Putin too Busy to Attend G8
Via the BBC: Russia President Putin will miss G8 Camp David summit
Mr Putin, who was inaugurated as President this week after an absence of four years, told US officials he was busy finalising his cabinet.
He will send the outgoing president, Dmitry Medvedev, who replaces him as prime minister, instead.
My first reaction: how busy can he be, given that he is hardly having to deal with a massive transition since he was president and then PM and now president again.
My second reaction: what a bizarre dance Putin and Medvedev have going here.
This puts off Obama-Putin direct talks, but these will now be at the G20 meeting in Mexico in June, according to the report.
things are bit rocky in Russia even according to the official press, so for Putin, its much better to stay home, looking large and in charge, than to seen playing court to the US. Then there’s this article from the Voice of Russia radio news service, where the price of Russia being a counter weight to China is mentioned. Russian diplomatic successes, etc.
He’s too busy working on his backhand. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMpR1AQmGkQ
That video (of Putin scoring in the shootout of an exhibition hockey game against Russian legends; bear in mind that Slava Fetisov is the minister of sport) is something North Korea wishes it could accomplish.
Maybe Putin figures, since not much can be done in the U.S. until after the upcoming election, what’s the point?