“I’m not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker,” Mr. Obama said.

Evidently he won't even get on his own jet because this guy...

Obama cancels talks with Putin ahead of G-20 summit

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama has canceled a visit to Moscow next month for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, an administration official told CNN on Wednesday.
The move follows Russia's decision to grant asylum to classified leaker Edward Snowden, who had been holed up for weeks in the international transit zone of Moscow's airport since fleeing the United States for Hong Kong and then Russia.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/07/politics/obama-putin/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Does this clown Obama not see what an idiot he appears to be? The US and Russia have plenty to talk about, for talks between the leaders to be canceled over something the US is saying isn't that big of a deal sends a very mixed message...

 

In the old days the CIA would have been on one of the flights that this guy took to get to Moscow and put his ass to sleep for good. "dead man in seat b3!!!"

 

And if he went ahead with a meeting you would all be screaming he is Kowtowing to Putin and Russia

 

I guess this administration only likes to kill its citizens if by the push of a button, maybe Obama is scared of needles...

 

As an American, I am absolutely humiliated by the childish and antagonistic behavior of our leaders. So you can't make an example of Snowden. Boo hoo. Get over it, Barack, you are a pathetic hypocrite and a crybaby.

 

No, that wouldn't be hypocritical of the fool, I generally complain about the guy when he does something stupid, its hardly my fault that is just about every single day...

 

Not at all. Russia is considered a partner to the United States. I doubt anyone would expect him to suspend routine diplomacy over such a trivial issue, except other crybabies like McCain.

 

Yet another case of "lose-lose".

 

Yep, exactly. I can see the thread title a mile away -- "Putin grants traitor Snowden asylum; Obama still visits Russia." All the petty neocons would go nuts. Goes to show you, Obama could cure AIDS and the neocons would still go nuts and blame the death of a test monkey on Obama screaming for his impeachment .

 

Let Putin come to the United States in that case. We'll save billions since Obama won't have to travel with his entire entourage to a foreign country.

 

Just to clarify for some who may have the wrong idea. Obama is still going to Russia for the G20. He's just snubbing his 1to1 with Putin.

 

Yeah, that would make the American public feel all warm inside.

 

Except that with talks, he could negotiate over Snowden. His petty temper-tantrum will accomplish nothing.

 

There is a very obvious knee-jerk response among some on this site for anything Obama does. It's like they have no actual position on anything other than "well, if Obama does it I'm against it". It's why I get called a "leftist" or whatever on many threads. I am no fan of Obama on the whole, and I am certainly not a "leftist", but I actually have real positions on things, even if my position is I totally don't care. So I lack that ability to simply be against something because Obama is for it or does it. It's frankly pretty lazy.

 

I wouldn't. They kept speculating on the news that he should not go and I was like... huh? WTF does a meeting of global powers have to do with Snowden? These guys are already meeting in secret to discuss replacing the USD as the world standard... how the hell would skipping an economic summit... in OUR situation... hurt Russia? Russia refusing to go to the G8 in the US... (or any other invitation) definitely exposed the disapproval of the Russian leader of the US... despite the misspelled reset button Hillary gave them... but for us not to go... seems childish... and detrimental only to us.


http://www.theatlantic.com/internat...n-would-skip-the-washington-g8-summit/257203/

 

Good for him. Even Obama can get it right once in awhile. You play games and you get isolated. Good call for once.

 

That's true, but when he tries to save them at home, conservatives bleat like hell, claiming he is restricting their rights by attempting to curtail certain armaments.

 

No. He just prefers not to take them out under conditions that might lead to a war where we do not currently have causus belli.

 

A partner in what exactly - 9 times over the last decade the US has sent criminals back to Russia despite there being no formal treaty. Bush and Obama paid forward, Putin has pulled his usual puffed out chest tin drum act, and done nothing.

 

You scream about strong leadership. he displays some, and now it is a temper tantrum?

 

Well I'm not the one who makes that determination.. I would defer to the US State Dept. that does and their reasoning which they explain (although I can't vouch for its validity) http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3183.htm

What I would say is, if we don't get as much backscratching back as we give, there's not a whole lot we can do, as physical posturing is rather obsolete thanks to MAD.. In fact it creates an odd type of relationship that only exists in the last century. The best we can do is cooperate the best we can to get what we can from them, without sacrificing our own interests. That's what I believe we do, and they do likewise. Snubbing a chat with Putin in such case doesn't help. It's a complicated situation, I don't claim to be an expert, and it's just my opinion, so I hope you know that.. : )

What I would say most is there is a lot more involved in the partnership than mere prisoners. We are going head to head with different ambitions in the ME for example. Getting Russia on board with the Iran nuclear issue I think is like the holy grail, short of having that, antagonism over a non-issue like Snowden and this petty snubbing isn't going to be helpful towards that, or any end really.

 

Putin not only refused to 'extradite' Snowden for serious charges against the state but he granted him asylum. This only opens the doors for more extremists to give away classified state secrets to unfriendly countries. It can't be ignored and Obama did the right thing.

 

Um, where the hell did Obama say it wasn't a big deal?

Oh, also the two countries can certainly have talks that don't directly involve the POTUS.

Jesus , not everything is reason for attack.

 

I never complained about strong leadership. You might have crossed me with the op.

 

Save them at home? When has he tried to do that? By extending and expanding the Patriot Act? Allowing the expansion of NSA spying on US citizens? Selling US guns to Mexican drug cartels? Targeting his political enemies with the IRS? Ask Amb. Stevens about Obama's will to save Americans...Do tell how he's done anything to save a single American, and please don't say Obamacare, that our own Congress doesn't even want to participate in...