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Obama and Putin: That was awkward
Politico ^ | 09/28/15 | Michael Crowley

Posted on 09/28/2015 6:14:46 PM PDT by TroutStalker

An awkward toast, sideways glances, a stiff handshake.

Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin aren't just geostrategic rivals. They are two guys who simply don't like each other.

That much seemed clear after Monday's action at the United Nations in New York, where Obama and Putin sat uncomfortably together at a lunch, then met privately for a 90-minute session which appeared to yield no breakthroughs on the major differences between them.

Skipping any pretense of bonhomie, a senior administration official said the men had a "business-like back and forth," dividing their time between Ukraine and Syria. Putin echoed that language, calling the encounter "businesslike and frank."

Afterward Putin, couldn't resist needling his counterpart, reiterating the Kremlin's claim that it was Obama who sought the meeting — a matter of political pride that the White House strongly disputes.

To some, Putin managed to steal the show at the kick-off of a U.N. confab that could have focused on his aggression in Ukraine, but instead largely revolved around Russia's plans for Syria. Attendees were also buzzing about Putin's smooth interview on CBS's "60 Minutes" the night before.

"Putin has had a great couple of days in terms of public relations," said Michael McFaul, Obama's first ambassador to Moscow. "Everybody wanted to know what Putin was going to say today, and we're all talking about Syria."

The White House was tight-lipped about atmospherics in the U.N. Security Council's consultations chamber, where the men met. But there was no mistaking the chilly vibe as the two men posed for a dutiful, get-it-over-with handshake beforehand. Or when they sat one seat apart at a U.N. luncheon, where Obama wore a stony face and threw sidelong glances at his Russian counterpart as they clinked glasses during a toast.

In speeches earlier on Monday, the two men had blamed one another for the carnage in Syria and laid out diverging visions for global security. Obama said Russia's aggression in Ukraine had flaunted international law and that its support for dictator Bashar Assad was prolonging the Syrian civil war. Putin said the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq had given rise to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and said the world should assist Assad in the fight against ISIS.

Obama has said he doesn't view his relationship with Putin in personal terms. But the reality has become increasibly undeniable. Perhaps only Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems to get deeper under the skin of a president not known for faking admiration for people he doesn't respect.

And perhaps not since Nikita Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy have a Russian and American leader held such a low opinion of one another. "They are different people," McFaul said. "The President is analytic. Putin is emotional."

Indeed, Obama's recent experience with Putin reminds some Russia-watchers of JFK, who in June 1961 met in Vienna with Khrushchev despite the warnings of advisors that their policy differences were too great and that the Soviet premier would exploit the event for propaganda purposes.

Those warnings were echoed at the White House this summer by aides who doubted the wisdom of having Obama sit down with Putin for their first formal one-on-one meeting since mid-2013, in part because Putin would use it to enhance his global stature after a period of diplomatic isolation over Ukraine.

Kennedy's advisors were proven right. The meeting was a fiasco, with Khrushchev bullying and intimidating the younger Kennedy, whom he later described as "too intelligent and too weak." Kennedy later admitted to a reporter that the meeting had been the “roughest thing in my life.” “He just beat the hell out of me. I’ve got a terrible problem if he thinks I’m inexperienced and have no guts,” Kennedy said.

Obama has never confessed to such insecurities about Putin. And his White House has at times seemed to taunt the Russian leader, gloating over his wheezing economy and referring to his country as a mere "regional power," despite its massive nuclear arsenal.

But just as Khruschev tested Kennedy by sending nuclear missiles to Cuba, Putin has also tested Obama, albeit on a more modest scale, with his assault on eastern Ukraine last year and his surprise military buildup in Syria in recent weeks.

Not that Obama is the first U.S. president to see his relationship with Putin sour. After at first saying he'd gotten a positive sense of Putin's "soul," George W. Bush fumed over his aggression towards the Republic of Georgia, and ended his presidency by telling the Russian: "You're cold-blooded."

The Obama-Putin relationship has been on a steep downward slope since their last bilateral meeting, in June 2013. (They met in person informally last November and occasionally speak by the phone, most recently in mid-July.)

Since then, Putin's Russia has granted asylum to the NSA leaker Edward Snowden; violated a Cold War-era missile treaty with the U.S.; annexed Crimea and fomented rebellion in eastern Ukraine; hacked into Pentagon servers; and increased its support for Assad, whom Obama says must go.

Obama's decision to see Putin followed an internal administration debate, which weighed the cost of granting Putin the legitimacy of a personal meeting with Obama. Ultimately, U.S. officials decided the cost was low when compared to the benefit of learning more about Putin's uncertain intentions in Syria and pressuring the Russian leader not to allow pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine to sabotage local elections scheduled there next month.

In his remarks afterwards, Putin said he welcomed the opportunity to talk business with Obama in a relatively informal setting. "There is no need to go through all the protocol and ceremonies," he said, "You just discuss the issues that you are interested in very specifically."

Despite all the attention focused on body language and theatrics, the administration official said, "this was not a situation where either one of them was seeking to score points in a meeting. I think there was a shared desire to figure out a way in which we can address the situation in Syria.”

