Clintonian diplomacy without Hillary?

While the U.S. has no official star presence at the Davos World Economic Forum this week, it certainly has an unofficial star there. Bill Clinton spoke there yesterday, ribbing Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin about his free-market credentials from the stage and later meeting him for private discussions behind closed doors. Bill Clinton’s tête-à-tête with ...

While the U.S. has no official star presence at the Davos World Economic Forum this week, it certainly has an unofficial star there. Bill Clinton spoke there yesterday, ribbing Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin about his free-market credentials from the stage and later meeting him for private discussions behind closed doors.

While the U.S. has no official star presence at the Davos World Economic Forum this week, it certainly has an unofficial star there. Bill Clinton spoke there yesterday, ribbing Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin about his free-market credentials from the stage and later meeting him for private discussions behind closed doors.

Bill Clinton’s tête-à-tête with Putin follows the announcement by the Russian government that Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet in advance of the April G-20 Summit, when Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will have their own face-to-face. One assumes (or, at least hopes) that Bill Clinton got some marching orders from his wife before sitting down with Putin at this rather delicate moment for U.S.-Russian relations.

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