USA TODAY International Edition
SYRIA DECISION ADDS A TWIST TO G- 20 MEETING
Obama delays action, will probably seek support at summit
WASHINGTON With the U. S.- Russia relationship already strained, President Obama’s decision to delay a possible military strike against Syria adds an unexpected twist to what was already shaping up to be an awkward Group of 20 summit hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin this week in St. Petersburg.
Obama leaves tonight for Sweden, a stop added to his itinerary after he canceled a one- on- one meeting with Putin in Moscow before the G- 20, which will begin Thursday.
The United States and Russia have long been at odds over the conflict in Syria as Russia, the only major patron of Syrian President Bashar Assad, has blocked any possibility of the United Nations Security Council mandating action against him in the 2 ½ - year- old civil war.
Russia’s blocking of the United Nations on Syria, along with the decision to grant former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden temporary asylum and a lack of recent progress between the two countries on other issues, led Obama last month to cancel the longanticipated Moscow visit.
Obama announced over the weekend that he wants to take military action against the Assad regime in response to an alleged chemical attack Aug. 21, but first he wants congressional authorization. The G- 20 meeting will offer him what is likely his last chance to muster international support from leaders of member countries for a potential strike, and the trip will come after a several-days- long blitz by Obama to persuade skeptical lawmakers at home to give him congressional authority to carry out a strike against Syria.
Canceling his trip to Sweden and St. Petersburg over the Syria developments was not considered, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment so spoke on condition of anonymity.
Officially, the G- 20 summit’s focus is on a slew of global economic issues important to member countries. However, Obama is likely to use sideline meetings with leaders to try to build a broader political coalition of countries willing to support U. S. military action in Syria, even if they aren’t contributing militarily. The White House says there are no plans for a one- on- one meeting between Obama and Putin on the sidelines of the summit, but the two will inevitably have some interaction during the course of the meetings.
In recent days, the chasm between the United States and Russia — at least rhetorically — has widened. Over the weekend, the Obama administration and Putin traded barbs after Obama declared he wants to carry out a strike against Syria.
Putin called it “nonsense” that Assad would authorize a chemical attack and urged Obama to consider whether a strike would have any impact to end the violence or be worth the civilian casualties it could cost.
Secretary of State John Kerry expressed frustration that the Russians have turned a blind eye to evidence the United States has provided to demonstrate the Syrian regime was responsible for chemical attacks against the opposition this year, first confirmed by the U. S. intelligence community in June. “They chose – I literally mean chose – not to believe it or to at least acknowledge publicly,” Kerry said on ABC’s This Week. “If the president of Russia chooses yet again to ignore it, that’s his choice.”
For two years, the Obama- Putin relationship has been “like watching a slow- moving train wreck,” says Andrew Kuchins, a Russia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “One thing is clear to me, that this is the worst personal relationship between U. S. and Russian — perhaps even U. S. and Soviet — leaders in history.”