Of ‘grand coalitions’ and the One Ring

“Fruitless did I call the victory of the Last Alliance? Not wholly so, yet it did not achieve its end. Sauron was diminished, but not destroyed. His Ring was lost but not unmade. The Dark Tower was broken, but its foundations were not removed; for they were made with the power of the Ring, and while it remains they will endure.” -- Elrond, The Fellowship of The Ring

IN theory, all this talk of a "grand coalition" is of course in the right vein.