G20 members fail to heal rift over Syria [View all]

[Surya Gayatri]

Source: France24

Syria was the main topic of discussion during a dinner at the G20 summit in St Petersburg on Thursday. But with the forum going into its final day, there is no sign that world leaders are any closer to resolving their differences over the issue.
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US President Barack Obama had arrived for the summit on Thursday with the hope of winning support for armed strikes against the regime of Syrian President Bashar-al Assad following his alleged use of chemical weapons.

The US, France and Turkey are currently the only G20 members to commit to using force in Syria. Russia and China strongly oppose military action, while a host of other countries remain concerned about supporting military strikes without a UN resolution.

The G20’s formal programme for the St Petersburg summit centres around the global economy, but as tensions over the Syrian conflict threatened to torpedo discussions on other issues, host Russian President Vladimir Putin made a last-minute announcement for participants to air their views over dinner on Thursday evening.

Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20130906-g20-members-fail-heal-rift-over-syria

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How will this lack of G20 cohesion affect the vote in Congress? Let's hope it weighs heavily in their deliberations. Surely, the fact that even the UK has backed off, is a sign that direct military action is not the way to go.