Obama folds, agrees to meet with Putin in NY after speech on Monday

RT
Thu, 24 Sep 2015 10:19 UTC

© RIA Novosti/Presidential Press Service/AP Photo

It's OK, Barry. You had your chance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with his US counterpart, Barack Obama, during his stay at the UN General Assembly, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin press secretary, said.

"A meeting with Obama has been coordinated," Peskov said, adding that the Russian leader will also be negotiating with Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe.

When asked about the agenda of the Putin-Obama talks, the press secretary's reply was "I'll give you three guesses."

Later, Peskov specified by saying, "naturally, Syria is going to be topping the agenda."

"If there is enough time," the Ukrainian issue will also be discussed by the leaders of Russia and the US, he added.

According to the press-secretary, the meeting will last from 50 minutes to an hour and will take place after the Russian president's address at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly on September 28.

Moscow and Washington have given their mutual consent for the talks to take place between the two presidents, Peskov stressed.

The meeting comes at the request of the Russian side, Reuters reported citing a senior official in Obama's administration. The US president believes skipping the chance to overcome differences with Moscow over Ukraine and Syria would be irresponsible, the official added.

Comment: Actually, it was was irresponsible to create the Ukraine and Syria crises in the first place, Mr. Obama. Admitting the U.S.'s shameful blunders is the least you could do.

"President Obama will take advantage of this meeting to discuss Ukraine, and he will be focused on ensuring Moscow lives up to the Minsk commitments. This will be the core message of this bilateral engagement," said the official.

Comment: Moscow isn't responsible for the Minsk agreements: that would be Kiev and DPR/LPR. And between the two, it is Kiev that hasn't been living up to any of the commitments. Again, the responsible thing to do would be for Obama to ensure Poroshenko lives up to his end of the bargain.

Earlier reports suggested that the two leaders would meet to discuss the crisis in Syria and fighting Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).

Contact between Putin and Obama has been rare since the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis. They last met face to face a year ago during an APEC summit in China and only talked on the phone a few times since then.

Comment: Pepe Escobar put it nicely:

The White House announced a while ago that the coin FINALLY dropped on Obama and he WILL talk to Putin at the UN General Assembly.

And now a senior adviser to Assad is saying that the US and Russia have reached a "tacit agreement" on ending the mess in Syria.

Quick recap. Putin started by refusing "Assad must go" as a prerequisite for peace negotiations.

Then he turbo-charged the military build up in Latakia - both the Pentagon and the White House DID NOT see it coming.

So this is what Putin accomplished even BEFORE Obama saw the light and decided to talk:

Forget about a Libya-remixed NATO war on Syria.

Forget about a Sultan Erdogan no-fly zone over areas controlled by Damascus.

And out with the old world order. THIS is how the new world order works, and Russia is also driving it.

Putin's speech on Monday at the UN will be about "the joint struggle against terrorism" (as branded by TASS).

Expect abundant apoplexy in the Washington/New York axis.