by Stephen Lendman

On Monday, September 28, both leaders will meet on the sidelines of the General Assembly’s 70th session, an array of world leaders to address the world body.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed it, saying “(a) meeting with Obama has been coordinated.” When asked what both leaders will discuss, he responded “I’ll give you three guesses.”

Restoring peace and stability to war-torn Syria and Donbass top Putin’s geopolitical agenda - along with enlisting world community support to combat ISIS and other takfiri terrorists in Syria and Iraq and the risk of their spread without a united effort to defeat them. Both leaders rarely speak, less often meet, the last time briefly in November 2014 at the Beijing, China-hosted APEC summit. No detailed meeting was held. Their longest discussion was a 15-minute encounter during June 2014 D-Day commemorations in Normandy.

Hostile relations persist. Putin is irresponsibly blamed for crisis conditions in Ukraine and Syria. Reckless anti-Russian propaganda remains relentless.

Tass reported an unnamed senior US official “confirm(ing) that the two presidents will meet in the context of the UN General Assembly.”

“Given the situations in Ukraine and Syria, despite our profound differences with Moscow, the president believes that it would be irresponsible not to test whether we can make progress through high-level engagement with the Russians,” he said.

According to The New York Times, a US official “insisting on anonymity” ahead of the White House announcement said the meeting’s “core message” was Russia observing Minsk ceasefire terms - ignoring Moscow’s commitment to peace and stability in contrast to Washington’s permanent war agenda. The Times didn’t explain.

The Washington Post cited a White House source saying Russia’s support for Assad will also be discussed.

The Wall Street Journal said both leaders will meet “amid increasing tension over Russia’s role in Syria and hopes in the White House that there might be a diplomatic resolution to the conflict” - ignoring Obama’s war, his full responsibility for mass slaughter and destruction, Putin the best hope for ending it, dedicated to world peace, polar opposite Obama’s rage for endless wars.

Discussions with Putin will accomplish nothing as long as he insists Assad must go - polar opposite his counterpart insisting sovereign people alone have the exclusive right to choose their leaders and officials, no outside powers, especially imperial ones for their own self-interest.

Washington’s great fear is the possibility that Putin’s peace strategy may succeed, defeating its regional war agenda. European nations increasingly can’t cope with human refugee floods caused by imperial wars.

The only viable solution is ending them. The strain of thousands of desperate people arriving in Europe daily may drive its leaders to ally with Putin’s agenda - international community unity to defeat ISIS and other terrorists.

Washington may have no effective Plan B to counter Europe’s determination to wage war on ISIS cooperatively with Russia. Angela Merkel said “many actors” must be involved, including Assad and Iran, irresponsible to exclude them from participating.

Damascus has committed Russian support in its struggle to defeat takfiri terrorists devastating Syria, Iraq, and perhaps heading cross-borders to continue their rampaging - with full US financial and military support.

-###-

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs