The world order laid down by the Atlantic Charter was based on U.S. military and economic dominance. To all intents and purposes, Washington will maintain its military dominance for the foreseeable future. Economic dominance is another matter.
Central Asian states are inclined to cooperate with Russia but also want to build relationships with the United States and other NATO countries directly, without Moscow or Beijing. External threats (whether from the Taliban or color revolutions) have faded, and Central Asian states are embracing a balance policy.
The issue of the transportation of Caspian energy resources took on a new dimension at the start of summer, when disputes over the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline (TAPI) intensified.
Russia would like to find another negotiating platform that is less bureaucratic and able to solve important practical problems.
Russia supports Iran because of fears of potentially dangerous (from its point of view) actions of the U.S. non-proliferation regime, which becomes more repressive, according to the Russian side. Therefore, Moscow uses the talks with Iran as the ability to protect against the NPT norms of their audit in a less favorable direction for Russian interest.
Israel’s fear of losing a key ally prevented it from directly criticizing Washington. But the American peace settlement initiatives continue to provoke a negative response among a great part of the Israeli elite.
Russia should be more circumspect in regard to its agreements with Norway