The Malaysian foreign minister, Syed Hamid Albar, early this month called on the United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. The Malaysian media reported the event, with the obligatory photograph of two shaking hands and smiling for the cameras, in euphemistic diplomatic prose to suggest bilateral relations are on the mend. It is not.

Malaysia believes President George Bush, not President Al Gore, is better for the United States and Dr Mahathir Mohamed, and that is why Dr Mahathir should sup at the White House. The foreign minister came away perplexed - the Bush fellow and the Gore fellow both feel the same way about how the Mahathir fellow runs the country.