He praised Putin as a good leader, doing a great job, wanting to get along with him. Straightaway he should end US sanctions by executive order, influencing EU leaders to follow suit.

Imposed without Security Council authorization, they’re illegal under international law – based on phony “Russian aggression” claims, nonexistent intervention in Ukraine, and accommodating overwhelming Crimean sentiment to return the territory to Russia, correcting a historic mistake.

On his final foreign tour before leaving office in January, Obama met in Berlin with Germany’s Angela Merkel, Britain’s Theresa May, France’s Francois Hollande, Italy’s Matteo Renzi, and Spain’s Mario Rajoy – a summit glorifying dirty business as usual, showing unity against responsible change.

They expressed support for NATO, anti-populist globalization and widely despised TTIP (the pro-corporate, anti-consumer, anti-environment US/EU TPP equivalent), along with maintaining illegal sanctions on Russia.

The endorsed peace and stability while continuing to wage aggressive wars. Following their meeting, a White House statement said:

“The leaders agreed on the necessity of working collectively to move the transatlantic agenda forward, particularly on bringing stabilization to the Middle East and North Africa, as well as securing diplomatic resolution to the conflicts in Syria and eastern Ukraine.”

“The leaders also affirmed the importance of continued cooperation through multilateral institutions, including NATO.”

“On Syria, the President emphasized that de-escalation and a diplomatic solution to the ongoing conflict are the only viable ways to end the suffering, prevent another migration (sic) crisis, and move toward a political transition” – while continuing to support ISIS, al-Nusra and other terrorists groups ravaging the country, supported by Pentagon and “coalition” warplanes.

“They unanimously agreed on the continued need for Russia to fully meet its commitments under the Minsk agreements and that Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia must remain in place until it does so.”

They ignored Moscow’s all-out efforts for conflict resolution, fully complying with Minsk, its good faith consistently undermined by Washington.

Unlike America and its rogue partners, Russia “never initiated sanctions” against other nations (illegal under international law without Security Council authorization), Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained.

In Lima, Peru for the November 19 – 20 APEC Leaders’ Summit, Peskov said Putin and Obama may speak informally on its sidelines. No formal meeting was arranged.

Earlier ones achieved nothing toward normalizing bilateral relations – responsible change hopefully coming after Trump’s inauguration.

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