Trump, wiederholen Sie nicht Churchills tödlichen Fehler

On paper, choke points like the Strait of Hormuz “can create a false sense of simplicity, especially for a superpower that enjoys a vast technological and military edge over its adversary,” Asli Aydintasbas, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, writes in a guest essay for Times Opinion. “To war planners in Washington, a narrow passage can look like a technical problem to be overcome by force. In reality, strategic waterways are never merely geographic bottlenecks; they are tests of sovereignty and the balance of power. That is what the British and French discovered during World War I when they tried to force passage through the Dardanelles, then controlled by the Ottoman Empire.” Winston Churchill’s Gallipoli campaign became one of the war’s bloodiest disasters for the Allies, killing more than 130,000 men and costing Churchill his post.

Asli continues:

>A U.S. effort to open the Strait of Hormuz by force would be risky, military experts warn. Iran can exploit the advantages of asymmetric warfare, mining the passage and using drones, missiles and small-boat swarm attacks to make fighting for a narrow waterway costly even for a superior navy.

>But for President Trump, the choice does not need to be between a military gamble and acquiescing to Iranian control over the strait — and, by extension, over global energy markets. The United States can borrow a page from Turkish history and push for a negotiated maritime agreement, taking inspiration from the 1936 Montreux Convention. The document is foundational for modern Turkey and insures that this critical waterway stays open while acknowledging the sovereignty and security concerns of the state that overlooks it.

Read the full piece [here, for free](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/opinion/trump-hormuz-turkey-dardanelles.html?unlocked_article_code=1.XVA.-Qo3.taE0HBT2Cm1D&smid=re-nytopinion), even without a Times subscription.

*Edited for formatting.*

Churchill on his worst day at least had a grasp of the fundamentals allowing him to form and defend a reasonable position.

Trump’s daily briefings are coached to use lots of pictures and mention him hy name every sentence or two, or he will pay zero attention to what is being said.

Trump making a mistake of Churchill’s would use up one of the two times a day even a broken clock is right.