America Looks Weak All Over Again
Published in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
(Germany) on 6 October 2026
by Nikolas Busse (link to
original)
The withdrawal of U.S. B-1 bombers from the United Kingdom shows how little it takes to put NATO’s preeminent military power on the defensive.
This, too, is a form of asymmetric warfare: America, the global power, has had to withdraw its bombers from a British airbase, apparently because it was no longer sufficiently safe for the aircraft to remain there. Since Iran has been linked to a foiled plot to attack the base, Tehran may have chalked up a small tactical win in its continued struggle with Donald Trump. The redeployment of the bombers back to the United States will extend flight times for missions to the Gulf.
A Routine Also Rehearsed in Moscow
However, the incident’s psychological impact is likely to be far more significant. Yet again, Trump is having to pull back, and yet again, America is being made to look weak. Seemingly, all it takes to force a NATO member onto the defensive — and in this case, even the alliance’s nuclear-armed hegemon — is dispatching six people to target a single airfield. That’s the bitter lesson of the Fairford affair. The Russians are well versed in this particular script too, as August’s attempted drone attack at Leipzig Airport in eastern Germany showed.
Trump is responsible for getting himself into this position, but it’s the entire West that is bearing the cost. The president has laid bare America’s weaknesses in a manner only George W. Bush could rival in recent times. On top of the political fatigue reflected in the opinion polls, now comes military exhaustion too, ranging from ammunition shortages to bases going out of service. It all undermines the very American deterrence upon which European and Asian security still rests.
This, too, is a form of asymmetric warfare: America, the global power, has had to withdraw its bombers from a British airbase, apparently because it was no longer sufficiently safe for the aircraft to remain there. Since Iran has been linked to a foiled plot to attack the base, Tehran may have chalked up a small tactical win in its continued struggle with Donald Trump. The redeployment of the bombers back to the United States will extend flight times for missions to the Gulf.
A Routine Also Rehearsed in Moscow
However, the incident’s psychological impact is likely to be far more significant. Yet again, Trump is having to pull back, and yet again, America is being made to look weak. Seemingly, all it takes to force a NATO member onto the defensive — and in this case, even the alliance’s nuclear-armed hegemon — is dispatching six people to target a single airfield. That’s the bitter lesson of the Fairford affair. The Russians are well versed in this particular script too, as August’s attempted drone attack at Leipzig Airport in eastern Germany showed.
Trump is responsible for getting himself into this position, but it’s the entire West that is bearing the cost. The president has laid bare America’s weaknesses in a manner only George W. Bush could rival in recent times. On top of the political fatigue reflected in the opinion polls, now comes military exhaustion too, ranging from ammunition shortages to bases going out of service. It all undermines the very American deterrence upon which European and Asian security still rests.
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