A few days ago there was a preparatory meeting for a nuclear security summit, a global meeting initiated by the U.S. to control access to nuclear resources. Russia, which believes that the IAEA is the agency that should take care of the issue, did not take part. The State Department pretended to be surprised by Russia’s no-show:
Russia has failed to show up at a meeting planning the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit, U.S and European officials said Monday, in a potentially serious blow to efforts by President Barack Obama to cement his legacy as leaving the world safer from nuclear terrorism than when he took office.
The officials said it was not immediately clear whether Moscow intended to boycott the summit itself or was just temporarily showing displeasure over Washington’s harsh condemnation of Moscow’s role in Ukraine unrest and the U.S. lead in orchestrating Western sanctions and other punitive measures in response.
The State Department now admits, after Russia pushed back, that these “officials” lied:
Russia has told the United States that it will not attend a 2016 nuclear security summit, the State Department said on Wednesday, in the latest sign of frosty ties between Washington and Moscow.
Explaining why it would stay away, Moscow said it doubted the value of the summit, which is to be held in Chicago in 2016, and believed the views of states which disagreed with the event’s organizers would be ignored.
…
“Russia delivered a demarche to the United States in advance of last week’s preparatory meetings informing us that it no longer planned to participate in the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
There was no explanation for why the “U.S and European officials” lied about the issue. Who was stupid enough to believe that such lies would be helpful for anything? By lying these “officials” achieved two points:
- No one can trust any news based on “U.S and European officials” claims. These “officials” may well be or are even likely lying as the above case shows and anything those “officials” say, even on trivialities, may be the opposite of what they will say tomorrow.
- Russia is pissed off even more and any future cooperation with it will become more difficult.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had informed Washington in mid-October about its decision. “We regard the recent leaks about (the decision) in the American media as an unsuccessful attempt to put pressure on the Russian side in order to change our position,” the ministry said. “We consider such efforts counterproductive.”
I for one do not understand what the people at Foggy Bottom are thinking. Kindergarten behavior like this will achieve what?