Simon Tisdall’s article (Trump, not Iran, is the world’s greatest danger. He’s a one-man weapon of mass destruction, 18 July) is a forceful polemic, but it risks turning a structural problem into a personal one. If Donald Trump is uniquely reckless, that deserves criticism. Yet the article implies that America’s present predicament is chiefly the consequence of his character, rather than asking why successive administrations, Republican and Democrat alike, have repeatedly resorted to military intervention in the Middle East. To focus on Trump’s defects risks making war itself appear as an aberration rather than as a recurring feature of American power.
The same applies to the strait of Hormuz. Its strategic importance does not begin or end with one president. It reflects a global economic order that depends on secure energy supplies, trade routes and the projection of military power to guarantee them. That broader context is largely absent.
