Loftis Interviewed on Potential Trump-Putin DC Summit
Amb. Robert Loftis, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was recently interviewed on the potential meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that United States President Donald Trump wants to hold in Washington D.C.
Amb. Loftis was interviewed for a July 20, 2018 article in Circa entitled “Former Diplomat: Proposed Trump-Putin Summit in DC ‘Unimaginable,’ ‘Indefensible.‘”
From the text of the article:
“To be caught by surprise like that, at a minimum it looks bad…I’ve never seen an administration of either stripe do something like this,” said Robert Loftis, a former ambassador who has worked under presidents from both parties.
“It would show he certainly has the favor of President Trump,” said Loftis, now director of graduate studies at Boston University’s Pardee School of Global Studies.
“I would suggest they actually have some idea of what concrete measures they want to come out of this,” Loftis said.
“Usually, it’s when you’ve got something you want to finalize or advance that you can’t do at a lower level, closing a deal so to speak,” Loftis said.
Robert G. Loftis served in the State Department and Foreign Service from 1980 to 2012, where he held a wide variety of assignments, including Acting Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization (2010-2012), Special Representative for Avian and Pandemic Influenza (2009), Senior Adviser for Security Negotiations and Agreements (2004-2007), Ambassador to Lesotho (2001-2004) and Deputy Chief of Mission in Mozambique (1999-2001). You can read more about him here.