Obama to meet face-to-face with staunch Syrian ally at G8 summit.
By REUTERSBarack Obama, June 2013(370)(photo credit: Reuters)
ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland - US President Barack Obama faces what could be a frosty G8 meeting with Vladimir Putin on Monday after the Russian leader clashed with the West over plans to arm Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar Assad.At their first private face-to-face meeting in a year, Obama will try to convince Putin to bring Assad to the negotiating table but the Russian leader has shown little sign of compromise.On the summit's eve, Putin described Assad's foes as cannibals who ate their enemies intestines in front of media cameras."Are these the people you want to support? Is it them who you want to supply with weapons?" Putin said in London on his way to the G8.British Prime Minister Cameron, who chairs the summit, acknowledged that there was "a big difference" between the positions of Russia and the West on Syria but he stressed there was also common ground between the world's richest powers.Other leaders were less diplomatic: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that Putin, as Assad's only big-power ally at the G8 table, was supporting thugs."We are not, unless there is a big shift in position on his part, going to get a common position with him at the G8."Click for full JPost coverageObama and Putin are due to meet at about 6:30 pm local time at the Lough Erne golf resort about 10 km (7 miles) outside the Northern Irish town of Enniskillen.The leaders of the United States, Japan, Canada, Russia, Germany, France, Britain and Italy - representing just over half of the $71.7 trillion global economy - will also discuss the global economy.
