Monday Reading (UPDATED)

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

Putin puppet Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump's Secretary of State, pompous Mike Pompeo, is on a mission to undercut the Iran nuclear deal and precipitate a war with Iran:

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday arrived Brussels in an unplanned visit with European foreign ministers who had been meeting to bolster the faltering Iran nuclear deal against a U.S. assault.

The last-minute decision — announced as he hopped on a plane — set up a confrontation between Pompeo and European diplomats who have been scrambling to save the deal. [snip]

Pompeo scrapped a day of mostly ceremonial events in Moscow on Monday in favor of the Brussels stopover. He plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday. Many E.U. leaders are furious with Trump’s moves on Iran, and Brussels appeared set to welcome Pompeo only grudgingly, if at all.  (our emphasis)

It's not surprising Pompeo is reporting back to headquarters after trying to sink the nuclear deal our European allies have been trying to salvage.  Meanwhile, Iran archenemy Saudi Arabia is investigating the "sabotage" of two of its oil tankers in the Persian Gulf (perhaps by bonesaw?), setting up a potential pretext for attacks on Iran.  They're determined to use the weak- minded Trump to achieve their goal of eliminating a regional rival, to hell with the consequences.

A Washington Post editorial ties this in with a visit to our would- be autocrat by Hungarian despot Viktor Orban:

Mr. Trump’s affinity for this demagogue is matched by his administration’s steadily worsening relations with traditionally close U.S. allies such as Germany and France. On the same day that the White House announced Mr. Orban’s visit, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo abruptly canceled a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. As Europe’s centrist parties struggle with a growing challenge from far-right parties with racist and authoritarian agendas, the United States ought to be doing all it can to bolster liberal democracy, especially in those parts of Europe where its roots are shallow. Instead, with increasing boldness, Mr. Trump is siding with democracy’s enemies.

The lights have gone from flashing yellow to red.

Meanwhile, Russian intelligence cutout and current British jailbird Julian Assange is having his rape investigation reopened by Sweden:

Swedish prosecutors are reopening an investigation into a rape allegation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Speaking Monday at a news conference in Stockholm, Eva-Marie Persson, Sweden’s deputy director of public prosecutions, said there is “still a probable cause to suspect that Assange committed rape.” In her assessment, she said, “a new questioning of Assange is required.”

Last month, Assange was arrested by British police at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London and later sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail.

He fled to the embassy in 2012 after Sweden requested his extradition in a case involving sexual assault allegations, which Assange denies.

An Iraq war combat veteran writes about the dangers stemming from Trump's pardoning of war criminals:

In at least three instances, then, our commander in chief appears to have preferred to overlook serious war crimes in favor of a warped notion of patriotism and heroism. Trump subscribes to a “bad things happen in war” mentality — odd for a man who actively avoided military service.  [snip]

When Trump champions war criminals as brave patriots who are simply victims of political correctness, he seems to push for a climate that condones unethical and criminal behavior. He appears to write off war crimes as the cost of doing business. If this is the example our military is given, we should not be surprised to see more [Michael] Behennas and [Edward] Gallaghers. Referring to the infamous Army “kill team ” in Afghanistan in 2009-2010, a senior military official noted the importance of the brigade commander’s aggressive guidance, which rejected any attempt to “win hearts and minds.” The official observed that “clearly, the guys who were pulling the trigger are the proximate cause of the crime, but the culture itself is the enabler.” [snip]

 Leaders are constantly making policy, by what they do — and by what they don’t do. Trump’s posture endangers our deployed men and women by betraying the trust of host nations that we will prosecute those rare individuals who commit crimes against their people.  [our emphasis]

Finally, we offer our recommendation to check out Infidel 753's latest link round- up for the best smorgasbord of Internet offerings anywhere.  Make sure you at least make it to the link to the Anne Frank memorial posting.

UPDATE:  Apparently the Europeans weren't having any of pompous Pompeo's shenanigans--

A senior European diplo tells me @SecPompeo came to Brussels for a photo op -- Europe and US stand against Iran. "He wanted a photo op. We declined and stuck to the plan." #Iran #EU @FedericaMog

— laurence norman (@laurnorman) May 13, 2019

Well, we're sure the Russians will accommodate him.