Posted on 10/15/2014 2:09:57 AM PDT by Libloather
President Obama will participate in a rare videoconference with the leaders of the U.K., France, Germany, and Italy on Wednesday as he looks to build support for efforts to combat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Ebola.
The world leaders will also discuss additional steps they can take to pressure Russia to abide by a ceasefire agreement struck with the leaders of Ukraine, the White House said.
At an event Tuesday with top defense officials from nearly two dozen allies including the four European countries Obama will coordinate with in the videoconference Obama vowed that the anti-ISIS coalition remained "united behind this long-term effort."
"Because of the numbers of foreign fighters that are being attracted, and the chaos that ISIL was creating in the region, ultimately it will pose a threat beyond the Middle East, including to the United States, Europe, and far-flung countries like Australia that have already seen terrorist networks trying to infiltrate and impact population centers on the other side of the world," Obama said, using an alternative acronym for the terror group.
France and the U.K. have joined the U.S. in conducting air strikes against ISIS, although the administration may be looking to rally additional support. German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier indicated Berlin would not participate in the bombing campaign, despite having deployed forces to Afghanistan to fight al Qaida.
It doesnt make sense, if a dozen countries are launching air strikes, for Germany to be the 13th or 14th country. It is utterly wrong to regard participation in air strikes as a yardstick for international commitment," Steinmeier said, according to The Guardian.
Italy has offered to send arms and aid, but has also indicated it would not participate in the air strikes.
In the same meeting, Obama chastised international leaders for not doing enough to combat the threat posed by Ebola.
"As I've said before, and I'm going to keep on repeating until we start seeing more progress, the world as a whole is not doing enough," Obama said. "There are a number of countries that have capacity that have not yet stepped up."
On Tuesday, the European Union urged member governments to quickly coordinate a response to limit the spread of the virus, which has left nearly 4,500 West Africans dead.
If we are to contemplate such measures, they will only be truly effective if applied by concerned member states in a coordinated manner, EU health commissioner Tonio Borg, said in a letter to health ministers obtained by the New York Times.
The virtual meeting between Obama and the world leaders also comes a day after a confrontational meeting between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
Kerry pressured Lavrov to withdraw foreign fighters from Eastern Ukraine, release prisoners, and denounce independence referenda in territories held by pro-Russian rebel forces.
Any efforts to hold independence referenda in Luhansk and Donetsk are a violation of the Minsk agreements and the results will not be recognized by Ukraine and by the international community, Kerry said. The foreign minister did not agree with our judgment on the referenda, so that was a point of disagreement.
Probably meaningless; every world leader on Planet Earth knows Obama’s an empty suit.
A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread
The dumb SOB blames "international leaders" for not arresting the ebola outbreak, while at the same time telling us it's okay to sit next to ebola-infected people on the bus.
. . . as well as being trapped on an international flight to the U.S. with a person who may be incubating ebola sitting next to you.
This is diabolical.
"As I've said before, and I'm going to keep on repeating until we start seeing more progress ...Feckless whiner.
Oh. Wait. I figured it out. No golf courses in Liberia or Iraq or Syria.
Never mind. Sometimes if you just think things through the answer presents itself.
Yeah, like on an Airbus.
</gallowshumor>
what good does a virtual conference do when the messiah skipped the intel briefings?
O’bastard should personally fly to West Africa to talk to his Hommies.
Notes from the tele conference:
Hello, this is Obama, ruler of all he surveys.
Response: Cough, humm, cat calls.
O; OK, we got this Ebola stuff we need to talk about, so I will tell you what I think.
Response: zzzz.
O; You are not doing enough, you need to spend more money and send more people as I lead the way by sending others to an uncertain future.
Respons: Good for you, bad for your people.
O: This ISIS,er ISIL is bad. We must stop them. Turkey what are you doing, Susan rice gave you the answer.
T: Shows a finger.
O: Did you get married, I cannot make out what finger that is.
T: FU.
O: Not nice to say that to a fellow NATO member, I will not grace you with a visit for that.
T: Good.
O: OK, now then that we agree, I will issue a press release to that effect, time to head out now. Bye.
I cannot believe he is passing up a chance for a world tour!
Im a psychic and I’m going to prove it by making the following predictions:
Nothing will come of this.
Both ISIS and ebola will continue to march on, claiming more lives and territory.
Kabuki theater.
Nothing more.
The Skyping skiver!
Obama and his Administration should go to Africa to give support to the troops they sent there...
obama will be in a clubhouse and will use the instant messenger feature that will show a fake background. In his case the white house oval office.
After the meeting he will walk out to the course. The other countries will know about the fake background because at the end of the meeting the always incompetent staff will switch off a minute early revealing the clubhouse.
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