THE U.S. administration has given top priority to fighting terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks last year. This policy adjustment led to an "anti-terror alliance" between the United States, its European allies and Russia. But, one year later, the alliance has fallen apart.

　　In its first few months, the Bush administration took a tough attitude toward Russia. President George W. Bush's National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, an expert on Russia during the Cold War, condemned former U.S. President Bill Clinton's Moscow policy as based on "a romantic view of Russia" and other officials saw Russia as a "potential adversary" of the United States.

　　But that attitude changed after Sept. 11, 2001. The attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon forced Washington to adjust its security policies. The sole post-Cold War superpower began to seek support for its war against terror, thus providing an opportunity for tightening the U.S.-Russian ties.

　　For Moscow, the Sept. 11 incident also represented an opportunity. Russia believes that it is fully in its interests to have a stable relationship with Western countries, particularly the United States. Moscow, which needs capital to develop its economy, had been asking for help from the United States and it now found that it could give Washington a hand in fighting terrorism.

　　Over the past year, Bush and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, have met four times, greatly improving the U.S.-Russian ties. Russia offered firm support for the U.S. war on the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and expressed its willingness to fully cooperate with the United States.

　　Bilateral relations culminated in May when Bush visited Russia.

　　Bush and Putin announced that their summit had sealed up the Cold War and opened a "new era" for developing a strategic partnership between their two countries.

　　The centerpiece of the summit was a landmark treaty that foresaw cuts to each nation's nuclear arsenal of between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads from the current 6,000 which each is allowed. The two presidents also signed a declaration defining strategic priorities in what both sides described as their new partnership.

　　"Two former foes are now joined as partners, overcoming 50 years of division in a decade of insecurity," Bush told a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Russia after his visit to Moscow.

　　However, the two sides still have a long way to go to build up a real strategic partnership as they have different strategic aims and interests. The United States wants to maintain its sole leadership in the world while Russia aims to play the role of a big power in a multi-polar world.

　　Washington's unilateral policy in the international arena is often criticized by Moscow. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said in July that the international community's main task was to persuade the United States to stop acting alone.

　　"The task of Russian diplomacy and the international community — because the vast majority of countries share our position — is to persuade the political elite of the United States that it is in their interests to take part collectively and in solidarity in solving the current problems," Ivanov said.

　　Disputes between the two countries also remain over arms reduction, NATO expansion, Iraq, Russia's relations with Iran and other international issues. Talk of anti-terror cooperation between the two is receding. 

　　A similar impact has been made on the relationship between the United States and its European allies.

　　Germany, France, Britain and other European countries showed strong solidarity with the United States in the hours following the Sept. 11 attacks, giving help to Washington in its military operation in Afghanistan.

　　But complaints and criticism have arisen from among European allies as the United States is expanding its war against terrorism, particularly after the Bush administration designated Iraq, Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as an "axis of evil" and proposed "the preemptive use of force."

　　Strains in trans-Atlantic relations have heightened recently because of differences over Iraq. Washington vowed to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by all means, but Germany and France expressed their opposition to the policy.

　　France has called for a U.N. Security Council vote and President Jacques Chirac said a U.S. attack would be "counter to the French notion of collective security, a notion based on cooperation between states, the respect of law, and the authority of the (U.N.) Security Council."

　　Rows have also occurred between the allies over other issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, farm trade and a new international criminal court. The trans-Atlantic solidarity crumbled one year after the Sept. 11 attacks because the two sides have different strategic aims.

　　Like Russia, the European Union promotes the multi-polarization of the world and seeks to play a bigger role in international affairs, thus running counter to the one-polar world order sought by the United States. (Xinhua)