The New York Times quotes Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center Director John E. Herbst on the possibility of talks between the United States and Russia to discuss the situation in Syria:
But it would be a turnaround of sorts for Obama, who has worked assiduously to isolate Putin for his violations of Ukrainian sovereignty. “Mr. Obama can expect nothing positive to come from seeing Mr. Putin,” said John Herbst, a former ambassador to Ukraine who is now at the Atlantic Council in Washington. “Meeting with the Russian strongman would only make the president look weak.”