In the aftermath of the Paris attacks, two pictures sent a powerful message about how international politics are changing. One was of Barack Obama hunched in discussion in a hotel lobby with Vladimir Putin. The frosty body language of their previous meeting at the UN had given way to something more businesslike. The US and Russian presidents almost looked like colleagues. Picture number two, artfully released by the defence ministry in Moscow, was of a Russian bomb being loaded on a plane in Syria with the words “That’s for Paris” scrawled on the side.
Together the two images highlighted an interesting possibility. Might Russia and the west begin to bury their differences by making common cause in the war against Isis? The idea horrifies many Russia analysts in the west and presents enormous complications. Nonetheless, it is worth a try for a number of reasons.
First, foreign policy is about setting priorities — and after Paris, with the threat of further attacks to come, the defeat of Isis is rightly the top western priority. Second, there have been some modest but important signs that Russia is backing off in Ukraine. The ceasefire in the east of the country held throughout the autumn. There has been a flare-up of fighting in recent days but not all of it has been driven by the Russians. Finally, neither the west nor Russia has a monopoly of wisdom on the Syrian conflict. Finding a middle ground between the entrenched positions of Moscow and Washington could help end the conflict.