The Iraq war, the proper role of the United Nations after it is over, the Northern Ireland peace process and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict came together yesterday in a rich and complex agenda at the Hillsborough summit.
President Bush, Mr Blair and Mr Ahern made considerable progress in clarifying their policies on these issues. They were able to show how much they are inter-related. Their meeting underlined how closely Ireland, Britain and the United States are involved politically and diplomatically, notwithstanding their disagreements and differing perspectives. It was a good day's work by all three leaders, however much remains to be worked out in detail on all four of the subjects they discussed.
Now that the war is entering its military end-game international attention is concentrated on how it will be concluded and how the UN will be involved in post-war Iraq. A recurrent theme of yesterday's summit was that the UN would have a "vital role" to "affirm Iraq's territorial integrity, ensure rapid delivery of humanitarian relief and endorse an appropriate post-conflict administration", in the words of the joint US-British statement. Mr Bush said this would involve providing food, medicine, aid, contributions and "helping the interim government stand up until the real government shows up."
Argument will continue intensively on whether such functions will indeed give the UN the central role it must have if a new Iraqi government is to have international legitimacy and is not seen as an Anglo-American puppet. Russia, Germany and France are to meet on Friday to consider this, after the deep divisions which prevented the Security Council endorsing the war, which were echoed again yesterday by President Chirac. Mr Bush has gone some way towards Mr Blair on the issue and some distance away from Pentagon hardliners in his administration who foresee a nugatory UN role. That rhetorical movement must be tested and more fully defined in coming negotiations but it is welcome nevertheless.
So too is the fuller commitment Mr Bush made yesterday to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. He undertook to devote as much energy to it as Mr Blair has to the Northern Ireland peace process. That would be a radical change compared to the indulgence his administration has so far shown the governments led by Mr Ariel Sharon. If the road map towards a Middle East peace prepared by the US, the UN, the European Union and Russia is to be published and implemented soon Mr Bush must confront Mr Sharon's refusal to co-operate and build on the opportunity offered by the recent appointment of a Palestinian prime minister.
There are certainly valid comparisons to be made between making peace in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. The changing of mindsets which assume deep divisions based on history and religion can be overcome, as Mr Bush said yesterday. That comparison will be further tested in coming days. The summit at Hillsborough will set the contours of power in the world.