TOUCHÉ:

The real mystery (assuming the allegations are true) is what sort of intel did America's spies think they could glean from snooping on the European Union?

Could it have been the early word on the European Commission's directive this May (soon rescinded) mandating that olive oil be served only in nonrefillable bottles with tamper-proof caps and labels written in "clear and indelible lettering"? Or maybe it was the research notes of the three-year investigation leading to Brussels's 2011 decision to forbid bottled-water producers from claiming that water prevents dehydration—on the basis that the claim lacked scientific evidence?

Far more interesting is the growing dismay at President Obama among his former idolators in Europe. The folks who gave him the Nobel Peace Prize before he'd brokered any peace are now disillusioned that he uses drones against terrorists, hasn't closed Guantanamo, and hasn't repudiated every Bush-Cheney security policy. And Europeans keep saying Americans are naive about the world.