Perhaps it is unlucky for those who run the former "tiger" economies of south-east Asia that Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, delights in the comedy of the absurd: in his skit at their annual dinner this year in Kuala Lumpur, he portrayed an improbable future in which he was briefed by a Kremlin official about the merciless demands of the world's only superpower - the Association of South East Asian Nations.

The joke is on Asean, for in the real world the group remains a diplomatic midget. Condoleezza Rice, the USsecretary of state, found this out the hard way. Last year, she was castigated for ceding the field to China by missing the meetings with Asean foreignministers and the subsequent Asean Regional Forum, a security group known as ARF. This year, a chastened Ms Rice decided not to repeat the snub and was mocked at home in the USfor playing Brahms on the piano in Kuala Lumpur while the Middle East burned.