So peace in our time rules in the Persian Gulf. That's OK - for now at least. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, a cross between Othello and Paul Robeson, deftly offered Iraq the hand of diplomacy while holding a thunderbolt behind his back.

Sixty years ago Neville Chamberlain flew to Munich hoping to avert a European crisis which in fact had already happened two years before when Hitler's troops reoccupied the Rhineland. Unlike Mr Annan, however, Britain's Prime Minister did not have the threat of massive US fire-power to back up his diplomacy; he walked naked into the conference chamber.

Hitler, a consummate liar for whom diplomacy was a cynical game, made great play of seeming to offer Chamberlain what he wanted in return for which Germany would make no more territorial demands.

Czechoslovakia paid the price of Munich; but that was a "far away country". The honourable but credulous Chamberlain was allowed to deceive the British with "peace in our time", courtesy of Herr Hitler.

Hitler, of course, had no intention of making no more territorial demands. His biography Mein Kampf, published 15 years before Munich, had clearly stated that Germany's future depended on the forcible acquisition of living space east of the River Oder.

Within six months of Munich, Hitler invaded Poland and Britain was at war with Germany.

The League of Nations, the precursor of the UN, was a casualty of World War II. The UN seems to be a different kind of dog, one with American teeth - as Saddam Hussein found out in 1991.

Alas, the UN's success in the Gulf was not replicated in former Yugoslavia. The Dayton Peace Accord, remember, was brokered only after the UN's peace-keeping forces were replaced by NATO warplanes. The Serbs, who had withstood economic sanctions as had the Iraqis, were bombed to the conference table.

Without those US aircraft carriers in the Gulf, Kofi Annan would have been accorded about the same respect as a UN weapons inspector. Sometimes the velvet glove of peace and the iron fist of war must go hand in hand.

Saddam Hussein, a lesser politician than Adolf Hitler and not as good at brinkmanship, has nevertheless bought himself more time. Gullible elements in Arab opinion will joyfully accept his interpretation of events: he stood up to and faced down the might of America's military forces.

Pathetically, anti-US peaceniks will take the same line. I suspect that some of them will be secretly disappointed, at least for the time being, because the agreement has robbed them of media opportunities to denounce US Imperialism - just as they did when 40-odd nations took part in Operation Desert Storm to kick Saddam out of Kuwait.

Last week Tony Benn told the House of Commons that people would be reminded of Vietnam. Actually I was thinking of former Yugoslavia. I was also thinking of US attempts to broker a political solution in Northern Ireland in the shape of Senator George Mitchell.

If Kofi Annan's deal is in line with UN requirements, America should put to one side whatever misgivings it may have and give the agreement time to work. The warplanes and ground troops should remain where they are, to remind Saddam that the UN has more than a piece of paper to wave.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.