Turning a typical yes-we-love-you-but-lip-service-is-all-you-get pirouette, Germany and other European partners have successfully, well, lip serviced President Obama during this weekend’s NATO summit with a passionate endorsement Bussi (kiss) for his new Afghan strategy while handing him a great big nichts dahinter (nothing behind it) welcome bouquet.

To underscore their sincerity, or lack of it, our stalwart partners have agreed to send, now get this, a jaw-dropping contingent of 3,000 troops to protect elections there next August. Not only that, a few new military training teams will also be sent to strengthen Afghanistan’s, uh, already amazingly strong army. And just to put the icing on the top of the injury, I mean cake, a handful of European civilian experts will be flown in to “consolidate the government” down there, whatever that means.

These are promising promises which promise to bring even more promise to President Obama’s promising start in jolly old Europe – oops, I meant in jolly Europe, of course.

“At a closing news conference, Obama portrayed the outcome as a success for his maiden encounter with NATO summitry, suggesting that trainers and civilians can be just as valuable as fighters.”