Obama Meets Putin in Mexico

Did he really say he looked into his eyes and got a sense of his soul?

"Summit lets Obama, Putin assess each other" Associated Press, June 18, 2012

WASHINGTON - President Obama needs Russia to help, or at least not hurt, US foreign policy aims in the Middle East and Afghanistan.  

I wouldn't be expecting it at the rate we are going.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia needs the United States as a foil for his argument that Russia does not get its due as a great power....  

Pffft!

The the Group of 20 economic gathering in Mexico is also a natural forum for sideline discussions of the urgent crisis in Syria as well as diplomatic efforts to head off a confrontation with Iran.

Russia is key to several US foreign policy goals. Chief among them are the international effort to deny Iran a nuclear weapon and a smooth shutdown of the Afghanistan war. Brutal attacks on antigovernment protesters in Syria and the threat of civil war there nation pose the most immediate crisis.

Russia’s membership in numerous world bodies and its veto power at the UN Security Council give it leverage beyond its economic or military power.  

Meaning they are getting more than their due, right?

Obama holds far greater power and both leaders know it.  

Really? Russia still has a whole lot of nukes and a large army not worn out by a decade of wars and occupations.

But Putin can be a spoiler and irritant to the administration.

And the whole New World Order crowd.

Things got off to a rocky start this spring, when Obama pointedly withheld a customary congratulatory phone call to Putin until days after his election. Putin appeared to snub Obama by skipping the smaller and weightier Group of Eight meeting that Obama hosted last month at Camp David.  

Related: Why Russia Isn't Coming to Chicago

Good enough reason for me.

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"Obama sees hope for accord on Syria" by Anne Gearan  |  Associated Press, June 19, 2012

LOS CABOS, Mexico - An uncomfortable truth....

The G-20 gathering is a natural forum for sideline discussions of the urgent crisis in Syria as well as diplomatic efforts to head off a confrontation with Iran.

Beyond Syria, Obama and Putin discussed diplomatic efforts to head off a confrontation with Iran. Obama said he emphasized a common approach to Iran....

Seems like old times, doesn't it?

Russia is a linchpin in world efforts to resolve both crises, and to US goals for the smooth shutdown of the war in Afghanistan. In the longer term, Obama wants Russia’s continued cooperation in nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation....

The Putin meeting was one of two major foreign policy challenges preoccupying Obama during his two days at the Group of 20 economic meeting. Much of the rest of the summit was to be devoted to the European fiscal crisis and the fate of Greece as a part of the euro zone.

See: Germany to Reoccupy Greece

Obama made a special project of Russia in his first term and arguably needs Moscow’s help even more if he wins a second one. He is trying to avoid a distracting public spat with Russia during this election year, as suggested by an overheard remark to the outgoing Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, in March. Obama told Medvedev he would have more flexibility to answer Russian complaints about a US-built missile defense shield in Europe after the November election.

Yesterday’s Obama-Putin meeting coincided with Moscow hosting an international negotiating session with Iran.

Oh, yeah, that. 

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Related: Israel Puts Flame Under Iran

Iran must have put it out by now.

Nope. Still burning bright in my paper:

"Iran, 6 powers try to break deadlock in nuclear talks" by Ellen Barry  |  New York Times, June 20, 2012

MOSCOW - Negotiators from Iran and six world powers scrambled to preserve forward momentum for talks on Iran’s disputed nuclear program Tuesday, tentatively agreeing to hold another round of meetings - the fourth since April - despite little visible progress toward a compromise that would stop the drift toward war.

The talks Tuesday, the second day of the negotiations, had a stop-and-go quality to them and were extended repeatedly, evidently so that the sides could negotiate over the status of the next round of talks, which is expected to be held in China or Kazakhstan. It was unclear whether the negotiators, ensconced in a Moscow hotel across from the foreign ministry, would keep talking into Wednesday.

Russian officials, as the conference’s hosts, met twice with the head of the Iranian delegation Tuesday, in an evident attempt to keep the process from derailing.

The outcome of Monday’s talks made clear that the room for agreement is vanishingly small. Iran has concentrated its efforts on a weighty concession it seeks from the world powers: an acknowledgment that it has the right under international treaties to enrich uranium.  

Oh, it is IRAN'S FAULT for INSISTING on the LEGALITY of SIGNED TREATIES!!

In exchange, Iran - which has repeatedly asserted its nuclear program is peaceful - has signaled it may be willing to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent purity, considered a technical step short of bomb grade.  

Yup, and 20% is nowhere near 90%, and imagine if you will some asshole empire coming and telling you, American, you can't treat your cancer patients.  How would you feel then?

The six powers, known as the P5-plus-1 because they include the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - Russia, China, the United States, Britain, and France - plus Germany, have demanded that Iran abide by prior Security Council resolutions to suspend all uranium enrichment. They also have demanded that the Iranians ship the 20 percent-enriched uranium out of the country and shut down an underground enrichment facility.  

Have you ever notice Israel always slides by with a U.S. veto while Muslim countries get hammered with sanctions and war?

Israel, which considers Iran its most dangerous enemy, has warned that it may preemptively strike suspected Iranian nuclear targets if it decides that the talks are not making progress, an action many fear would lead to a new Middle East war.  

Pushing as hard as they can for it.

Rajab S. Safarov, director of Moscow’s Center on Iran Studies, said negotiators were under additional pressure to avoid a breakdown of the process after the publication of a joint statement Monday by President Obama and President Vladimir Putin, which urged the importance of finding a diplomatic solution. The two superpowers are united in their desire to avoid a war, he said.  

Then WHY are we going to HAVE ONE, huh? 

(Answer is highlighted in blue in preceding paragraph, thus the body language)

The head of the influential National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of Iran’s parliament, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, told Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency Tuesday that recognition of the right to enrich is “a red line’’ for Tehran and the country will not “forgo’’ its legal right.

An Iranian diplomat attached to the delegation said Tuesday that the talks’ outcome depended on how the world powers respond to Tehran’s demands.

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Btw, wasn't the summit supposed to be more about Europe than Iran?

"The battle lines in the stimulus versus austerity debate were clearly drawn among the 24 heads of state gathered in a heavily guarded convention hall lined by a moat. The conservative leaders of the United Kingdom, South Korea, and Germany came out decisively for austerity. On the other side were left-leaning governments such as those in Argentina, Brazil, and France....  

What you will notice is neither side is proposing an exit from the private central banking cartel that is at the root of all the problems.

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Even the photograph is a deception. 

See: Obama, Putin give off chilly body language in the heat of Mexico's coast

And that's AP, folks!