New approach

It was inevitable that Syria would “hail as a victory” the agreement between the US and Russia (International, 16 September). Is it possible that Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is bringing a new approach to 
diplomacy?

Or is Russia regaining its “mojo” after the Soviets’ political and economic upheavals of the 1990s?

Now because of its huge oil and gas reserves it is once again negotiating from a position of strength.

It may augur, as some analysts suggest, a return to business as usual in international politics. There were those, like Henry Kissinger, always sceptical of the idea of a “new world order”. Hopefully traditional realists are wrong and both Russia and the US have a “new approach getting to yes” in international diplomacy.

Ellis Thorpe

Old Chapel Walk

Inverurie