The efforts in the 1970s by then US president Richard Nixon and his adviser, Henry Kissinger, to bring about a rapprochement with China and at the same time to ease tensions with the Soviet Union, has been hailed as a diplomatic masterstroke.

Exploiting the tensions between the two communist powers to its advantage, Washington was able to strengthen ties with both Beijing and Moscow, leading to the opening to China and détente with the Soviet Union. At the same time, the realpolitik road taken by President Nixon and Dr Kissinger helped produce tensions between Beijing and Russia and made it less likely that the two would gang together against Washington. Ironically, the policies being pursued today by members of the foreign policy establishment in Washington, at a time when Russia has ceased to be Communist superpower and China has been embracing capitalism, seem to encourage Moscow and Beijing to band together in opposing American global interests.

Most intriguing is the obsessive Russia fixation in Washington these days which creates the impression that Russia is America's number one geopolitical foe and that the two countries are in the midst of a new Cold War. It is understandable that many Americans are concerned about what they believe was an effort by Russia to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election on the side of Candidate Donald Trump and through the use of Internet hackers and so-called trolls operating in the social media. Hence, a series of investigations launched by the government and the media are now trying to figure out what exactly was the role of the Kremlin in that election and propose ways to respond to this challenge.