U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (right) and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Photo: U.S. State Department.

CS Monitor – At the height of fighting in Ukraine last year, the Obama administration signaled that it considered diplomacy with Vladimir Putin’s Russia all but hopeless.

The United States joined the European Union in slapping sanctions on Russia’s economy over its Ukraine intervention, diplomatic channels on the Syrian conflict dried up, and President Obama reduced communications with Mr. Putin to a dysfunctional minimum.

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