At the G-20 summit in St. Petersburg, the US president seeks edge protection for a military strike against Syria. Hosts Vladimir Putin is looking forward to the showdown with Barack Obama.

The Facts

* The U.S. Congress should approve the planned military action against Syria, a final decision will be from 9 September fall. The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate has             already approved.

* French President Francois Hollande supports the military strike, Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin is against it. Moscow accuses the rebels to have used chemical weapons in             March.

 

Vladimir Putin has home advantage. The host of the G-20 summit in St. Petersburg controlled optics such as logistics of the meeting of major industrialized and emerging economies in the Constantine Palace, the “Russian Versailles” – and I can not wait to show off Obama in this glassy floor. The G20, Putin was looking forward, but had a “good platform” to discuss the Syria issue.

The irony: Ironically, Putin is the one that such a diplomatic solution vehemently opposes.

The fronts are. The Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. Senate voted on Wednesday evening, a time-limited military action already to a decision of the second chamber of Congress is still out. Obama studied in St. Petersburg international supporters for his course.

Putin believes, however, to further isolate Obama: He might be a “international referendum” on the American Syria-line force, the Russia expert Andrew White said the political website “Politico”. The whole trip was for Obama to become a “total problem”.

G-20 Summit St Petersburg :”The Russians feel cheated”

The US-Russian relationship is applied anyway when shattered. After recording, the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in Russia Obama said a planned tête-à-tête with Putin from before the summit. Instead, he wants to come together in St. Petersburg with homosexual activists – a deliberate affront, because the Russian anti-gay law and the mistreatment of gays and lesbians in the country are a big issue worldwide.

From the desired Obama “reset” of relations miscalculations and blunders has become little by a chain of.

The Ice Age began 2011 with the international intervention in Libya – after Moscow had not blocked the UN Security Council – quickly mutated from “humanitarian” operation to regime change. “The Russians felt betrayed,” said Obama’s former Defense Secretary Robert Gates “New York Times” now. Putin added that U.S. government sources added, had vowed: “Not another Libya.”

G-20 Summit St. Petersburg: President Obama woos France and China

In Syria crisis, the poor US-Russian relations are particularly sensitive. Moscow is known as the closest ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Almost incidentally, the U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said on Wednesday before the House of Representatives, Russia has supplied Syria with chemical weapons.

Putin himself described the allegation that Assad had used poison gas, as “absurd.” In an interview with The Associated Press and the Russian First Channel television channel he said though, a military strike against the Assad regime did not rule out. But this could only be approved by the Security Council – but there Russia has made it clear to block a resolution to. Putin plays cat and mouse.

Obama is therefore in St. Petersburg try to herumzuverhandeln Putin. Separately, he meets in the Russian city with French President François Hollande, who supports a military strike. Another ally, British Prime Minister David Cameron, the British Parliament had failed military intervention.

US President Obama will also meet at the G-20 summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who rejects military action – and also blocked the UN Security Council.

G-20 Summit St. Petersburg:”Credibility is at stake”

The road to St. Petersburg led for Obama initially Stockholm, on Wednesday, the Americans made ​​a stop in the Swedish capital. There was bilateral kindness: a meeting with Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, a visit to the synagogue, a dinner. Sweden lined the streets cheering.

But the gloomy Syria war was again on the subject. At a press conference with Reinfeldt Obama brought a further argument for a U.S. military strike against the regime before: This was with the use of poison gas not only Obama crossed red line – but the red line around the world, the U.S. president: “The credibility of the international community is at stake. ”

Obama wants the Syria debate, the person attaches him back in force a global responsibility – a foretaste of what he may attempt in St. Petersburg.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon is also in St. Petersburg, to insist on the inclusion of the UN Security Council. Even in Stockholm this setting could be felt. “Let us put our hope in the United Nations,” said the Swedish Prime Minister Reinfeldt there.

You could almost forget what it officially goes on the St. Petersburg Summit, namely “the continuing instability in the financial markets.” After all, the main features of the final declaration – “for strong, sustainable and balanced growth” – are already.

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