…This week, though, came the first signs that the atmosphere, if not yet the substance, of what we used to call East-West relations could be warming. This week, Nato ambassadors are scheduled to sit down with their Russian counterpart, Alexander Grushko, at Nato headquarters outside Brussels to discuss an agenda that includes all the troubled areas that East and West should be talking about: Ukraine, Syria, the greater Middle East, Afghanistan, perhaps also Iran.
The good news is that such an agenda suggests a reversion to something like an East-West normal. Desirable though that would be, however, there is also a need for clarity. That this meeting is happening at all marks a significant climb-down – and not by Russia. It is taking place only because the Western side, i.e. Nato, has decided that some talking is better than none. And this is quite a turnaround… Läs artikel