US-Russian relations are rapidly going from bad to worse to hopeless. As if open public disagreement over Syria expressed in every possible venue and medium, and foreign policy in general was not enough, now the two countries' animosity has spilled over into private diplomatic affairs.
Moments ago, AP reported [3]that the State Department postponed a meeting, which was originally scheduled for August 28, with Russian diplomats on Syria this week to an indefinite future date. The meeting at The Hague was about setting up an international conference to find a political resolution to the Syrian crisis.
A senior State Department official said Monday the meeting between Undersecretary Wendy Sherman and U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford with their Russian counterparts was postponed because of the ongoing U.S. review about alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria.
More:
The U.S. says it has evidence that chemical weapons very likely were used by the government of Bashar Assad. The U.S. official said the meeting will be rescheduled because a political solution is still needed in Syria.
The official was not authorized to publicly confirm the changes and spoke on condition of anonymity.
So is it safe to assume at this point the State Dept is telegraphing far and wide that a "political resolution" has been indefinitely postponed? Or will John Kerry hold one more monologue tomorrow (for which he will be fashionably one hour late) explaining why relations with Russia are at a post-Cold War low?