A constructive step, but still inadequate

Charles Krauthammer likes the eastern European troop-deployment agreement worked out at the NATO Summit in Warsaw. The Baltic states and Poland will host NATO forces in sufficient strength to send a message to Putin.

But not much is being done regarding other bad actors:

However, the Western order remains challenged by the other two members of the troika of authoritarian expansionists: China and Iran. Their provocations proceed unabated. Indeed, the next test for the United States is China's furious denunciation of the decision handed down Tuesday by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague -- a blistering, sweeping and unanimous rejection of China's territorial claims and military buildup in the South China Sea.

Without American action, however, The Hague's verdict is a dead letter. Lecturing other great powers about adherence to "international norms" is fine. But the Pacific Rim nations are anxious to see whether we will actually do something.

Regarding Iran, we certainly won't. Our abject appeasement continues, from ignoring Tehran's serial violations of the nuclear agreement (the latest: intensified efforts to obtain illegal nuclear technology in Germany) to the administration acting as a kind of Chamber of Commerce to facilitate the sale of about 100 Boeing jetliners to a regime that routinely uses civilian aircraft for military transport (particularly in Syria).

Bret Stephens at the WSJ points out the utter insanity of post-America's pressing for Iran to be able to join the World Trade Organization, and also of Boeing's sale of jets to Iran. It sure looks insane in light of what the Islamic Republic is up to:

Mr. Obama says Iran is honoring the nuclear deal, but German intelligence tells us Tehran is violating it more aggressively than ever. He promised “snapback” sanctions in the event of such violations, but the U.S. is operating as Iran’s trade-promotion agent. He promised “unprecedented” inspections, but we’re not permitted to inspect sites where uranium was found. He promised an eight-year ban on Iran’s testing of ballistic missiles, but Tehran violated that ban immediately and repeatedly with only mild pushback from the West. He promised that the nuclear deal was not about “normalizing” relations with a rogue regime. But he wants it in the WTO.

Is Mr. Obama rationalizing a failed agreement or did he mean to mislead the American public? Either way, truth is catching up with the Iran deal. 

Let's pray that the Most Equal Comrade's legacy doesn't consist of incinerated post-American cities.