. . .Suspicion of President Obama only intensified after his decision to scuttle a summit meeting next week in Moscow and to describe Mr. Putin in unusually personal terms at a news conference, saying his body language often made him look “like the bored kid in the back of the classroom.”
Though Mr. Obama went on to say that their interactions were often constructive, the comment infuriated Mr. Putin, according to one Russian official not authorized to be quoted by name.
More is at stake in Syria than a propaganda coup. While critics accuse Mr. Putin of blindly supporting Mr. Assad’s brutality, regardless of the circumstances, Mr. Putin’s abiding concerns are foreign intervention and the rise of Islamic extremism. . .