Hasden: Obama, Putin at odds on Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Barack Obama raise glasses during a luncheon hosted by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations on Monday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Barack Obama raise glasses during a luncheon hosted by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations on Monday.

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Russia begins airstrikes in Syria, but West disputes targetsObama and Putin: Awkward moments, few breakthroughs

The widely publicized Monday photo of U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a flower bedecked table during a meal at a United Nations summit is proof that the venerable adage about words and pictures is often true.

In the image, Putin, a lupine smile creasing his features, and a stony-faced Obama stare at one another in what was supposed to be a standard photo op. If the picture was designed to suggest the men enjoyed a cordial or at least mutually respectful relationship, it was a colossal failure. It is clear the two world leaders, in New York to address the festering crisis in Syria, sharply disagreed on how to do so. Even a quick parsing of their individual speeches before the world body indicates why Monday's face-to-face meeting was so frosty.

Syria's civil war, more than 4 years old and with no end in sight, has created a massive refugee problem, contributed mightily to world unrest and produced an increasing toll of dead and wounded. Despite diplomatic and other efforts to convince Syrian President Bashar Assad to end the chaos, the internecine struggle continues. There was some hope that the Obama-Putin talks might lead to the beginning of an orderly solution to the ongoing crisis. That seems unlikely.

There is no common ground in the Obama and Putin approaches to Syria. The U.S. president supports a political transition that would ultimately replace Assad. Putin wants none of that. He says it would be a mistake to oust Assad. His reason? He believes Assad's totalitarian regime offers the best hope of combatting the growing power of the Islamic State and other violent extremist factions in the region. There's little to suggest that either plan would work.

Assad shows no sign of conceding power or acknowledging the desire of Syrians for a representative government. Indeed, the Syrian leader's intransigence seems to grow as various economic sanctions and diplomatic pressure are applied. Assad's stance has not altered in a long time. There's no plausible reason to believe it will. He and the civilian and military factions that support him clearly believe he can continue to rule. Nothing stated publicly Monday by Obama or Putin seems capable of changing the status quo in Syria.

Both the Obama and Putin plans are long on rhetoric and short on implementation. While the U.S. proposal is likely the best way to eventually bring change to Syria, there's little evidence that Obama's plan goes much beyond a proposal. There appears to be little long-term planning to promote regime change in Syria, and for many reasons more direct U.S. involvement in the region is unlikely.

Putin, on the other hand, has been sending military equipment to Syria. He says it will be used to fight the Islamic State and other extremists, but there's no certainty that will be the case (on Wednesday Russian jets appeared to be striking ISIS targets). Assad and his minions easily could use Russian materiel to ramp up attacks on those who oppose him. If Putin really wants to help end the Syrian crisis, funneling more arms into the region is surely counterproductive.

The Obama-Putin relationship is contentious. Putin's annexation of Crimea and his barely-concealed support of Ukrainian rebels are cause for much of the disconnection. The Russian's latest pronouncement on Syria strains ties even more. If equilibrium is to come to Syria, the United States, Russia and other nations must work diligently and cautiously to make it happen.

Perhaps private discussions will prove more promising, but nothing said by either Obama or Putin publicly at the United Nations suggests such a cooperative effort to address the Syrian crisis will not be undertaken any time soon. Until such an effort is made, the world will be a far more dangerous place than it otherwise might be.

Wes Hasden is a former associate editor of The Chattanooga Times editorial page.

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