Obama cancels meeting with Putin over Snowden asylum tensions
Relationship between the two nations chills further as White House confirms president has pulled out of bilateral summit. ● Barack Obama has pulled out of talks with Vladimir Putin that were due to be held in Russia next month, after Moscow granted asylum to the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The White House confirmed on Tuesday that it had decided to snub the Russian leader by pulling out of the planned bilateral summit in Moscow, but is expected to take part in the broader G20 meeting of international leaders in St Petersburg. ● Its decision follows days of mounting rhetoric in Washington in response to Putin's decision to give temporary asylum to Snowden, who fled to Moscow after the Chinese government allowed him to leave Hong Kong rather than heed US calls for his arrest. ● In a statement, the White House said that it had concluded there was "not enough recent progress in our bilateral agenda" to hold a US-Russia summit. ● In a separate announcement, the White House said Obama will visit Sweden instead, travelling to Stockholm the day before the St Petersburg summit. "Sweden is a close friend and partner to the United States," it said in a statement. "[It] plays a key leadership role on the international stage including in opening new trade and investment opportunities."
Stephen Lendman: Obama Shoots Himself in the Foot ■ Obama represents the worst of rogue state governance. He's a war criminal multiple times over. He heads a repressive police state apparatus. He's ravaging one country after another. He's waging war on humanity. He's doing it at home and abroad. He risks global war. At the same time, he finds new ways to humiliate himself. He further denigrates America in the process. He cancelled a long-planned Moscow summit with Vladimir Putin.