Syria dares Obama, says he is ‘confused’

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Obama is ‘hesitant and confused’:
Syrian deputy FM
Meanwhile the decision by President Barack Obama to
take a step back from an imminent strike on Syria puts all
eyes on Vladimir Putin’s G20 summit where the Russian
and US leaders will push for global support of their
divergent policies.
The Kremlin has said that Syria is not on the official
agenda of the summit to be hosted by Russia in Saint
Petersburg on Thursday and Friday. But with both Moscow
and Washington keen to use it as a platform to discuss a
potential US-led strike against the Syrian regime, the issue
is quickly becoming the elephant in the room.
The two-day meeting, to be attended by the Group of 20
heads of state or government, will also likely be the last
chance for a face-to-face debate over possible military
intervention before it is voted on in the US Congress, due
to come back from recess on September 9.
Obama’s move on Saturday to push back military action
until after a debate and vote by US lawmakers followed
Putin’s call not to take rash actions, which had some
Russian politicians gloating on Sunday.
“Obama was one step away from war,” tweeted the head
of the Russian parliament’s international affairs committee
Alexei Pushkov. “He does not want to be the second
George Bush with the whole world against him.”
Russia has rejected claims that the regime of Bashar al-
Assad has used chemical arms, and Putin, in his first public
reaction to claims that Assad was behind attacks on
August 21, said the United States must provide proof and
avoid repeating the past “mistakes” of Iraq and other
interventions.
He called on Obama to use the G20 summit as a venue to
flesh out their differences over Syria, even though the
Kremlin denied earlier that any bilateral meeting has been
planned between the two leaders.
“I would tell my colleague (Obama) that we shall have a
meeting soon in Saint Petersburg,” Putin said after
repeating Russia’s position that the alleged attack was a
“provocation” to draw the US into the conflict, and that for
the Syrian regime to use chemical weapons would be
“utter nonsense.”
“Of course the G20… cannot be a replacement for the UN
Security Council, which is the sole body that can make a
decision about using force. But it’s a good place to discuss
the problem. Why not use the opportunity?,” Putin said.
Obama will also use the delay in taking action on Syria to
build more international support for the US position at the
summit in Russia, a White House official said late
Saturday.
Russia has supported Assad, vowing to veto any action
against him in the Security Council, and Putin on Saturday
admitted that he had not discussed Syria with Obama
since the first accusations against the regime regarding
the chemical attacks were made.
But hosting the summit in one of the Kremlin’s official
residence palaces, Putin will have prime opportunity to
argue his case, bolstered by the war-weary British
parliament’s shock rejection of military action which left
France as America’s main Syria ally.