G20 members fail to heal rift over Syria

[Surya Gayatri]

Source: France24

Syria was the main topic of discussion during a dinner at the G20 summit in St Petersburg on Thursday. But with the forum going into its final day, there is no sign that world leaders are any closer to resolving their differences over the issue.
.../
US President Barack Obama had arrived for the summit on Thursday with the hope of winning support for armed strikes against the regime of Syrian President Bashar-al Assad following his alleged use of chemical weapons.

The US, France and Turkey are currently the only G20 members to commit to using force in Syria. Russia and China strongly oppose military action, while a host of other countries remain concerned about supporting military strikes without a UN resolution.

The G20’s formal programme for the St Petersburg summit centres around the global economy, but as tensions over the Syrian conflict threatened to torpedo discussions on other issues, host Russian President Vladimir Putin made a last-minute announcement for participants to air their views over dinner on Thursday evening.

Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20130906-g20-members-fail-heal-rift-over-syria

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How will this lack of G20 cohesion affect the vote in Congress? Let's hope it weighs heavily in their deliberations. Surely, the fact that even the UK has backed off, is a sign that direct military action is not the way to go.

[delrem]

1. sadly, this appears to all be dickwaving.

[Surya Gayatri]

2. Even Angela Merkel was waving her schlong around?

[idwiyo]

4. Her equivalent of it.

[Ghost Dog]

3. If 'dickwaving' means "hasty measures ignoring any legitimate international institutions"

Yes.

... “A number of states maintained the stance on the necessity of hasty measures ignoring any legitimate international institutions,” Dmitry Peskov, press secretary for the Russian president, said following a working dinner, which capped the first day of the summit.

“A number of other states called against the depreciation of the international law and to remember that only the UN Security Council has the right to make decisions on the use of force,” he said...

/... http://en.rian.ru/politics/20130906/183198254/Syria-Issue-Divides-Leaders-at-G20-Summit---Putin-Spokesman.html

... "Military action would have a negative impact on the global economy, especially on the oil price - it will cause a hike in the oil price," said Zhu Guangyao, the Chinese Vice Finance Minister.

Brazil, India and South Africa also worry that intervention would do economic harm, according to Mr Putin's officials.

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian president, said the leaders of the large emerging economies spoke before the St Petersburg summit and agreed that Syrian intervention would have an "extremely negative effect" on the global economy."

While the British and French governments have both backed the principle of military intervention to punish the Assad regime's alleged use of chemical weapons, the European Union as a whole is opposed, European officials said...

/more... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10289837/Syria-crisis-Barack-Obama-faces-growing-opposition-to-airstrikes-as-he-arrives-for-G20.html

[center]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/06/syria-crisis-splits-g20-live [/center]

[Surya Gayatri]

5. Thanks for filling in the back story and for the pertinent links, GD...

[Ghost Dog]

6. Pas de quoi. Isn't the photo telling,

don't you think?

[Surya Gayatri]

7. Some interesting body language and facial expressions goin on there!

[Rebellious Republican]

8. I will keep shouting this .....

[Surya Gayatri]

9. "...because the owners of this country don't wan't that...", tell it George!

Sad that Carlin's voice is no longer out there fighting for right.

[Rebellious Republican]

10. Sure it is, you just watched him, he lives on, through us.

[another_liberal]

11. Enough of this crap!

We have no coalition. France and Turkey, my ass! We will be going it alone, and that is a recipe for disaster in a war which could easily spread across the entire Middle East.

[another_liberal]

12. An update to this story . . .

I'd like to add an update to this story:

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Friday that an "ill-considered" strike on Syria could have "tragic consequences" for the strife-torn country, as President Barack Obama continued lobbying efforts for military action at the G-20 summit.

Speaking at an event on the sidelines of meetings in St. Petersburg, Russia, Ban called on world powers to put aside their differences over the Syrian conflict, and to take concerted action to get desperately needed aid to the population. “This is a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented proportions in recent history,” he said, adding that a missile strike could lead to an “increased threat of further sectarian violence”.