So it’s come to this. The fate of the world hangs in the balance…and it’s the EU that’s going to be the deciding factor.

The EU? Really? Sigh.

You may have heard that the US scrapped the Iranian nuclear deal this week, setting off a series of events that could very likely end up in a regional conflagration. But if that’s what you heard, then you heard wrong. In actuality, Trump signed an Executive Memorandum on Tuesday that reaffirmed his October 13, 2017, decision to deny re-certification of the JCPOA that lifted sanction waivers promised under this agreement.

Confused? Don’t worry, so is mostly everyone else. But here’s the bottom line: The “Iran nuclear deal” was not some treaty between the US and Iran. It was a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed by China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, the EU, and Iran. In other words, only one player in this seven-member deal is walking away from the table.

This is not a trivial distinction. What it means is that it is still perfectly possible that the other signatories to the agreement could continue on with the agreement or hammer out some replacement for it. At the very least, Europe could stand up to Washington’s sanctions regime…if they followed Mish Shedlock’s advice and “Grow a Backbone on Something Important,” that is. As Mish points out, billions of dollars of European business are on the line. That money will be lost if the Europeans just roll over and accept US demands to wind down all business in Iran in the next three to six months.

Find out more about how the EU’s choice between the American Empire and the Eurasian “alternative” is likely to determine the course of the 21st century (and how both sides are controlled) in this week’s edition of The Corbett Report Subscriber.

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