Give Diplomacy With Russia a Chance

By JACK F. MATLOCK Jr., THOMAS R. PICKERING and JAMES F. COLLINS

SEPT. 8, 2014

The crisis over Ukraine has all but frozen official communication between the United States and Russia. The Russian reaction to the political upheaval in Kiev — the absorption of Crimea, and the armed intervention in eastern Ukraine — and the American responses to those actions have brought about a near-complete breakdown in normal and regular dialogue between Washington and Moscow. Relations between the two capitals have descended into attempts by each side to pressure the other, tit-for-tat actions, shrill propaganda statements, and the steady diminution of engagement between the two governments and societies.http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/09/opinion/give-diplomacy-with-russia-a-chance.html?_r=1