The western Europeans don’t want the interceptor system – they prefer to rely on soft power. The new Europeans seem to want it, but one has the suspicion they really just want help in protection against the russians. That is, the patriot batteries and an important U.S. tripwire installation to forestall Russian backsliding toward Soviet designs.

So, we are pushing to install an expensive antimissle system to protect Europe against IRAN. They don’t want it. So why are we so hell bent on doing it? I think it was always a bargaining chip to be withdrawn for potential gain elsewhere, but the Russians have seen through this.