SEND IN THE CLOWNS – AT 1:18 P.M. ET:   As we commemorate Memorial Day, we recall that many of our battle deaths occurred in Europe, as a result of failed, inept European foreign policies.  We came to the rescue, at great cost.

Our "allies" are at it again, meeting with the arch-terrorist regime that runs Iran, trying to preserve the Iran nuclear deal, from which America has wisely withdrawn.  Lots of trade with Iran, the highest goal apparently, is involved.  As usual, our "allies" seem prepared to appease the enemy for a short-term goal.  From the Algemeiner:   

As EU foreign ministers convened in Brussels on Monday to try and keep alive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, the Tehran regime’s deputy foreign minister warned that the country’s ballistic missile program — a key factor behind the US decision to reinstate punishing sanctions earlier this month — was a “red line” that could not be crossed in negotiations.

Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters in Vienna on Sunday that while European parties to the deal, in particular the French government, wanted to address the missile program, Iran was “not willing to discuss such matters.”

French President Emmanuel Macron was reported to have raised the missile issue during a May 9 telephone conversation with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in the context of a broader appeal to Tehran to stick with the agreement despite the US withdrawal.

Araghchi was in the Austrian capital for  first “joint commission” meeting  between Iran and the other signatories of the 2015 deal — China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany — since President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that the US was pulling out of  the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the technical name for the deal, and would instead impose sanctions on Tehran.

One anonymous Iranian official who spoke to the AFP news agency said that as far as the Iranians were concerned, the deal was already in “intensive care.” Iran has threatened to resume more intensive uranium enrichment activities if the deal collapses.

Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, described the atmosphere at the Vienna talks as “good” as she arrived for Monday’s discussions in Brussels with the bloc’s foreign ministers.

“Our work first and foremost is to preserve the nuclear deal with Iran,” she said.

COMMENT:  That's the problem.  The Europeans always go in begging.  The Iranians need this deal far more than the West does.  Make them earn it.  They'll get off the dime with missiles if they feel the weight of the United States, and know that the Europeans will eventually side with the Americans.

Mogherini is a European leftist.   Expect her to try to give away Montana.

May 28, 2018