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Little noticed amid this week s Afghanistan withdrawal news, President Joe Biden held his second phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It s a significant story.
After all, the call took place at a time when relations between Washington and Moscow are perhaps at an all-time post-Cold War low. While the White House readout was issued in a typically bland tone, one interesting nugget came out of it. Biden, presumably, floated the issue of holding a summit with Putin in a third country sometime within the next several months. Russian lawmakers and pro-Kremlin media personalities were predictably giddy, packaging the possibility of a Biden-Putin summit as a win for Moscow. The weak United States, they blared on television, has caved to mighty Russia.
AFP
Reporters who covered Secretary of State George P. Shultz liked to refer to him as “Buddha” because of his calm demeanor in the face of world crises.
Shultz, who died on Feb. 6 at the age of 100, was perhaps best known for working with President Ronald Reagan to help end the Cold War.
It’s not easy to sum up the career of a statesman who served for six and a half years as Secretary of State during a time of turmoil overseas. His was the longest tenure since that served by Dean Rusk.
Rusk served for eight years, from early 1961 until January 20, 1969.