Overshadowed by 63-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin for the last time before leaving office, President Barack Obama accomplished little at the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China. Obama failed on the sidelines of the summit to convince Putin to back the nearly six-year-old Saudi proxy war, killing over 280,000, displacing 11 million to neighboring countries and Europe and driving the U.K. June 23 to quit the European Union. Obama hasn’t come to grips with the damage done to the Middle East and Europe from the Saudi-Turkey-U.S. backed proxy war. Putin backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad not because he’s perfect but because toppling him would repeat the same mistakes as Iraq, spreading more anarchy and terrorism to the region. With less than five months left on his term, Obama’s in no mood to admit failure and change obsolete White House foreign policies.
Backing Saudi Arabia’s opposition groups seeking to oust al-Assad, Obama showed he learned little from the Iraq War. Obama met his campaign promise to end the Iraq War Dec. 15, 2011, primarily because former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gave him grief over an immunity agreement for U.S. troops. When negotiations bogged down, Obama pulled the plug on the Iraq War, letting the beleaguered Iraqi military go it on their own. When Saddam Hussein’s former Revolutionary guards mounted an insurgency that morphed into the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] in 2013, it didn’t take long for the group to seize some 30% of Iraq’s sovereign territory in 2014. Creating a new power vacuum in Iraq gave rise to ISIS, remaking the Mideast map. Obama takes no responsibility for allowing Saddam’s dead-enders to mount a successful insurgency, stealing Iraq and Syria’s sovereign land.
Showing his weakness in Hangzhou next to Putin, Obama kept pushing for Putin to toss al-Assad under the buss. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS new agency that “work would continue,” discussing the Syrian War and Ukraine. Obama said Russia had “trust issues” with the U.S. but when you really examin the problem, Obama has trust issues with Putin. Tossing out 60 years of U.S.-Russian relations, Barack told Putin the U.S. and U.N. sanctions would continue until progress was made in Syria and Ukraine. In Ukraine, Obama wants Putin to follow the Minsk Protocol, ending the plight of pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region of Southeastern Ukriane. In Syria, Obama wants Putin to stop targeting Saudi-Turkey-U.S.-backed opposition groups seeking to oust al-Assad. Obama has no answer for Putin why the U.S. still backs the failed Saudi-backed Arab Spring toppling dictators.
Obama had the indignity of watching Putin move on to other world leaders, more than ready to show him respect and make deals. If Obama gave any serious consideration to the damage done to Europe and the world economy by the Saudi-Turkey-U.S.-backed Syrian proxy war, he’d work out the right deal with Putin to stop the war threatening to break up the European Union. Backing the Saudi proxy war is indefensible for Obama, considering the death, destruction and terrorism done by Saudi-Turkey-U.S. rebel groups. Expecting Putin to agree to pressure al-Assad to stop targeting Saudi-Turkey-U.S.-backed rebel groups works against stability in Syria. With al-Assad’s forces making progress in Aleppo and other key towns and villages, stopping al-Assad would only delay the destructive proxy war. Putin moved on to another agenda when he realized Obama was fixated on ousting al-Assad.
When it comes to Crimea and Southeastern Ukraine, the Minsk agreement permits pro-Russian separatists to enjoy autonomy in the region, something not mentioned by Obama or the EU. If a pro-Western CIA-backed coup hadn’t ousted duly elected Kremlin-backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich Feb. 22, 2014, Putin would not have seized Crimea. U.S. and EU officials haven’t acknowledged the consequences of toppling Yanukovich. Once Putin saw Obama rehashing old news, he moved on to Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, busy mending fences after the July 16 coup failed. Erdogan still has problems with the U.S. harboring Turkish exile Fethullah Gulen, but, more importantly, backing the Kurdish Protection Units [YPG] and Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK], both groups viewed as mortal enemies to Turkey
Obama had to sit back and wathch Putin charm newly minted British Prime Minister Teresa May, looking to make deals in the wake of the Brexit vote. “The beaming Putin underlines that he is having a good G20, making himself out as ‘the’ man to meet, after a good session earlier with [Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo] Abe, [South Korean President] Park and [former Australian Prime Minister Kevin] Rudd.” Obama could only look on, watching Putin charm German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande. World leaders know there are two sides to every story, including the ones in Crimea and Southeastern Ukraine. Obama’s stubborn refusal to join Putin on Syria shows that he’s not concerned with the draconic consequences of the Saudi-Turkey-U.S.-funded Syrian proxy war. Obama painted himself into a corner at the G20, signaling he’s on the way out.
