By Daniel DePetris
President Joe Biden’s upcoming summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin leaves an awful taste in the mouths of many people. Putin, after all, isn’t exactly a fan of western democracy — nor is he afraid to neutralise his domestic opponents.
Being committed to human rights and working towards pragmatic solutions to world problems are not mutually exclusive, however. Diplomacy is a core tenet of the US foreign policy playbook. To preface bilateral meetings on preconditions or to treat dialogue with adversaries and competitors as somehow inappropriate is to unnecessarily limit your options. If diplomacy with morally questionable governments is a non-starter, the only other means at a state’s disposal is coercion, pressure and isolation — all of which tend to exacerbate crises rather than mitigate them.
This piece was originally published in Financial Times on June 3, 2021. Read more HERE.