If there is truth to recent allegations that Russian arms were sold to Iraq in the run-up to the current war, this bodes very ill indeed for the future of Russia-U.S. relations. It should also be considered an act of colossal stupidity.

This takes place at a time in which it appears President Vladimir Putin may be reappraising his strategic partnership with the United States — and doing so in very harsh words.

The formation of the post-Sept. 11 Moscow-Washington axis surprised many people in Russia and abroad. It has thus far endured the strain of NATO enlargement and the U.S. decision to pull out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty it had signed with the Soviet Union back in the years of detente.

Whether it can last through this current storm is another, more grave question.

Russia’s long-range interests, this newspaper has often opined, lie in increasing integration and cooperation with the West, especially its seminal power, the United States. And, while Russia may have made some friends in the European Union recently, this in no way compensates for damage to Russia’s relations with the United States.

We hope that Putin and the rest of the Russian government realize in time where the country’s true interests lie, and that it is not worth alienating Washington in order to score points with Paris and Berlin. To do so would mean that Russia is surrendering its own best interests in favor of those of an evil dictator whose fate seems sealed.

Global government

If there is one international organization that has had its image seriously tarnished over the last few months, it is the United Nations.

Always a fractious body, as war against Iraq loomed ever closer on the horizon the United Nations degenerated into little more than a forum for public posturing and backstage politicking, rendering itself almost completely irrelevant.

Though they may like to say in public that their stances against the war were made on principled grounds, the fact of the matter is that France, Germany and Russia were all really more interested in their own politics and driven by a fear of the United States than in matters of real international concern and importance.

The United Nations and its bureaucrats have in the past shown disregard for human life, international law and enormous hypocrisy when dealing with major world crises. This time was no exception.

German Prime Minister Gerhard Schroeder, for instance, seized upon opposing war as a way to rescue his popularity at a time of sagging ratings and a stagnant economy, and it played well with the generally pacifist German electorate. His French counterpart was trying to appeal to Gaullist sensibilities to improve his own tarnished image. And President Vladimir Putin, at least in part, surely had his image in next year’s election in mind — now, after all, he can run as having bravely stood up to the Americans, bringing in the nationalist vote.

Issues of war and peace demand serious discussion and sober, reasoned analysis. They call for leading, not following, and remembering the wider, global responsibilities that powerful countries face.

Unfortunately, we have seen little of that in the United Nations recently.

It is time for a serious re-appraisal of the workings of the U.N. The kind of impasse that has occurred within the Security Council must not be allowed to jeopardize the vital function the body serves in promoting development and international law.