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| Obama cancels upcoming meeting with Putin - Washington Post Posted: 07 Aug 2013 09:00 AM PDT President Obama will cancel a planned meeting in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid mounting anger over Russia's decision to allow National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden into the country, the White House said Wednesday. Obama had intended to visit Russia's capital and meet with Putin in advance of next month's G-20 summit in St. Petersburg. But he has decided he will not meet with Putin one-on-one — a rare diplomatic snub — and will only attend the G-20 summit. "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," White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement. Carney cited a "lack of progress" with Russia over the past 12 months on a broad range of issues including missile defense and arms control, trade and commercial relations, global security and human rights and civil society issues. Carney added that Russia's "disappointing decision" to grant Snowden temporary asylum was also a factor. "We have informed the Russian Government that we believe it would be more constructive to postpone the summit until we have more results from our shared agenda," Carney said. On Friday, Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will meet with their Russian counterparts in Washington to discuss how to make progress, Carney said. Instead of visiting Moscow ahead of the G-20 summit, Obama will travel to Stockholm on Sept. 4. "Sweden is a close friend and partner to the United States," Carney said in a statement. "Sweden plays a key leadership role on the international stage, including in opening new trade and investment opportunities through the U.S.-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, advancing clean technologies, and promoting environmental sustainability." The cancellation of the Obama-Putin meeting appeared unlikely to provoke an outsize reaction in Russia. Although Putin clearly wanted the prestige of an at-home summit with his U.S. counterpart, he was apparently unwilling to offer much in exchange for it. Russia has shown no signs of changing its stance on Syria, missile defense or other issues important to the United States.. Putin's foreign affairs adviser told reporters that the Kremlin was disappointed with the decision and blamed it on the Snowden affair, which he said was not Russia's fault. "It is clear that this decision is related to a situation with the former employee of the U.S. special services, Snowden, which we did not create," Yuri Ushakov said. He said the invitation to Obama remained open and criticized the United States for lack of interest in developing good relations. "This problem testifies to the remaining unpreparedness of the United States to build an equal relationship," he said, adding, "Russia is ready to continue working with its U.S. partners on all key items on the bilateral and multilateral agendas." While the Snowden affair was a very public irritant for the United States, some observers said broader underlying disagreements provided a more powerful argument against Obama's visit. At a roundtable discussion in Moscow at the beginning of the week, Russian analysts conceded the countries had few areas of agreement, Snowden aside. "Mutual interest is minimal, and it is rather difficult to build relations on this basis," said Andrei Sidorov, assistant to the dean of the Moscow State University World Politics Department On Wednesday, a lawmaker said calling off the summit was of minimal concern to Russia. "Russia will not lose anything because of this," Mikhail Yemelyanov told the Interfax news service. "America needs Russia more than Russia needs America." For weeks, the White House had signaled it was considering canceling the Putin meeting. On Tuesday, Obama told Jay Leno of "The Tonight Show" that he was frustrated by Russia's protection of Snowden, but that the two countries must work together. "I was disappointed," Obama said of Russia's decision. "Even though we don't have an extradition treaty with them, traditionally we have tried to respect if there's a lawbreaker or alleged lawbreaker in their country, we evaluate it, and we try to work with them." He added: "There are times when they slip back into Cold War thinking and Cold War mentality. What I continually say to them and to President Putin — that's the past." Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who on Sunday urged Obama to cancel his bilateral meeting with Putin and to recommend moving the G-20 summit to a different country, said in a statement Wednesday that Obama "clearly made the right decision." "President Putin is acting like a school-yard bully and doesn't deserve the respect a bilateral summit would have accorded him," Schumer said. A Washington Post-ABC News poll last month found that a majority of Americans, 56 percent, opposed Obama canceling his entire visit if Russia helped Snowden avoid facing charges in the United States, while 37 percent said he should. Americans have become more supportive of a Snowden prosecution since he arrived at the Moscow airport. In mid-June, 43 percent backed charging Snowden with a crime for disclosing U.S. intelligence-gathering efforts, but that grew to 53 percent last month. Kathy Lally in Moscow and Capital Insight polling analyst Scott Clement in Washington contributed to this report. |
| Ariel Castro's house of horror leveled in Cleveland - USA TODAY Posted: 07 Aug 2013 09:24 AM PDT CLEVELAND — Demolition crews leveled Ariel Castro's former house of horror Wednesday not long after one of three young women held captive there for 11 years brought a bundle of yellow balloons in memory of other missing children. Cheers erupted on Seymour Avenue as the heavy equipment clawed away part of the roof and walls of the rundown house where Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were rescued after years of living in chains. Crews reduced the two-story house to rubble in a little more than an hour. The demolition was carried live online and also drew crowds of neighbors and onlookers. Castro, 53, pleaded guilty last month to 937 charges including rape, kidnapping and aggravated murder charges in connection with the abduction of the three young women, who were rescued May 6. Knight, who also spoke at Castro's sentencing in a moving condemnation of his crimes, made a brief statement and asked God to grant strength to those still missing and told their families to have hope. She says the yellow balloons represented those still out there waiting to be found. The demolition of the house comes less than a week after Castro was sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years. Over the last few days, Castro's family members have taken personal items from the home. Prosecutors say that Castro, who claimed he was not mean to the women during the captivity, cried when he signed over the house deed and mentioned his "many happy memories" there with the women. DeJesus was 14 when she disappeared, Berry was 16, and Knight was 21. They were rescued after Berry broke free from her room and began shouting from the door, alerting neighbors. Joseph Frolik with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office said officials decided to tear down the house because "we didn't want some kind of gruesome, macabre shrine, if you will, that would get gawkers and curiosity seekers." Prosecutor Tim McGinty "wanted the property to come down and to come down quickly," Frolik said. The house is being demolished at no cost by two local companies who expect to complete their work by the end of this week. Cuyahoga County Land Bank obtained the deed to the house last week. In addition, the county is working to get the deeds to two homes adjacent to Castro's. Sources say the other two vacant homes will probably come down in a month, opening up space for landscaping or a community betterment project. Jennifer Lindgren reports for WKYC-TV in Cleveland. |
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