(Foreign Affairs) Most reports on U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Moscow earlier this week have focused on the negative. Commentators have decried the inability of the United States and Russia to find a way forward in Syria and Ukraine, highlighting the harsh rhetoric from both Moscow and Washington surrounding Wednesday’s meetings. U.S. President Donald Trump told a press conference immediately afterward that relations between the two countries “may be at an all-time low,” repeating a phrase used by Tillerson at his own joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Lavrov used that press conference to lambaste Washington for recent U.S. military interventions and past attempts at regime change. Although Trump’s Thursday morning whiplash tweet—which included “Things will work out fine between the U.S.A. and Russia” and “there will be lasting peace!”—may have been a bit too optimistic, Tillerson’s visit actually achieved some successes. […]
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