The Russian-American breakthrough that has averted an attack on Syria for using chemical weapons has given some in the Middle East hope that such cooperation can be helpful in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

While this week marks the 40th anniversary of the 1973 war, few are suggesting that the current US-Russian cooperation is anything akin to the Cold War. But the presence of a second power, albeit, much less powerful than America, does provide possibilities for shaking up a unipolar world, especially in the volatile Middle East.

Russia is no stranger to the Middle East conflict. There are perhaps more Arabic-speaking diplomats and experts in Russia than in any other major world power. Russian diplomacy has even added to its arsenal the Arabic service of Russia Today, an Arabic language satellite station that has become a necessary ingredient for any country interested in having a say in the Middle East.

The involvement of Russia was a feature of the now nearly defunct Quartet, which also included the European Union and the United Nations as well as the United States. The Quartet was eclipsed in the past year when Washington decided to take on the Arab-Israeli conflict alone. US Secretary of State John Kerry has made six trips to Palestine and Israel this year to produce the restart of the talks and, thus, secure America’s further hegemony on this decades-old conflict. But the current peace talks scheduled for nine months seem to be going nowhere and the Americans have not even succeeded in having their own peace envoy, Martin Indyk, attend the negotiations due to Israeli objections.