Obama's absence at APEC summit triggers unfit reset in U.S.-Russia ties

VLADIVOSTOK, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- As U.S. President Barack Obama has decided to dodge the upcoming APEC summit, people from around the world, the Pacific rim in particular, are witnessing a mal-functioned reset of the relationship between such world powers as the U.S. and Russia.

The push-button to initiate the reset was done in 2009 by Obama and then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the London G20 Summit. But the resetting process since then has not been faring well. The mis-match culminated this year with the presidential elections first in Russia and now in the United States.

Back then, Vladimir Putin got re-elected to the Russian presidency for a third non-consecutive term for six years to come. And the new president skipped the G8 Summit at Camp David in the United States, citing urgent domestic issues to deal with back home, but sent his prime minister to the summit.

And now, Obama got stuck in a tit-for-tat presidential race with Republican Mitt Romney and has decided to skip the informal APEC economic leaders' meeting to be held in the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok on Sept. 8-9.

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