President Obama will cancel a planned meeting in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid mounting anger over Russia’s decision to allow National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden into the country, the White House said Wednesday.
Obama had intended to visit Russia’s capital and meet with Putin in advance of next month’s G-20 summit in St. Petersburg. But Obama has decided he will not meet with Putin one-on-one — a rare diplomatic snub — and will only attend the G-20 summit.
Hmm
This incredibly obtuse NYT ed is worth reading for the shadenfreude and the excoriating comments: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/opinion/whats-the-point-of-a-summit.html?hp
Sometimes the NYT ed board is collectively unable to find their asses with both hands.
Among the commenters, Gary Hart:
“The U.S.-Russian relationship is, and always was, about much more than any Snowden. A mature nation, in this case the U.S., will treat Snowden as a sideshow, which he is, and get on with dealing with a much more serious agenda where our interests and Russia’s coincide. Otherwise we appear to be, and are, looking for reasons to marginalize the Russians, to our detriment.”
Still pithy after all these years.
I was not surprised by Obama’s petulant action. Now, I figured if his Corporate masters wanted him to see Putin he would, but, for Obama, politically, he thinks this is a winner.
Whatever happened to the guy who said he would a president who would meet and negotiate because that’s better than letting differences fester and create worse problems with other countries? Heh. Yeah, like he meant that along with the rest of his bamboozlng. No, Obama figures he’s got it made and he can just let his Corportism out for all to see — and call it caring about the little people.
Bcz, ya know, Cold War fear of the USSR/Russia RULZ.
Putin does come off sounding like the adult.
Too bad Obama didn’t take the opportunity to push for more tolerance within Russia about gays/transgender people. But, hey, there are priorities and the Repubs would’ve been screamin about the meeting as if it were…Benghazi!