Of all the central and east European nations queuing up to join the Nato alliance, one country both needs and deserves the move more than any other: the Balkan republic of Macedonia. Yet because of an arcane dispute with neighbouring Greece over its name, it is the least likely to get the green light at this week's summit in Bucharest.

Instead, the annual jamboree for the Atlantic alliance is likely to expose the organisation as fractious and divided, leaving the only person in the Romanian capital with a smile on his face as Vladimir Putin, the outgoing Russian president.