Steven den Beste has repeatedly pointed out (one example is here) that "diplomacy always succeeds". There is never a failure. Simply put, there never can be a "failure" because "success" is defined up or down to coincide with the outcome of any particular diplomatic initiative. Well, boys and girls, it happened again, this time in connection with the International Criminal Court.

The EU strongly favors both establishing the court and granting it universal jurisdiction. The US just as strongly opposes both of those objectives. The US appears to be on the losing end of things, so it has sought bilateral agreements which seek to exempt its soldiers and citizens from the jurisdiction of the court. The EU issued a warning to all nations attempting to gain membership in the EU that they if they entered into such an agreement with the US before the EU established a "common policy" (read that, "before we formalize our opposition to such bilateral agreements"), their application for membership in the EU would be jeopardized. The US countered that we couldn't believe that the EU would do such a thing (and, oh, by the way, if you want into NATO, or if you want continued military aid from the US, you should seriously consider entering into such an agreement).

And the EU just blinked. The Washington Times reports:

"Most states looking at the advisory [the EU warning noted above -CG] coolly and rationally think it's at least partly wrong," said one European diplomat. "We are trying for a common EU position, but that may just be that each country makes its own decisions."

In other words, our common position will be that there is no common position. But, by God, we reached an agreement!

Via Drudge