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Obama Cancels Meeting with Philippine President Duterte
President Obama has cancelled a planned meeting with Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte after Duterte described Obama as a "son of a bitch" in comments made to reporters. Obama will instead meet with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, presumably to discuss North Korea's latest missile tests. Here is our previous article about Duterte.
G20 Summit in China: U.S.-China Tensions, North Korea, and Low-Cost Steel
The Group of 20 summit is now underway in Hangzhou, China. Before the summit even began, tensions between the U.S. and China were reflected by shouting matches between Chinese and American officials on the tarmac and at the West Lake State House where President Obama and President Xi Jinping met. Security guards also attempted to prevent foreign media from covering Obama's departure from Air Force One, and in a departure from protocol, no rolling staircase was provided for the President. When questioned about the incidents the next day, President Obama said that Americans "don't leave our values and ideals behind when we take these trips" but dismissed the incidents:
[Continues...]
The incidents reflect only a fraction of the American projection of security and force when the president travels. Acknowledging that point, President Obama said, "We've got a lot of planes, a lot of helicopters, a lot of cars, a lot of guys. You know, if you're a host country, sometimes it may feel a little bit much." That impression isn't limited to China, Obama said. He said friction has also developed when the U.S. leader visits close allies. Speaking alongside British Prime Minister Theresa May, Obama continued, "You notice some chortling among the Brits. They probably find it a little overwhelming as well." With China, Obama said, tensions can arise over issues such as human rights — but, he added, "that's part of our job, that's part of what we do. And so I wouldn't over-crank the significance of it."
To mark the summit, North Korea has reminded everyone it exists by firing some ballistic missiles into the sea. It marks the second time that North Korean missiles have entered Japan's "air defense identification zone" (the first encounter was the submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from two weeks ago):
According to one analyst, the launches were timed for maximum effect. "This is Pyongyang's way of reminding everyone of their existence at a moment when all the parties are together, in a typically defiant, North Korean way," John Delury, assistant professor at Yonsei University in South Korea, told CNN. The launches also came hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping told his South Korean counterpart at the G20 that Beijing opposes the deployment of the United States' THAAD missile defense system to South Korea.
China has agreed to reduce its exports of cheap steel (considered market dumping), but did not set any binding limits:
Beijing made trade a theme of the gathering in this lakeside city southwest of Shanghai but faces complaints that a flood of low-cost Chinese steel into global markets threatens U.S. and European jobs, propelling the rise of political movements that promise to curb trade.
The joint statement [of the G20] calls for formation of a steel forum under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to study excess production capacity. In a concession to Beijing, the statement doesn't mention China by name and says excess steel capacity is a global issue, though U.S. and European officials say the vast Chinese state-owned industry, which accounts for half of worldwide output, is the root of the problem. Washington has hiked import duties by 500 percent on Chinese steel to offset what it says are improper subsidies.
The AP reports that President Obama and Russian President Putin negotiated on the sidelines over a humanitarian ceasefire for Syria, to no avail. Other issues brought up in the meeting include cybersecurity and Ukraine.
Previously: U.S. Quintuples Taxes on Chinese Cold-Rolled Flat Steel
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 06 2016, @06:31AM
Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte [...] described Obama as a "son of a bitch"
So lame. Just call the son of a bitch a "nigger!" When a deal breaker is a deal breaker, just go full nigger.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 06 2016, @06:48AM
To which head of state do you refer? Hard to tell when you are being so "diplomatic".
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 06 2016, @06:52AM
So confusing they both niggers neither of them dick heads is white.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 06 2016, @07:00AM
Well thank goodness neither of them is white! Otherwise, they would be trying to invade someone else's country, like that white boy Bush, and the freakishly white Darth Cheney.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 06 2016, @07:03AM
White as a ghost Biden doesn't do shit, might as well be a ghost.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Username on Tuesday September 06 2016, @08:27AM
The tagalog version of “son of a bitch” seems to be Duterte’s swear word of choice.
Obama was going to criticize him for putting bounties on drug dealers. Which is kind of ironic because Obama himself is king of extra-judiciary executions. So it makes sense he would be pissed, saying he’s only beholden to the Philippine people. He has a 91% approval rating.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 06 2016, @08:43AM
There would be nothing easier than for the (next?) president of the USA and the president of the Phillipines to get "angry at each other" and go to war with each other.
All domestic problems forgotten. Mass media focuses on the former ally, new enemy.
Surplus young male population of potential troublemakers decimated.
Great Leader's popularity soars.
And the upper crust just continues getting richer, safe in the knowledge that the common people's attention to their dire situation has been deflected once again, because jingoïsm.
There's a song about it: difficult to hear the lyrics though, because Jello can't actually sing very well, and they are playing their guitars too loudly in the background.
From 10 years before the Gulf War:
The Dead Kennedys - Kinky Sex Makes the World go Round
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 06 2016, @09:15PM
There would be nothing easier than for the (next?) president of the USA and the president of the Phillipines to get "angry at each other" and go to war with each other.
Yeah nothing easier.
Except that the PI and the USA really need each other to counter a rising a china. The PI definitely needs the US, they are begging for the US military to come back [militarytimes.com] because China is literally building islands off the shore of Palawan. [newsweek.com]
I swear the idiotic shit that gets up-modded on this site is getting worse by the day.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday September 06 2016, @10:08PM
Yes it makes about as much sense as the leader of Israel snubbing the President of the United States. That is, it makes no sense. Doesn't matter who the president is or how we feel about him, to snub the president is to snub every American. Those people in those countries will rue ten thousand times the words of their insulting leaders when they ask American boys to die on their behalf.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 06 2016, @10:31PM
> Yes it makes about as much sense as the leader of Israel snubbing the President of the United States. That is, it makes no sense.
Bibi snubs the potus to play to his hard right nationalist base. Duterte insults the potus to play to his hard right nationalist base.
Politics is tension among multiple competing interests. It is never black and white. Anyone who thinks it is black and white is either absurdly ignorant or absurdly stupid.
(Score: 4, Informative) by FatPhil on Tuesday September 06 2016, @09:23AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday September 06 2016, @11:33AM
I saw it reported originally as "son of a whore", then it was watered down to "son of a bitch". I figured it was due to translation problems. No matter what slant anyone puts on it, if Obama's mama was a "puta", it's an insult.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 06 2016, @03:20PM
watch Dreams of My Real Father to find out about Barry Soetero's(oboma) mother.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Username on Tuesday September 06 2016, @09:55PM
Insulting, yes, but not incorrect. Obama was a product of a relationship between his mother and a married man. She was the other woman. Though that probably makes the insult worse than better.