Tom Friedman, the mustached man in the NYT opinion section, has weighed in with another of his bold realpolitik visions: because Saudi Arabia will pony up $1B in aid for Iraq and both France and Germany left us hanging, we are seeing the beginnings of the disintegration of "the West."

Perhaps. He makes a salient point that contemporary European politcs stem from 1989, by the fall of the Berlin wall, the end of the Soviet Union and a desire for multilateralism and shared authority, whereas America is defined largely by 9-11 and is casting about wildly for "security" as opposed to peace,denying the fact that our reason d'superpower has vanished. We are in very real ways on very different pages, and the question is open as to who's vision, if either, for the world will be the first to budge.

A good point, and one to ponder, but to return to the matter at hand, it seems obvious that he most salient factor in disparity of Saudi and European aid for Iraq is much more immediate: how will the money be spent? If we had an international open bidding procees for reconstruction contracts administered by the UN, something tells me that our traditional allies would be more willing to pony up the dough.

The shorter Tom Friedman: We're not war profiteers.