But neither side provided any indication they succeeded.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bho44; bhorussia; obamaputin; obamaputinmeeting; putin
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To: piasa
Not so....A $500 million Pentagon program Of Obamas was supposed to train and equip more than 5,000 fighters Syrian soldiers to topple Assad.....you might as well say nobody showed up of the Syrians to fight against Assad.......65 showed up to fight...ending with just 5 in the end....and that's from our military leaders stating this....

So if the majority of Syrians were and are not willing to fight Assad why does Obama want him disposed???????... Why did he support the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt...and why did he dispose Mubarak and Qaddafi???


41 posted on 09/28/2015 7:14:10 PM PDT by caww
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Comment #42 Removed by Moderator

To: musicman

I can’t post this one because it’s a Getty shot....but worth the look of Putin starring at Obamas hand as they first shook hands....hehehehe....It’s like Putin’s saying you really want me to shake that

http://www.ibtimes.com/obama-putin-united-nations-general-assembly-leaders-hold-formal-meeting-first-time-2117524


43 posted on 09/28/2015 7:24:57 PM PDT by caww
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To: Talisker
Doesn't he look "dark" here....creepy...


44 posted on 09/28/2015 7:29:23 PM PDT by caww
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To: boycott
Never can do it without the teleprompter....


45 posted on 09/28/2015 7:37:29 PM PDT by caww
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To: caww
No matter which direction he's looking at the teleprompter..


46 posted on 09/28/2015 7:40:20 PM PDT by caww
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To: TroutStalker

Of course Putin doesn’t like Barky, he doesn’t like communists..


47 posted on 09/28/2015 8:00:57 PM PDT by Pelham (It ain't over 'til it's over)
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To: Pelham
Obamas totally pi*ssed....Putins even got China troops on the way to Syria ...he's moving without Obama....and behind the scenes all Europe is supporting Putins plan.....so Obama's really really mad!....


48 posted on 09/28/2015 8:04:46 PM PDT by caww
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To: caww

I can’t figure out why Barky wants to topple Assad. Assad is no prize but it would just destabilize another Arab country and increase the chance of ISIS taking over. Plus it would seriously piss off the Russians who have been an Assad family ally since at least 1971.


49 posted on 09/28/2015 8:12:17 PM PDT by Pelham (It ain't over 'til it's over)
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To: EternalVigilance
The President is analytic

Purplemouth couldn't properly analyze a crap sandwich.

50 posted on 09/28/2015 8:12:20 PM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republican Freed the Slaves" month.)
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To: Pelham
I can’t figure out why Barky wants to topple Assad. Assad is no prize but it would just destabilize another Arab country and increase the chance of ISIS taking over.

You just answered your own question.

51 posted on 09/28/2015 8:13:25 PM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republican Freed the Slaves" month.)
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To: TroutStalker
Putin to Obama: You need to be more flexible.

It was the meeting in Vienna in June 1961 which probably led Khrushchev to OK building the Berlin Wall in August, after he had concluded that JFK was weak.

52 posted on 09/28/2015 8:17:39 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Pelham

Assad’s an Alawite, a heretic by Muslim standards, ISIS is more mainstream Sunni. Obama was a Sunni Muslim when he had a religion.


53 posted on 09/28/2015 8:20:02 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: EternalVigilance

The President is analyzing how he can work against the interests of his own country.


54 posted on 09/28/2015 8:25:24 PM PDT by The_Media_never_lie (Let he who pays no taxes also not vote.)
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To: caww

notice the psychotic glaring obama stare, it reminds me of that same evil look he had in his eyes when he visited the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem,


55 posted on 09/28/2015 8:25:36 PM PDT by captmar-vell
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

It would fit the pattern. He certainly helped Islamists try to take over Egypt. Probably the same in Libya.


56 posted on 09/28/2015 8:26:52 PM PDT by Pelham (It ain't over 'til it's over)
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To: caww

Bammie’s frustrated facial contortions are telling.

Putin’s expression never changes.


57 posted on 09/28/2015 8:27:43 PM PDT by Jane Long ("And when thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek")
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To: Pelham

Well you see how supportive he was of the genuine Green Revolution in Iran that predated all of the others. Remember the Iranian gal Neda that was gunned down? Not a peep.


58 posted on 09/28/2015 8:29:35 PM PDT by The Toll
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To: Pelham

Bottom line...we have no business being involved with Syria any more than we did Libya, Egypt, or now Yemen.....

The US/Nato/EU and all the Globalist Elites behind this knew full well moving to destabilize Ukraine and Syria as well as the ME. would create exactly as we are witnessing....it’s a full transformation of the world order....and they are more than willing to create DISORDER to accomplish their agenda, and this with no regard whatsover of human life, which to them is just a commodity to move as they please....

Then you have the Muslims attempting to fight over who is going to rule the Caliphat....now also in play.

It’s worse then a mess but those orchestrating think they can manage it....Obama is one of them.....again human life is nothing...the only job they see is keeping people calm enough while they do their dastardly deeds.


59 posted on 09/28/2015 8:41:21 PM PDT by caww
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To: captmar-vell

Frankly Obama is simply just another pawn on the game board.....his job has been to destabilize our nation enough to weaken it except for where he can call the shots Internationally, and that he could not do without strong arming them.......he plays like a Rookie cop with the big boys on the International Stage.. while we pay.


60 posted on 09/28/2015 8:45:16 PM PDT by caww
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