The Guardian | Julian Borger: It�s debatable when the world last found itself in such a perilous situation � and there are disturbing echoes of the eve of the first world war

As UN secretary general, it is Ant�nio Guterres�s increasingly frequent duty to warn the major powers they are rushing towards catastrophe. On Friday, on the eve of the US-led airstrikes, it was the former Portuguese prime minister�s turn once again to raise the alarm at the latest of a series of deadlocked security council sessions on�Syria.

�The cold war is back with a vengeance and a difference,� Guterres said. The difference is that it is no longer cold. American troops are already a grenade�s toss away from Russians and Iranians in Syria, and this weekend, missiles and planes from the US, UK and�France�flew at the Syrian regime.

�The mechanisms and safeguards that existed to prevent escalation in the past no longer seem to be present,� the secretary general said. It is debatable exactly when the world last found itself in such a perilous situation. Perhaps the 1983 missile standoff in Europe, when a Nato exercise,�Able Archer, almost triggered a panicked nuclear launch by the Soviet Union.

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