With regard to the debate over Syria, the G20 ended just as expected— with nothing. Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama ended up talking for 20 minutes, even after apparently trying, ultimately without success, to avoid each other. It could not have happened any other way.
It was obvious from the beginning that the less they talked about Syria, the more successful the meeting in St. Petersburg would be. I certainly understand the desire of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his special envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, to attract the world’s attention — from their perspective, this representative assembly was just about the last chance to turn back toward a more coordinated approach. In fact, however, the debate on the Syrian issue is a waste of time for one reason: The US president arrived at the event with no room to maneuver.
