Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, once again had a sideline meeting at an worldwide summit-this time, at the G20 in Hangzhou, China.
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President Obama is in China for the G20, meeting with world leaders to address problems that concern us all, from Syria to Ukraine to cybersecurity and the USA elections.
Obama defined his 20-minute meeting with Putin as “frank and direct”, both on the Syrian situation – about which he called their exchange “productive” – as well as the situation in Ukraine.
Tensions were exacerbated on the tarmac when a Chinese official was reportedly antagonistic toward National Security Adviser Susan Rice and USA officials were scolded for trying to help American journalists get better access to Obama.
The two sides are exploring forging closer military ties to fight militant groups and reduce the violence but can’t agree on how to implement any pact.
“And what I’ll be telling them is that the U.S. has never had a smooth, uncontroversial path to ratifying trade deals, but they eventually get done”, Obama said.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he was working with the US-led coalition and Russian Federation to try to establish a ceasefire in Aleppo before the Eid al-Adha religious holiday expected to start around September 11. Deep divides over Syria have marred Obama’s relationship with Putin, adding to a litany of discord between the USA and Russian Federation that’s driven relations to their lowest level since the Cold War.
Xi said that the G20, which include the United States, Russia, India, Japan and major European Union countries, should use multiple policy tools including fiscal, monetary and structural reform to ward off short term risk and explore medium- and long-term growth potential.
However, plans for air strikes were rescinded after an agreement was negotiated by Russian Federation for the Syrian government to destroy its stockpile of chemical weapons. Following Obama’s meeting with Putin, an official said the leaders indicated a desire for Kerry and Lavrov to reconvene deliberations in the coming days. US President Barack Obama later talked with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but there was no immediate word on the outcome.
Mr Putin has denied his government was involved, but cheered the release of the information.
As the Group of 20 (G-20) leaders’ summit wrapped up yesterday, Chinese President Xi Jinping touted a list of 29 “outcomes” as proof of its success and impact in reviving and reforming the global economy.
As many critics have pointed out, when President Obama landed in Hangzhou on Saturday, he was not greeted by a red carpet at the bottom of his airplane staircase, as many other world leaders were. The Kurds are the most effective US-backed anti-Daesh force, but the Turks consider them to be terrorists.
To the frustration of the White House, these weighty matters seemed to be overshadowed by a made-for-social-media moment from Obama’s arrival at the airport.
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The president said he nevertheless plans to keep trying against the odds. Duterte warned Obama not to question him about extrajudicial killings in his country when they meet in Laos this week, saying that if he did “son of a bitch, I will swear at you”.
