Cancelled Obama

From the BBC:
"Obama cancels Putin meeting over Snowden asylum"

US President Barack Obama has cancelled a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russia's decision to grant asylum to intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, the White House said.

But Mr Obama will still attend the G20 economic talks in St Petersburg. A White House aide said Mr Snowden's asylum had deepened the pre-existing tension between the two countries. The Kremlin said it was disappointed by the move and that the invitation to bilateral talks remained in force. The decision to cancel the talks, announced during a trip by the president to Los Angeles, comes the morning after Mr Obama said he was "disappointed" with Russia's decision to offer Mr Snowden asylum for a year.  "We have reached the conclusion that there is not enough recent progress in our bilateral agenda with Russia to hold a US-Russia Summit," the White House said in a statement.

In addition to Russia's "disappointing decision" to grant Mr Snowden temporary asylum, the White House cited a lack of progress on issues ranging from missile defence to human rights. "We believe it would be more constructive to postpone the summit until we have more results from our shared agenda," the White House said. The decision to cancel the US-Russia summit comes the day after Mr Obama appeared on an evening chat show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, in which he condemned a newly enacted anti-gay law in Russia. "I have no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them," Mr Obama said.

^ This is merely a symbolic cancellation, but at least Obama did it rather than simply let Russia and Snowden hurt the US even more. ^

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/23605507