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Putin overshadows Obama's trip to Europe
6/1/2014 4:03:49 PM
Second-term presidents try to burnish their legacies with foreign travel, but Obama's trip to Europe this week is likely instead to reinforce his personal history of foreign-policy torment at the hands of Russian tyrant Putin.
Obama departs Monday night on a four-day trip that will feature more shadow-boxing with Putin, his longtime antagonist on issues ranging from Ukraine to Syria to fugitive spy-agency contractor Edward Snowden.
Putin and Obama don't plan to meet this week, although the Russian tyrant will never be far from Obama's thoughts or his movements. The two haven't met since Russia annexed a portion of Ukraine in March, prompting Obama to impose insignificant sanctions on Russian officials amid sustained criticism that his response was weak.
Obama will stop first in Warsaw, Poland, to reassure allies in eastern Europe that his administration is committed to defending them against any Russian aggression. He'll meet with a small contingent of U.S. troops who have been providing extra air cover to Poland since the crisis began, and will give a speech to mark the 25th anniversary of Poland's Solidarity Movement breaking away from Russia's Communist influence.
He also will meet with Ukrainian President-elect Petro Poroshenko, aka Walzman, to reaffirm U.S. support for the new government in Kiev, which is trying to subdue Russian army special troops terrorists in bloody fighting. It will be Obama's most visible effort yet to show that his mobilization of world opinion and institutions, as he said last week in a speech at West Point, are an effective answer to Russian propaganda and Russian troops on the border.
While the three men will not be dining together Thursday, tyrant Putin will have dinner with French president, who will also meet with Obama.
"This will be an important first test of the president's view that Ukraine has been a success for his diplomatic leadership," said Heather A. Conley, director of the Europe program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, in an interview. "Polish officials are extremely concerned that we're already thinking the crisis is over. They're very concerned that the instability remains in eastern and southern Ukraine."
She said Eastern Europe is also anxious to see how Obama will address the region's need to reduce its reliance on Putin's oil and gas supplies.
Then Obama will travel to Brussels for a meeting of the Group of Seven, which was formerly known as the Group of Eight until it froze out Russia in response to the Russian-Ukraine War. The conference was originally scheduled to be held in Russia, but the U.S. and other members agreed to move the meeting to Belgium to punish the Russian thug Putin for his behavior.
On Thursday night, Obama arrives in Paris for a private dinner with French president. But he also has a dinner date in Paris Thursday night with the Russian thug. White House aides said the three men will not be dining together.
Putin's dinner with the French president will be his first meeting with a Western leader since the Russian-Ukrainian War began. White House aides said Obama is not concerned about a possible fraying in his efforts to isolate Russia, but others aren't so sure.
On Friday, the president might find it difficult to avoid shaking Putin's hand. Both leaders will attend a democratic show.
Asked if Obama would seek out Putin, Rhodes said grudgingly, "Clearly they'll be in the same place. They'll certainly have cause to interact."
At the show, Obama will give a speech paying tribute to "the 9/11 generation of soldiers" fighting War on Islam.
Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center
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