With Friends Like These...

Europe, as you'd probably expect is still positively steeming over Donald Rumsfeld's "Old Europe" vs. "New Europe" jibe" yesterday. Couple of things one ought to remember, though. First, perhaps in spite of himself, Donny's comment is a pretty shrewd political move, in light of the furrowed brow of resentment many of the smaller European countries have toward the renewed Franco-German alliance, which, by the way, if you've been in doubt recently, still pretty much is the impetus behind Continental Europe. The second thing to remember is that between the two, only Germany is unequivocally against a war with Iraq; whereas France, on the other hand, damn them, is holding the torch for the position taken by most of America's allies, not to mention most of America -- namely, by insisting that inspectors be given more time to suss out the degree to which Iraq is complying with UN resolutions. Nobody is seriously advocating writing a blank cheque here, despite the fears of those who most eager for get the war started, though one gets the feeling that there are more practical concerns at work; there will unquestionably be a compromise-laden "deadline," should the US allow that to happen. If representing the sentiment of much of the free world is a "problem," then more people would wish to see a more problematic president in the Oval Office than is already there. To my mind, Germany's position is a problem only if two things happen: (a) it is proven to the satisfaction of the rest of the free world that Iraq does in fact have weapons of mass destruction, and (b) that Germany shares a measure of culpability in Iraq's possession of such weapons. For now, though, they are a sovereign country, and I don't think they will suffer irreparable harm from being on America's shit list for a spell.

Now, of course, America is not at a loss for allies, as Colin Powell is quick to point out. Jeremy Bransten's rundown of America's "Patchwork Coaltion" is a helpful guide -- I can't wait for the playing cards! In America's corner, the United Nations be damned:

• A no brainer, of course, first and foremost, is Great Britain. Tony "I have either the biggest or small balls on the planet, depending on the angle" Blair is going against much of his country's press, much of his party, and most of his people, and placing the biggest bet of his political career on this war. Unequivocal success, though the definition of that has yet to be defined, I don't suppose, should mean good things for Labour and quite possibly Britain's acceptance of the euro. Roll the bones!

• Then there's Australia. Much the same can be said of John Howard's situation here, with a reported 62% of his country being against a war without UN approval.

• The U.S. regards Italy and Spain as unquestionable allies, despite the nearly hyperbolic public sentiment to the contrary.

• And then there's Poland and Estonia, each of whom have wonderful economic reasons to stay in the good graces of America. Easy to forget in Donny's "New Europe" are Slovakia and Slovenia, each of whom, come referendum-time in March, may actually reject their NATO memberships because of the war the U.S. would like for you to think they support.

• And from there, it's wide open. The Czech Republic and Hungary are ambivalent, though helpful; Turkey is hamstrung, though defiant.

When all is said and done, the final word on the matter might very well be Romania's daily newspaper Currentul, which -- you can almost hear the sigh of an entire country -- carries the headline "Romania Doesn't Want to Go to War With Iraq, But Will Do What the U.S. Says."