NATO members meeting in Brussels this Thursday want to re-establish formal ties with their former Cold War enemy, Russia.

The military alliance cut relations last summer after Russia ordered tanks into Georgia's breakaway regions to back separatists.

There was plenty of talk about a new Cold War. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev even used the term to say his people weren't afraid of history repeating in a new showdown with the West.

But we're only talking about re-forming the NATO-Russia Council. It's hard to see this as anything other than a small step towards reconciliation. Relations between Russia and the West have been at their iciest for 20 years. And there's still plenty of mutual antagonism.

Georgia's and Ukraine's push for full NATO membership is a red rag to Moscow, whose leaders are paranoid about being encircled by their former Soviet satellites and their new Western allies.

The missile shields the United States wants to build in Poland and the Czech Republic are another bitter bone of contention.

The Kremlin thinks the Pentagon is trying to beef up anti-Russian defences despite American diplomats saying it's all about stopping Iranian missiles.

Diplomatic moving and shaking might help lower the temperature.

Barack Obama is trying to make a pen pal out of Medvedev with a letter asking him if they can be friends.

But in the end, it might all come down to money - or the lack of it.

At $6 billion and counting, the US missile shield is no drop in the ocean for a country that needs billions more to rescue its economy.

Vice President Joe Biden suggested the Pentagon might be watching its budget when he told last month's Munich Security Conference the shields would be built as long as they don't cost too much.

There are even suggestions that the United States and Russia share missile defences if the two can agree that Iran's the real threat rather than one another.

And Obama's war chest requires lots of juggling of resources: troops out of Iraq to shore up what will be a prolonged fight against Islamic extremism in Afghanistan.

Just as war is good for business, NATO and Russia might find that a global recession helps keep the peace.