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September 5, 2013 Obama Greets Putin With 'Historic Death Stare' At G-20 Summit Debra Heine The intense moment was posted on Twitter by CNBC's Eamon Javers and described by Brett Logiurato of Business Insider as the president giving Putin "a significantly intense death stare upon their meeting at the G20 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia." .....

Reports: G-20 seating chart altered By: Tal Kopan September 5, 2013 07:51 AM EDT Those eager for a potentially awkward photo op of President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin sitting next to each other at the G-20 summit might be disappointed: The seating chart is putting more distance between the two leaders than previously expected. Seating at the summit is alphabetical, but the planners for the event have reportedly changed which alphabet they are using to make the chart, Voice of America and The Guardian reported. In the Cyrillic alphabet, which is used in Russian, Russia and the...

(Reuters) - Europe's top officials warned against a military response in Syria on Thursday, aligning themselves more closely with Russian President Vladimir Putin than President Barack Obama in how best to respond to the chemical attack in the Syrian civil war. While describing the August 21 attack near Damascus, in which an estimated 1,400 people died, as "abhorrent" and a crime against humanity, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said a military strike would not help resolve the crisis. "There is no military solution to the Syrian conflict," Van Rompuy told reporters ahead of a summit of the Group of...

"I didn't set a red line. The world set a red line," Obama said in Stockholm, referring to international rules banning the use of chemical weapons, even in case of war. "My credibility is not on the line. The international community's credibility is on the line and America and Congress's credibility is on the line because we give lip service to the notion that these international norms are important."

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama this week plans to urge reluctant world leaders to support a U.S.-led military strike against Syria as he attends a global summit in Russia and makes a stop in Sweden. His three-day overseas trip comes as his administration seeks authorization from Congress. Top lawmakers signalled support Tuesday after meeting with Obama, while France said it will wait for Congress' decision before any military action of its own. Obama's presence at the Group of 20 gathering in Russia is bound to bring questions about Syria, recently leaked U.S. surveillance programs and especially his tense relationship with...

Facing roadblocks at home and abroad, President Barack Obama this week plans to urge reluctant world leaders to back an American-led strike against Syria even though the prospects for military action depend on the votes of a fractured U.S. Congress. The uncertainty surrounding Syria will hang over the president's three-day oversees trip, which includes a global summit in Russia and a stop in Sweden. So will Obama's tense relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the world leader who is hosting the Group of 20 gathering and has perhaps done the most to stymie international efforts to oust Syria's Bashar Assad....

"A limited military action will not satisfy us. It [the intervention] should be like in Kosovo," Erdoğan was quoted by daily Hürriyet as saying during the Victory Day reception at the presidential palace on Aug. 30. A few minutes earlier, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had given signs during a press briefing in Washington that the United States would act following last week's chemical attack in Syria, but said its response would be "tailored." Erdoğan told reporters that the intervention could take place next week. "Looking at what Kerry has said, there could be an intervention prior to the...

So what else could President Obama and Sec. of State Kerry do to convey their message of disapproval and lack of patience? And remember—the prestige of the United States is on the line here, too. Were those just pretty rhetorical words Sec. of State Hillary Clinton uttered in taking a stand for LGBT rights around the word, or will the State Department back them up with some action? And if so, what kind of action—given the delicate nature of diplomacy in this unstable world and the political partisan divide in Congress? The Russian-approved “gay propaganda” law started in St. Petersburg,...

President Barack Obama's decision to pull out of a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next month punctuates a steady decline in relations and represents an unusually sharp rebuke for an administration pledged to engaging adversaries. Mr. Obama had planned to meet in early September with Mr. Putin before going to a Group of 20 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. The White House said Wednesday he will still attend the G-20. The decision comes after Russia decided to grant asylum, over White House objections, to Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked classified information.

Original title: "Russia Responds To Obama Snub: "We Are Disappointed... But The Snowden Situation Wasn't Created By Us" (had to be truncated) Earlier we reported that in an act of embarassing political ineptitude not to mention detente reminiscent of the Cold War's worst days, the US president did his best Freudian transferrance attempt today by blaming Putin for his ever escalating headaches caused by one 30 year old NSA whistleblower, and cancelling bilateral talks with the Russian president. And can anyone blame him: with the US increasingly slighted by both superascedent eastern powers, Russia and China, the US finds itself...

