This week's spy scandal will open up a temporary rift across the Atlantic. But it is unlikely to undermine one of the most important trends in contemporary international relations: the combination of the west scaling back its ambitions in the former Soviet Union with Russia's growing realisation that it needs a new partnership with its former US and European rivals. This rapprochement is more solid than previous attempts because it is based not on dreams of friendship but on realistic calculations of national interests – interests that neither side is likely to risk for a return to the cold war rivalries of old.
上週的間諜醜聞將讓大西洋兩岸出現暫時的分歧。但這不太可能破壞當代國際關係的最重要趨勢之一：西方收斂了其在前蘇聯地區的野心，同時俄羅斯越來越意識到，自己需要與昔日的美歐競爭對手建立一種新型合作伙伴關係。這種友好關係的恢復要比之前的嘗試更爲堅實，因爲這並不基於友誼的美夢，而是基於對國家利益的現實盤算，雙方都不太可能回到過去冷戰時期的對立狀態，使這些利益面臨風險。