WAS that the zither we heard in the background of the TV news coverage of the US-Russian spy-swap at Vienna airport on Friday? Was that Harry Lime's shadow we saw passing briefly across the runway? Was there a frisson of nostalgia in the air for good old-fashioned espionage being acted out in real life again?
It was certainly difficult to avoid thinking that among those who stage-managed Friday's event must have been some who were involved in misty early-morning exchanges across bridges between East and West in grimmer times.
Such nostalgia should not be entertained for a moment. The significance of the Vienna exchanges was that the two of the world's superpowers can now look each other in the eye and agree to act sensibly without unnecessary accusation or pretence. This was the largest exchange of spies for almost 50 years and it was carried out with the minimum of recrimination. There must have been the strongest imaginable political will at the very top of both sides for it to happen as it did. And that is the good news. There is, of course, the counter argument that the Russian sleepers were outed by the US security services in order to warn President Obama not to get too close to the Russians. Most people will prefer the view that what has happened between Washington and Moscow over this issue augurs well for the future.
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