Tri-polar new world order – Moscow, London and Washington

Events of recent months have seen a re-emergence of Moscow and London on the world diplomatic stage, new equal partners of Washington, walking together purposefully in the quest of common objectives.

The substitution of London’s influence around the globe by an aggressive, and at times underhand, Washington has ceased with the appearance of a confident, buoyant United Kingdom under Tony Blair, ten years after a brief “Britain is booming” under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. With Blair, London regains the clout it lost during the Cold War, in which there could only be two protagonists. In times of conflict, the parties involved polarise.

As Tony Blair leads the United Kingdom out of the obscurity of the Cold War into a new relationship with both Washington and Moscow, Vladimir Putin and Igor Ivanov put Moscow very firmly back on the “must visit” list of venues.

President Vladimir Putin was the first leader to offer his solidarity with George Bush on September 11th after the terrorist attacks. With this measure, he skilfully put the Chechnya question in its rightful context: like the Albanian question, like Abu Sayyaf, like Al Qaeda, the Chechen “separatists” are terrorists and common criminals, not representative of the people of Chechnya, who also use and abuse the Qu’ran for their personal gain.

The hostile foreign press reports about Russian atrocities in Chechnya have thankfully disappeared as journalists began to see the light. The circus has moved on some thousand kilometres eastwards, along with the aid agencies.

The Russian federation foments healthy relations also with the European Union members, where it is seen as a friend and a partner and its logistic support to the US/UK alliance in Afghanistan is fundamental to the success of the military operations.

With a detected thaw in Sino-American relations after periods of tension in recent months, the world appears to be moving forward towards a United Organisation among Nations, whose voice is heard above that of the United Nations Organisation.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru