Obama Arrives in Sweden Before G-20 Summit
By PETER BAKER
The president will go to Russia on Thursday where he will try to shore
up an international coalition to punish Syria for a chemical weapons
attack.
By PETER BAKER
Published: September 4, 2013
STOCKHOLM — President Obama arrived here Wednesday morning on the first
stop of a brief overseas trip as he sought to shore up international
support for a limited military strike against Syria’s government in
retaliation for allegedly gassing its own people.
After an overnight flight from Washington, Mr. Obama embarked on a day
of meetings and other events in the Swedish capital before heading
Thursday to St. Petersburg for a meeting of the Group of 20 nations
hosted by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who opposes any attack.
The trip comes as the president and his advisers are trying to convince
Congress to pass a measure formally authorizing a punitive strike.
Before taking off, he won support from Republican leaders in the House,
but there is no guarantee they can rally rank and file members deeply
wary about the prospect of the United States becoming entangled in
another Middle East war.
He faced a daunting challenge as well in Europe, where resistance is
deep enough that even Britain, America’s strongest ally, opted out of
participating in any strike. Sweden’s foreign minister, Carl Bildt, has
said Syrian regime forces were clearly to blame for the Aug. 21 chemical
attack that United States intelligence officials say killed more than
1,400 people in the Damascus suburbs and agrees there should be a
reaction. But he has also urged a delay while waiting for results of a
United Nations inspection team that sent samples to a laboratory in
Sweden.
American officials have dismissed the international body’s investigation
since it is charged only with determining whether there was a chemical
attack, which Washington considers undisputed, not who was responsible
for it.
Russia has been more hostile to the suggestion of a retaliatory strike.
Mr. Putin can use Russia’s veto to block United Nations Security Council
action and has scoffed at the notion that the Syrian government was
responsible for the attack, calling it “utter nonsense” and suggesting
that it was a provocation by rebels eager to draw the United States into
their civil war against President Bashar al-Assad, a longtime Russian
ally.
In an interview with The Associated Press released on Wednesday, Mr.
Putin softened his tone somewhat, saying he would not rule out United
Nations action but only if the Syrian government was proved culpable.
But he said American evidence of that is unconvincing and that it seemed
“completely ridiculous” to think that the Syrian Army would use such
weapons when they had the advantage on the battlefield.
He also pointedly recalled the inaccurate American intelligence on
weapons of mass destruction that led to the American-led invasion of
Iraq in 2003. “All these arguments turned out to be untenable, but they
were used to launch a military action, which many in the U.S. called a
mistake,” Mr. Putin said. “Did we forget about that?”
The clash over Syria comes as relations between the United States and
Russia have hit their lowest point since Mr. Obama came to office
determined to rebuild ties. He had originally scheduled a separate visit
with Mr. Putin in Moscow before the St. Petersburg summit meeting, but
abruptly canceled it last month after Russia gave temporary asylum to
Edward J. Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor who disclosed
secret surveillance programs.
Instead, Mr. Obama added a stop in Sweden, where he was greeted in
friendly fashion. A Swedish newspaper described its country a “Little
USA” and described the way it was trying to emulate America politically,
economically and culturally. Still, the leader of a small political
party said Mr. Obama should stop tapping her e-mail account and give
back his Nobel Peace Prize.
Mr. Obama will meet Wednesday with Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeldt and
then hold a short news conference. Mr. Obama also plans to participate
in a ceremony honoring Raoul Wallenberg, famed for saving thousands of
Jews from the Nazis, at the Great Synagogue and Holocaust Memorial of
Stockholm, then visit an energy expo at the Royal Institute of
Technology and have dinner with Mr. Reinfeldt and the leaders of Norway,
Finland, Denmark and Iceland.
Mr. Obama will fly Thursday to St. Petersburg, where in addition to the
G-20 activities he will meet separately with President François Hollande
of France, who supports a strike on Syria, and President Xi Jinping of
China, who does not. Aside from the canceled Moscow trip, Mr. Obama does
not plan to meet with Mr. Putin in St. Petersburg either, even though
that would by typical with a summit host.
The last time a president attended an international summit meeting in
St. Petersburg was in 2006 and Syria was high on the agenda then too.
Israel had just launched a monthlong war in Lebanon against
Syrian-supported Hezbollah militants. President George W. Bush resisted
pressure from allies to intervene to stop Israel and was overheard
complaining that the United Nations secretary general should call Mr.
Assad and tell him to restrain Hezbollah.
Much as Mr. Bush did, Mr. Obama will use his brief time in Russia to
show support for opposition leaders and human rights activists under
pressure from Mr. Putin’s government. The president will host a round
table with what the White House calls civil society leaders and invite
media cameras to record the moment. The Moscow government has cracked
down on protests, arrested organizers and passed new laws targeting
nongovernmental organizations and gays and lesbians.
Mr. Obama returns to Washington late Friday in time for congressional debates and votes on Syria next week.
COPY .nytimes.com/
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