Donald Trump declared on Wednesday that Russia’s Vladimir Putin had been a better leader than US President Barack Obama, as the Republican presidential nominee used a televised forum to argue he was best equipped to reassert America’s global leadership.
Advertisement
The two leaders conversed on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit here for ninety minutes, a senior U.S. official said, and worked to clarify gaps in negotiations over on the Syrian crisis. “We haven’t yet closed the gaps”.
“Apparently Trump said if there had been the kerfuffle about the stairs and the press, he would have just stayed on the plane and gone home”.
The deal depends on the two sides agreeing to closer military coordination against extremist groups operating in Syria, something the Russians have long sought and the US resisted.
Trump suggested at the event in which he and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton made back-to-back appearances that USA generals had been stymied by the policies of Obama and Clinton, who served as the Democratic president’s first secretary of state. In recent days, the State Department has said it only wants a nationwide cease-fire between Assad’s military and the rebels, and not another “cessation of hostilities” that is time-limited and only stops fighting in some cities and regions. He has since picked up ground on Clinton in national opinion polls. Putin has denied his government was involved, but cheered the release of the information. The issue has raised questions about whether she can be trusted to serve as president.
Meeting Between Putin, Obama at G20 Summit to Depend on Schedules. Obama met earlier with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the same issue.
Obama is in Laos for a summit with South East Asia leaders and his final trip to east Asia.
Negotiators failed to work though differences, and the talks have ended for now. But U.S. was wary of enter a deal that would not be effective.
Clinton emphasized she would make hunting down Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to “send a message that no one directs or inspires attacks against the United States and gets away with it”.
“Many of the groups considered acceptable by the US have actually affiliated with the Nusra Front, while the Nusra Front is using them to avoid being attacked”, Rybakov told Russian media, citing a longstanding complaint of his government.
As the president was greeted by his Chinese hosts, Obama’s aides and journalists accompanying the president clashed with a Chinese official as they tried to watch the ceremony.
Advertisement
In a wide-ranging discussion that came ahead of his final visit to Asia as president, Obama said that the United States should want China to take on greater responsibilities, “not only for its own people, but also for a wide range of worldwide problems and conflicts, whether it’s climate change or disaster relief or dealing with things like Ebola”. Duterte on Monday warned that Obama should not question him, during a scheduled meeting Tuesday, about extrajudicial killings in his country.
