rubio are grifters with no morals. Hegseth is a Christian Nationalism fascist. He fully believes in the insanity, and will happily bankrupt the world for his insane worldview.
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MakoSmiler Apr 18, 2026 +15
Before even opening his vile mouth, the average human should detect evil within Hegseth. He’s an insufferable yes man, with his own agenda. I loathe him.
15
Neat-Slip4520 Apr 18, 2026 +12
Praying the Pulp Fiction prayer… of the bad guy 😂
12
Longy_LTB Apr 18, 2026 +5
It's a long way down to the bottom of the barrel, but the company he's keeping speaks to that. He's losing quality allies by the week
5
TeaAndLifting Apr 18, 2026 +2
Unless you're Vladimr Putin, at which point he will basically call you daddy and be on his hands and knees.
2
Snoo_censorspeech Apr 18, 2026 +60
Euros used to call people like her "Trump Whisperers" but the funny thing about that is how easily a whisper can be ignored by an old man. 
60
MakoSmiler Apr 18, 2026 +20
I have a friend called the chicken whisperer. He works on a chicken farm. Went off on a tangent there, apologies
20
Koala_eiO Apr 18, 2026 +8
I think that's a really cool tangent.
8
OttoVonCranky Apr 18, 2026 +72
"They are not happy about the instability that Israel is unleashing in the Middle East." Truth
72
Cynical_Classicist Apr 18, 2026 +84
Must be bad if even she is breaking from the fascist!
84
SomeDumbGamer Apr 18, 2026 +142
Supporting Trump against the pope when you’re the leader of Italy probably wouldn’t go well for her.
142
darthy_parker Apr 18, 2026 +27
I guess the pedophila and SA wasn’t enough?
27
Wonderful-Pause1048 Apr 18, 2026 +14
We’ve known that since yesterday
14
AleXstheDark Apr 19, 2026 +7
Any pro-USA pol party in Europe is as good as dead at this point.
7
no_choice99 Apr 18, 2026 +13
She was slow, way too slow, to say the least.
13
Darius_Rubinx Apr 18, 2026 +8
She's hardly an example of Europe's best and brightest.
8
BendersDafodil Apr 18, 2026 +7
Melanie thought she could just cherry pick fascist attributes of Trump? 🤣🤣
7
macross1984 Apr 18, 2026
Trump is finding out not all his friends are "friend."
0
punarob Apr 18, 2026 -9
Too little too late. Everyone should boycott Italy until they throw out their fascist.
-9
FlippinHeckles Apr 18, 2026 -21
Despite the actions and behaviour of the current sitting U.S. administration, the people of the U.S. still have their traditional allies in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania. When the people of the U.S. remove the current administration with a sane U.S. government, the western alliances will be restored. As Churchill once said “We can always rely on the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried everything else.”
-21
ErgoMachina Apr 18, 2026 +20
Lmao no. They f****** vote for him TWICE and they actively f****** every single economy of the world. Trump is just a symptom of the festering rot in American society. The only way for Americans to regain a fraction of the power that they had will be to have their own Nuremberg trials after this shit is over. If they don't jail all the traitors the world will never trust the US again.
20
FlippinHeckles Apr 18, 2026 -7
You do realise that the country was effectively split 50:50 in each election? The margin was tiny, but you are quite happy to pass judgment on a whole population. Just wow.
-7
Halinn Apr 19, 2026 +15
You do realize that that still means half of your country is fine with fascism and attacking their allies. You won't be trusted again just because next time it might only be 45% in favor of Trumpism, because that number is still way too high.
15
ErgoMachina Apr 19, 2026 +9
If 50% of a country is fine with fascism, then the country is fine with fascism...
9
KatieBun Apr 18, 2026 +22
No. Trust is destroyed. The US elected him a second time. A system that returns Trump twice will return other evil fuckers in the future. It’s not if, it’s when. Europe has learned we need to wean ourselves off our dependence on the US asap
22
ThunderChaser Apr 18, 2026 +10
Same with Canada, over the past year we’ve been making moves solely to eliminate our dependency on the United States.
10
FlippinHeckles Apr 18, 2026 -8
You do realise that the country was effectively split 50:50 in each election? The margin was tiny, but you are quite happy to pass judgment on a whole population. Just wow.
-8
throwaway_ghast Apr 18, 2026 +7
Churchill said this at a time when most Americans still had their heads on straight and guys like Trump would be laughed out of politics. If he could see America now, he'd say "I was wrong. We cannot rely on the Americans at all."
7
Alarming_Addition131 Apr 18, 2026 +7
Almost 70% of the US population cannot be trusted to not vote in pedophilic rapist felons who end up destroying lives and messing up the entire worlds economy for their own little gain. F****** TWICE. Ya'll fucked up hard.
7
InevitableAvalanche Apr 18, 2026 +5
If we get the opportunity to put competent people back. They will try to end free elections.
5
Alarming_Addition131 Apr 18, 2026 +2
"Try"? Trans cannot vote unless they pay to get their licence changed back. They see the little backlash they get from this and move on to bigger, typically left leaning groups.
2
angelmari87 Apr 19, 2026 +1
Not to mention they are trying to make to where your name matches other documents- married people who changed their names (predominantly women) will have major issues with that
1
mediumwetsock Apr 18, 2026 +3
Lol until murics elects another random ass celebrity or redneck. Rinse repeat. Europe doesn’t learn
3
Halinn Apr 19, 2026 +1
Feels like the US is the one that doesn't learn from over here.
1
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