Pakistan President Snubs Cameron’s Invitation to Chequers
MAIL ONLINE: Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari has turned down an offer of hospitality at David Cameron’s coun­try retreat Chequers.

Mr Zardari rejected an invitation to spend a night at the Buckinghamshire mansion, saying he was too busy as the diplo­matic row continued over his coun­try’s approach to tackling terrorism.

But he will visit Chequers for dinner this evening for informal talks with the Prime Minister, which are set to be dominated by Mr Cameron’s assertion last week that Pakistan is ‘exporting terror’.

He will then travel back to his hotel in London before returning to Chequers tomorrow for for­mal talks with the Prime Minister, who also accused Pakistan of ‘looking both ways’ on terror.

Mr Zardari will on Saturday address a rally in Birmingham at which he is expected to launch his son with Benazir Bhutto, Bilawal, onto the political stage.

Bilawal, 21, is the young heir to the most important political dynasty in Pakistan and has been at his father's side in France and the UK this week.

He became chairman of the Pakistan People's Party after his mother's assassination and has just graduated from Oxford and will now take to politics full-time.

Mr Cameron’s comments, made during a visit to India last week, have unleashed fury in Pakistan and angered some members of Britain’s million-strong British Pakistani community.

Pakistani sources have said Mr Zardari will use this week’s talks to ‘educate’ Mr Cameron on the suffering that terrorism has caused to his country. >>> Jason Groves | Thursday, August 05, 2010

Polish President Made Trip to Russia after Putin Snub
THE TELEGRAPH: Poland's president Lech Kaczynski only made his fateful trip to Russia after Vladimir Putin, Russia's prime minister, failed to invite him to formal commemorations for the Katyn massacre.

Mr Kaczynski had wanted to attend the ceremony marking the wartime massacre of thousands of Polish officers at the hands of the Soviet Union, along with Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, and Mr Putin, but received no invitation from the Russians, said Pawel Kuglarz, a close party associate of the late president.

Feeling snubbed, but wanting to pay his respect to the massacre's victims, President Kaczynski decided to hold his own ceremony on Saturday, three days after the event hosted by Mr Putin.

But disaster struck when the aircraft carrying President Kaczynski crashed as it approached Smolensk airport in western Russia, killing all 96 on board.

The details to what lay behind President Kaczynski's decision to travel to Russia emerged as Warsaw welcomed home the body of his wife Maria, who also died in the accident. As a sign of the deep, yet dignified, grief that still grips the Polish nation, thousands of people lined the capital's streets to say goodbye to the respected first lady, who now lies in state alongside the body of her husband.

Polish authorities have announced that both Lech and Maria Kaczynski will be given a state funeral on Sunday afternoon. >>> Matthew Day in Warsaw | Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Shame on Barack Hussein Obama*! America’s First Muslim President Dumps Netanyahu for Dinner
TIMES ONLINE: For a head of state to visit the White House and not pose for photographers is rare. For a key ally to be left to his own devices while the President withdraws to have dinner in private was, until this week, unheard of.

Yet that is how Binyamin Netanyahu was treated by President Obama on Tuesday night, according to Israeli reports on a trip seen in Jerusalem tonight as a disastrous humiliation.

After failing to extract a written promise of concessions on Jewish settlements, Mr Obama walked out of his meeting with Mr Netanyahu but invited him to stay at the White House, consult with advisors and “let me know if there is anything new”, a US congressman who spoke to the Prime Minister said today.

“It was awful,” the congressman said. One Israeli newspaper called the meeting “a hazing in stages”, poisoned by such mistrust that the Israeli delegation eventually left rather than risk being eavesdropped on a White House phone line. Another said that the Prime Minister had received “the treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea”. Binyamin Netanyahu humiliated after Barack Obama 'dumped him for dinner' >>> Giles Whittell, Washington, and James Hider, Jerusalem | Thursday, March 25, 2010

*The reception Obama gave Mr Netanyahu is a reflection of Obama’s own upbringing. When you don’t know any better, you can’t do any better! – © Mark

Barack Obama Accused of Snubbing Dalai Lama to Placate China
The Dalai Lama in a cowboy hat presented as the mark of an honoured guest in Calgary, Canada, last week. Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: President Obama was accused of bowing to Chinese pressure and snubbing the Dalai Lama as he prepares for a Sino-US summit in Beijing next month.

Tibet’s spiritual leader arrived in Washington yesterday on his first visit since Mr Obama’s inauguration. For the first time since 1991 he will not be received at the White House. The Dalai Lama will eventually meet Mr Obama, but not until the US President returns from the Beijing meeting.

American officials have insisted that the delayed encounter is part of a broad new strategy to win Chinese co-operation on a range of issues including North Korea, Iran, Taiwan — and Tibet. But the break with a nearly 20-year tradition of White House “drop-ins” by the Dalai Lama follows a declaration by Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, that human rights alone cannot be allowed to determine the US-Chinese relationship.

A leading Republican campaigner on human rights called Mr Obama’s failure to welcome the Dalai Lama “just terrible”. Frank Wolf, a congressman, veteran advocate for Tibet and friend of the Dalai Lama, told The Times: “This is a retreat by the Obama Administration on human rights and religious freedom.

“Dissidents in Lhasa will know exactly what it means. Guards will come by their cells and laugh at them. It’s a mistake and the ramifications are going to be felt for months ahead.” One Tibetan expert with ties to Chinese delegations in the US, who did not want to be named, said that the decision was unnecessary since Beijing had been resigned to a meeting going ahead. >>> Giles Whittell in Washington | Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Snub for Barack Obama as Rio Hosts 2016 Olympic Games
Rio's Copacabana beach erupted upon hearing the result. Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: The International Olympic Committee handed President Obama a humiliating defeat today after his home town of Chicago made a shock early exit in the race to become host of the 2016 Olympics, with Rio de Janeiro declared the winner.

A massive beachside crowd erupted in Rio as Brazil’s victory was announced - ushering in a new world order in sport - but there was stunned silence among the throng gathered in Chicago’s Daley plaza.

They had expected their city to win after Mr Obama had flown in Air Force One to Copenhagen, where the vote took place, to make a personal, last-minute appeal to the IOC delegates, along with his wife Michelle and the television star Oprah Winfrey.

The disbelief in Chicago after the city was knocked out first with the least number of votes symbolized the shock felt across America at such a crushing defeat and the fact that the IOC had delivered such a public humiliation to Mr Obama.

A White House spokesman said that Mr Obama was “disappointed” at the decision, but insisted that he was not sorry to have gone to Copenhagen. >>> Ashling O’Connor in Copenhagen, Tim Reid in Washington and James Bone in Chicago | Friday, October 02, 2009

Rio de Janeiro Wins Right to Stage 2016 Olympic Games
THE TELEGRAPH: The International Olympic Committee struck a blow for the developing world and delivered a stunning rebuke to the United States and President Barack Obama on Friday, selecting Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 summer Games after a dramatic election that saw Chicago dumped out in the first round. >>> Paul Kelso in Copenhagen | Friday, October 02, 2009



Obama’s Olympic Failure Will Only Add to Doubts about His Presidency

TIMES ONLINE: There has been a growing narrative taking hold about Barack Obama’s presidency in recent weeks: that he is loved by many, but feared by none; that he is full of lofty vision, but is actually achieving nothing with his grandiloquence.

Chicago’s dismal showing today, after Mr Obama’s personal, impassioned last-minute pitch, is a stunning humiliation for this President. It cannot be emphasised enough how this will feed the perception that on the world stage he looks good — but carries no heft.

It was only the Olympic Games, the White House will argue — not a high-stakes diplomatic gamble with North Korea. It is always worthwhile when Mr Obama sells America to the rest of the world, David Axelrod, his chief political adviser, said today. But that argument will fall on deaf ears in the US. Americans want their presidents to be winners.

Mr Obama was greeted — as usual — like a rock star by the IOC delegates in Copenhagen — then humiliated by them. Perception is reality. A narrow defeat for Chicago would have been acceptable — but the sheer scale of the defeat was a bombshell, and is a major blow for Mr Obama at a time when questions are being asked about his style of governance. >>> Tim Reid in Washington | Friday, October 02, 2009

Senate Snubs Barack Obama over Guantánamo Bay Closure
TIMESONLINE: President Obama’s high-profile pledge to shut Guantánamo Bay was stalled by his own party last night when Senate Democrats said they would not pay for the closure until they knew where the detainees were going to be sent.

The blow is the latest set-back for the Obama Administration, which has already disappointed some supporters by announcing that the controversial military tribunals for detainees, set up by President Bush but halted by Mr Obama on taking office, will be re-started.

Senators said they would deny the request for $80 million to move the 240 detainees from the US military base in Cuba. They also promised to prevent the Administration from transferring any of the facility’s prisoners to the US, although an outright ban could be relaxed in subsequent legislation.

Harry Reid, the Democrat Majority Leader, insisted that none of Guantánamo’s detainees should be sent to the US to stand trial or serve prison sentences.

“We don’t want them around,” he said. “I can’t make it any more clear. . . We will never allow terrorists to be released in the United States.”

The Senate block, echoing a similar move by the House of Representatives, threatens to paralyse the Obama Administration’s key pledge to shut down the military camp by January. Congress's attitude may force the detention facility to remain in operation indefinitely. >>> Nico Hines | Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Obama Disses Brits, Will Media Miss?
NEWSBUSTERS: Barack Obama loves Lincoln. It seems not a day goes by that he isn't quoting the Civil War icon or comparing himself to that great man. But it looks like we are finding one great leader that Barack Obama doesn't like so much: Winston Churchill.

It appears that President Obama is dissing the Brit's most famous and stalwart leader by quickly returning the most famous bust of the man loaned to this country by the United Kingdom in the aftermath of 9//11. The return of the bust of Churchill flustered the British government because they didn't ask for it to be returned. Our best ally was nonplussed and even quickly told Obama he could keep it in the Oval Office where Bush had displayed the piece of art. Obama told them no thanks which made the Brits even more amazed.

So, Barack Obama, the man that would "fix" our "bad image" with the rest of the world, we were told by the media, has just dissed Churchill after only a month in office? And, according to one of the only stories I can find on this incident, the British government has been made nervous about the relationship between England and the U.S. because of the casual return of their generously loaned Churchill bust. >>> By Warner Todd Huston | Sunday, February 15, 2009

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Israel Snubs Carter and Declines Security Help
REUTERS: JERUSALEM - Israel's secret service declined to assist U.S. agents guarding former U.S. President Jimmy Carter during a visit in which Israeli leaders shunned him over his plans to meet Hamas, U.S. sources said on Monday.

"They're not getting support from local security," one of the sources said, on condition of anonymity. Israel Snubs Carter and Declines Security Help >>> | April 14, 2008

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