U.S. secretary of state’s remarks about Portugal “shouldn’t be taken literally” – Portugal Resident

Defence minister Nuno Melo has done his best to deflect left wing parties’ criticism in reaction to the comment that Portugal ‘said yes before they even knew what the question was’ made to Fox News by U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio earlier this week.

Mr Melo told reporters that Marco Rubio’s assertions cannot be interpreted literally – and must be seen in the context that the U.S. secretary of state “wanted to affirm and emphasise the virtue of a country that did what was right” in making its Azores Air Base on Terceira Island available, “with conditions, as always.”

The niggle with Mr Melo’s stance is that it jars with the political position taken by the government during the United States’ and Israeli assaults on Iran (which was that it was not going to get involved, and did not support the escalation of violence – preferring ‘the diplomatic path’).

If the country was not supporting the war, how could allowing its air base to be used to amass military hardware in the Middle East ahead of that war be ‘doing what was right?’

But these ‘ancillary questions’ were not entertained: Portugal did what was right in the context that it made its base available to ‘an ally’ (even though it did not approve of what that ally was doing).

That this is all coming out in the press now adds another potential layer of embarrassment to an already confusing picture: with PS Socialists suggesting Portugal has suffered a “humiliation of planetary proportions” in being shown up as a form of cowering ‘yes-country’ under the thumb of the mighty US of A, international news channels are discussing the possibility that the United States and Israel could relaunch attacks on Iran, as early as ‘next week’. How might that affect the United States’ use of Lajes air base, or indeed Portugal’s ‘conditions’?

Asas dos Açores Facebook page may have some of the answers: its latest post (uploaded yesterday evening) reads: “Intense movement Poseidon, Pegasus and Globemaster   Lajes Air Base received an afternoon marked by intense North American military movement, with three distinct types of aircraft from the Navy and United States Air Force. The first recorded arrival was the landing of a Boeing P-8 Poseidon, from the U.S. Navy, a multimission aircraft specialised in maritime patrol, surveillance and antisubmarine warfare Later, two Boeing KC-46A Pegasus from the USAF (U.S. Air Force) arrived, modern strategic tankers capable of transporting around 96 tonnes of fuel, as well as passengers, cargo and even patients under medical evacuation Concluding the day’s activity, was the arrival of the versatile and reliable Boeing C-17A Globemaster III, one of the iconic military transport aircraft of the USAF, known for its enormous cargo capacity and operational flexibility  “

Source material: LUSA/ Iranintl.com/