Western governments, including America's, were cautiously minded to engage with the unity government, but Israel was against doing so.
Despite Mr. Lukashenko's dubious commitments to his new democratic experiment, the European Union and, to a lesser extent, the United States, have cautiously begun to engage him.
The win for the March 14 coalition spares the Obama administration the perception of a rollback at the hands of these two rogue regimes, which is important at a time when the administration is cautiously trying to engage both of them.
The Muslim Brotherhood, whose members hold 20% of the seats in the Egyptian Parliament, are also threatened by ElBaradei and his growing popularity, but are cautiously willing to engage.
With the establishment of the power-sharing government and a consensus that the arrangement, although imperfect, represented the best chance yet for Zimbabwe to emerge from the political, economic and human crises of the previous decade, development partners sought to re-engage albeit cautiously.
Ultimately, moving between literature, with its ability to confer meaning on life, and his growing willingness to re-engage with life, Arvid cautiously rejoins the world.
