US President Barack Obama is canceling a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin scheduled for next month in Moscow, the White House said yesterday.
The Obama administration has repeatedly expressed disappointment after Moscow granted temporary asylum to former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, rejecting US pleas to hand him over to face criminal charges, including espionage.
The White House, in a statement, said it valued “achievements made” between Russia and the US, but cited a “lack of progress” on a host of other issues “such as missile defense and arms control, trade and commercial relations, global security issues, and human rights and civil society.”
“Russia’s disappointing decision to grant Edward Snowden temporary asylum was also a factor that we considered in assessing the current state of our bilateral relationship,” the statements said.
Obama plans to add a stop in Sweden as part of this travels to the G20 summit early next month, a White House official said.
On Tuesday, Obama had confirmed that he would go to Russia for the G20 summit in St Petersburg, but said he was “disappointed” with Moscow’s decision to award one year’s temporary asylum to Snowden, the former information-technology contractor who leaked details of vast US surveillance programs to the media.
Snowden was recently allowed to relocate to a secret safe house after being marooned in Moscow’s airport for five weeks.
Washington had revoked his passport and demanded he be sent back to face charges of espionage over the leaks, which detailed the US National Security Agency’s gathering of vast amounts of telephone call logs and Internet data.
During an appearance on a late-night comedy show on Tuesday, Obama said Moscow was still being helpful in Afghanistan and on counter-terrorism, but spoke of “underlying challenges that we have had with Russia lately.”
“There have been times where they flip back in the Cold War thinking and in a Cold War mentality,” Obama said on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. “What I consistently say to them, and what I say to President Putin, is that’s the past, and we have to think about the future, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to cooperate more effectively than we do.”
Obama also lashed out at Russia over a recent law criminalizing the dissemination of information about homosexuality to minors, which critics fear could legitimize widespread discrimination.
“I have no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them,” he said, adding that Russia “is not unique” in passing such laws.
The Russian measure, signed into law by Putin, introduces fines of up to 5,000 rubles (US$156) for citizens who disseminate information about homosexuality to minors.
The bill has sparked controversy ahead of next year’s Olympic Games in Sochi and raised concerns that visiting gay athletes and spectators could face discrimination or even legal action.
Obama downplayed such fears.
“I think they understand that for most of the countries to participate in the Olympics, we wouldn’t tolerate gays and lesbians being treated differently,” he said. “They’re athletes. They’re there to compete. If Russia wants to uphold the Olympic spirit, then every judgement should be made on the track or in the swimming pool or on the balance beams. People’s sexual orientation shouldn’t have anything to do with it.”
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia