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.

He publicly announced in advance that he will strike, and to step back from that threat, especially at the urging of foreign leaders, would be to acknowledge that he is powerless in the eyes of his country. No American president could afford to do this, especially Obama, who is now concerned with completing his domestic reforms and establishing his historical legacy. The action against Syria has turned into a test of the president’s relevance, obscuring the issue of what it will lead to and how it will end.

Putin kept the same tone that he has adopted in recent days — good-natured disagreement without public unpleasantness. He graciously said the brief discussion with Obama was constructive, despite the fact that they only reiterated their previous positions. At a press conference, the Russian president looked happy. He was probably pleased that the meeting had demonstrated the total lack of consensus among the 20 countries. There was no separate statement from the BRICS countries, but Russia had not pushed for this, apparently because it did not wish to exacerbate the confrontation at a meeting it was hosting. In any case, half of the participants spoke out against military action, and the other half, who signed the statement with the United States, did not directly mention the use of force, although they called for a response to the use of chemical weapons. According to Putin, in addition to the United States, only France, Turkey and Saudi Arabia spoke in favor of war at the meeting, and Britain also supported it, even though it cannot participate.