Obama tussles with Putin, Duterte at G20 summit
President Barack Obama closed out his three days at the G20 economic summit in Hangzhou, China, on Monday by meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Obama called the conversations "productive," although he blamed issues of trust for preventing the two from agreeing on a plan for ending the war in Syria.
Still, Obama deemed Putin "less colorful" than Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has declared himself "no American puppet" in response to a pending confrontation from the White House over his extrajudicial killings of alleged drug dealers. "Who does [Obama] think he is? ... Son of a b----, I will swear at you," Duterte said during a Monday speech.
Obama and Duterte are supposed to meet in Laos later this week, although Obama suggested he might call the meeting off: "I always want to make sure if I'm having a meeting that it's productive and we're getting something done," he said.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
‘Implementing strengthened provisions help advance aviation safety’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
How Manchesterism could change the UKThe Explainer The idea involves shifting a centralized government to more local powers
-
Church of England instates first woman leaderSpeed Read Sarah Mullally became the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury
-
Fed holds rates steady, bucking Trump pressureSpeed Read The Federal Reserve voted to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged
-
Judge slams ICE violations amid growing backlashSpeed Read ‘ICE is not a law unto itself,’ said a federal judge after the agency violated at least 96 court orders
-
Rep. Ilhan Omar attacked with unknown liquidSpeed Read This ‘small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work’
-
Democrats pledge Noem impeachment if not firedSpeed Read Trump is publicly defending the Homeland Security secretary
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
