After only six weeks in office, the interim government headed by Hamid Karzai, the pro-Western leader hailed enthusiastically in Washington last week, confronts serious challenges.

But President Aliyev has been a "pro-Western" leader of an Islamic nation and allowed Western companies to develop its oil reserves.

The Arab masses, indignant at the western humiliation of Saddam Hussein, were expected to rise up against their pro-western leaders.

A third development was Sihanouk's own belief that he had been targeted by United States intelligence agencies for replacement by a more pro-Western leader.

President Yeltsin is the most pro-Western Russian leader in history.

But its significance stemmed from the fact that the two pro-Western leaders once again agreed to work together on regional issues.

In the European Union, people have suddenly stopped fearing that pro-Western Arab leaders might be succeeded by Islamic fundamentalists.

He is seen as a pro-Western leader but who favours balanced relations with Russia, the United States, and the EU.

Russia fears that it is losing influence in the former Soviet Union after peaceful revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia led to the elections of pro-Western leaders.

"The bottom line," Mr. Nixon said, "is that Yeltsin is the most pro-Western leader of Russia in history."