The following statement was issued by the White House on President Barack Obama’s decision not to hold a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin: “Following a careful review begun in July, we have reached the conclusion that there is not enough recent progress in our bilateral agenda with Russia to hold a U.S.-Russia Summit in early September. We value the achievements made with Russia in the President’s first term, including the New START Treaty, and cooperation on Afghanistan, Iran, and North Korea. However, given our lack of progress on issues such as missile defense and arms control, trade and...

n a rare diplomatic snub, President Obama is canceling plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next month. The decision reflects both U.S. anger over Russia's harboring of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and growing frustration within the Obama administration over what it sees as Moscow's stubbornness on other key issues, including missile defense and human rights. Obama will still attend the Group of 20 economic summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, but a top White House official said the president had no plans to hold one-on-one talks with Putin while there. Instead of visiting Putin in...

On Saturday, the South China Morning Post reported that he showed them documents identifying the IP addresses of Chinese computers that had been hacked by NSA. Yesterday the Guardian revealed that he’d showed them NSA documents alleging that the agency accessed Medvedev’s communications at the G20 summit four years ago. Coincidentally, this year’s G8 summit opens today in Northern Ireland. The new scoop is obviously timed to maximize America’s embarrassment.Are we done pretending that this guy is interested only, or even primarily, in exposing violations of Americans’ civil liberties? He’s not opposed to the U.S. government spying on its citizens....

Foreign politicians and officials who took part in two G20 summit meetings in London in 2009 had their computers monitored and their phone calls intercepted on the instructions of their British government hosts, according to documents seen by the Guardian. Some delegates were tricked into using internet cafes which had been set up by British intelligence agencies to read their email traffic.

According to new details leaked to The Guardian (UK) by NSA leaker Edward Snowden, American and British intelligence directed snooping efforts against internet and phone data from foreign officials at the G20 in 2009. According to the documents, which were created by the NSA and handed over to the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s phone calls were bugged, and emails and calls from other delegates’ phones were monitored as well. Fake internet cafes were created to grab keystrokes from attendees. Forty-five analysts were given round-the-clock updates on who was calling whom at the summit. The...

As Britain readies to host the G8 summit, the documents uncovered by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden have revealed that back in 2009 US spies intercepted top-secret communication of then Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, during his visit to London. The shocking news has been broken by The Guardian which has seen the documents. It also revealed that a UK intelligence agency, GCHQ, monitored foreign politicians and intercepted their emails during the 2009 G20 summit held in the British capital. Some delegates were tricked into using internet cafes which had been set up by UK intelligence agencies to read their email traffic....

The global financial convulsion of 2007-2008 was followed by the resounding announcement of new priorities: international finance was to be better regulated and there was to be no mercy in the fight against tax havens. In short, we were to put an end to the black holes in a system that was wide open to abuse—at least if the very virtuous conclusions of the G20 held in London were to be believed. … Revelations of individual cases, no matter how fascinating they are, should not be allowed to distract attention from the underlying problem: tax havens are a threat to...

Female G20 protestors sue Toronto police for $1.4MILLION after they were 'profiled for having hairy legs' A group of women is suing the Toronto police, saying they were profiled and arrested for having hairy legs during the G20 summit in 2010. The women are part of a $1.4 million lawsuit filed by seven friends, men and women, who were locked up during the protests against the gathering of world leaders. The lawyer for the friends, who had traveled to Toronto from their hometown to take part in the demonstrations, said police use of 'hairy legs' as a cause for detention...

They say a photo is worth a thousand words. Perhaps presidents Obama and Putin never heard of that expression. It is rare to the point of being unknown when the last time was that two world leaders showed such obvious mutual dislike of each other. ~snip~ It's hard to imagine a discussion over why Russia should allow heavy sanctions to be placed on the Assad regime in Syria or similar Russian cooperation over Iranian nuclear weapon development becoming so vitriolic as to create the intensity of distaste and disregard that showed in the faces of Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin...

For the most part, international summits like the recently concluded G-20 meeting in Mexico are pointless – but expensive – publicity stunts for incumbent politicians. They pose for photo-ops, have boring meeting, and draft up empty communiques, always at some posh location so that everybody – from bureaucrat flunkies to servile reporters – can have a good time.But these soirees are more than just money-wasting junkets. They also encourage bad policy. With everything that’s happening around the world, the evidence is stronger than ever about the adverse economic consequences of bloated public sectors and punitive tax regimes.But when politicians get...