THE Irish and British governments and the White House have, at different times, adopted "soft-cop" and "hard-cop" approaches to the peace process. The hard-cop approach was very much in evidence from the Taoiseach when, some weeks back, he appeared to take Mr David Trimble's side against the republican movement in the argument over decommissioning.
On closer reading, Mr Ahern had left himself with a number of escape clauses, but these subtleties were lost on the republicans who went into a massive huff afterwards, muttering about people "tearing up the agreement" and adopting a highly-jaundiced view of an administration in Dublin which it had previously considered to be "on side".
There was another view: that governments have to govern and the immediate priority was to save Mr Trimble from the political destruction which would inevitably follow from being in a minority position among unionists in the Assembly.
We may never know how important Mr Ahern's comments were in ensuring that Mr Trimble at least maintained parity with the anti-agreement unionists by "turning" Mr Roy Beggs jnr from a No to a Yes in the vote on cross-Border bodies and the restructuring of government departments. Certainly Mr Beggs listed it afterwards as one of the reasons for the stance he took.
However, now it's back to the old soft-cop Bertie with whom we are so much more familiar. There has been very favourable republican reaction to the Taoiseach's statement on Wednesday for the devolution day that didn't take place. The previous rhetoric about decommissioning had disappeared.
There were comfort phrases for republicans, such as "the full implementation of the Good Friday peace agreement", which would to a considerable extent remedy "the fundamental defects in practice of the 1920-21 partition settlement". The statesmanship of "all the parties involved" had been widely recognised and there was no dispute over the "mandate and legitimacy" of any of the parties eligible for ministerial office.
From a Sinn Fein-basher, Mr Ahern had turned into a Sinn Fein-stroker, petting and massaging the republican feline until it stopped hissing and snarling and began to purr with contentment once more. The brief passage on decommissioning was particularly evocative. Using a phrase popular with republicans, Mr Ahern noted that "the guns have remained silent" and there had been extensive contact with Gen de Chastelain.
With considerable understatement, the Taoiseach said there were "some issues here to be resolved" but, in another faint echo of republican rhetoric, he said all sides wanted "to take the gun out of Irish politics".
It was yet another indication of how closely the two prime ministers work on this issue that a similar statement by Mr Tony Blair was released on the same day in the Belfast Telegraph. Insiders say that, even after jousting with the Opposition in the Dail over the latest allegation of scandal, Mr Ahern goes back to his office and telephones Downing Street to discuss the latest turn in the Northern situation. The measured and responsible approach of the other party leaders in the Dail shows that they also realise there is too much at stake to be playing power-games or taking hardline positions.
The Dublin-London synchronisation was also seen in separate statements by Mr Ahern and the Northern Secretary that there was no "plan B". The truth is that there is always a "plan B", not to mention C, D and E - however fully-developed - because there has to be. The real import of Mr Ahern's and Dr Mo Mowlam's remarks was that the parties should get themselves out of this mess and not leave it up to the two governments yet again.
On that score, and even though it generated more heat than light, Tuesday's private meeting at Stormont between the Ulster Unionist and Sinn Fein leaderships was the best development in some time. Each side now knows just how little room to manoeuvre the other has on decommissioning.
Mr Trimble's parliamentary situation is on a knife-edge. Although neither his spokesman nor Mr Beggs would comment on the matter, it is widely believed the East Antrim Assemblyman has a letter from the UUP leader promising to step down rather than enter an executive with republicans who have not decommissioned. Mr Trimble also has to ensure that he maintains his two-thirds majority when the Ulster Unionist Council, the party's governing body, holds its a.g.m. in Belfast next Saturday.
Likewise, Mr Adams has plausibly indicated that there is no chance of persuading the IRA to decommission in the short term. In more colourful terms, Mr Martin McGuinness told the Guardian that if he asked for such a gesture he would be "chased out of the room".
The waffle and the misinformation have been put aside and we are down to "ground zero". How then to square the circle, bridge the unbridgeable and ensure the two parallel lines meet now, rather than at infinity?
Once again, one returns to Gen de Chastelain, accepted as an honest broker by both sides. The general is known to be working closely with the two governments, and whatever he finally comes up with will be heavily informed by the distilled wisdom of Dublin and London, including some politicians and civil servants who have given the best part of the last 10 years to moving this process through one seemingly-insoluble crisis to the next.
MR Seamus Mallon said this week he hoped there would be a statement from the IRA indicating that it had softened its position on decommissioning. It seems highly unlikely that, particularly coming up to Easter, the IRA will say anything which gives a sign of weakness.
However, a clarification of its position by the republican movement, in more measured tones than before, might help to change the context in which the current debate is taking place and make for more melodious mood music.
Yet republicans still do not trust Mr Trimble and believe that any such statement of clarification might only intensify the propaganda campaign against them and bolster the confidence of those who see decommissioning as a means of humiliating and eventually destroying the republican movement.
What the drama needs now is a deus ex machina, the "god from the machine" used in ancient Greek stagecraft to resolve difficult situations. Could President Clinton fulfil such a role? Insiders were talking down any such possibility, only saying that he would use his good offices to help narrow the differences between the sides. There are no indications that political opinion in the US has turned definitively against either the republicans or the unionists on the weapons issue.
Those who fantasised, after Mr Ahern's Sunday newspaper interview last month, about a popular front to weaken and split the republicans into tame political automatons on the one hand and an easily-suppressed militant rump on the other, have been disappointed. That's not the way the peace process works, it is not the way Mr Blair or Mr Ahern operate and it would not reflect Mr Clinton's approach since he first became a participant in this particular drama more than five years ago.
Nevertheless, next week in Washington should see some tough talking and a fair bit of finger-wagging behind closed doors. There is a limited amount of time left. If the Good Friday target for agreement is met, it will be just ahead of the start of the marching season on Easter Monday, when trouble and strife return like a bad dream to the streets of Northern Ireland.
But maybe this time politics might win out.