Morning in Europe

as diplomacy resumes...

Talleyrand is chuffed to see some diplomacy underway after so much time wasted in futile posturing. Whether there will be a genuine peace in Ukraine remains to be seen. But an important step forward has been taken.

There are two interesting aspects of the meeting between the Americans and the Russians this week. The first is the setting. Most of us have become so accustomed to seeing such meetings in Geneva, Vienna, and similar locales, that for one to happen in Saudi Arabia is, admittedly, a pleasing innovation. The Saudis will need to do more to convince people that their professed sophistication is matched with sufficient disinterestedness; still, kudos.

The second aspect is the readiness with which much of the world has accepted the humiliation of Ukraine and its European friends. The pattern was set long ago: where were the South Vietnamese at the peace negotiations in Paris? Where were the puppet rulers of Afghanistan when the USA finally began talking with the Taliban? And now, what about the stalwart Mr Zelenskyy? Proxies are almost always treated thus. Except with the Americans, there’s an additional element which has less to do with power per se than with fads, also known as theories. As soon as a theory proves unworkable in practice (‘containment’, ‘COIN’, and ‘deterrence’, respectively), it is discarded along with the lab animals, and ‘realism’ returns, usually, as they saying goes, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.

Well, not all possibilities. If the Ukrainians are clever, they’ll quietly ask about applying for entry to the BRICS. Join the queue.