G20 英国承诺给叙利亚额外援助

It was nevergoing to be an easy chat, but at least G20 leaders prepared for dinner. Syriawas no longer the elephant in the room. It was the center piece for discussionand debate. On the key question of proposed military action, David Cameron hasno hand left to play, but made a decent face of not looking too deflated. Whileunable to offer active support to Barack Obama, the Prime Minister aimed tobuttress arguments in what proved to be a polite but predictable tabling ofentrenched and opposed positions.  

“Some people will never be satisfied with.”

“Do you think that includes President Putin?”

“I haven’t said I haven’t yet seen any of evidence thatRussia will change the position after the United States, but the best way ofdoing this, of course, is to have a UN resolution, a condemnation of Syria, abacking for all necessary measures to be taken.”

The handshake between David Cameron and Vladimir Putin wasnot the warmest in the summit. The two men don’t see eye to eye on a host ofthe issues but nor of they yet descended to the arctic level of US-Russiaexchanges.

"However, remarks attributed to Vladimir Putin’sspokesman threatened to throw a bit of spanner into the works. It’s said DimitriPescov described Britain as just a small island; no one pays any attention tothem. "

“The whole story is a bit odd, because one thing we know isthis remark didn’t come from one of the G20 press conference hall. In fact, itwasn’t made in St. Petersburg at all. It seems to be emanated from some sort ofpress briefing earlier in the week that no one at that time chose to report.Anyway, it is perhaps worth pointing out that Russian position generally aboutthe British Parliamentary vote was that it was great news because it underminedthe move towards military action.”

The hosts pulled down all the stops with the sound-and-lightshow stretching into the small hours. After the spectacle, the Russia Presidentfound time to meet David Cameron, who wants help to facilitate humanitarian aidin Syria. He’d hoped to be able to forge an agreement on such a pressingsubject, but given the divisions of the top table it might be wise not to beton it.

Joy Jones, Sky News, at the G20 in St. Petersburg.