DHAKA: United States president Barack Obama this week plans to urge reluctant world leaders to back an American-led strike against Syria even though the prospects for military action depend on the votes of a fractured US Congress.

The uncertainty surrounding Syria will hang over the president’s three-day overseas trip, which includes a global summit in Russia and a stop in Sweden.

‘It’s been like watching a slow-moving train wreck for nearly two years,’ Russia expert Andrew Kuchins at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said of the Obama-Putin relationship.

‘Mr Putin and Mr Obama don’t like each other at all. I think there’s a deep degree of disrespect.’

That’s not Obama’s only headache as he embarks on the long-planned trip.

BDST: 1643 HRS, SEPT 03, 2013
RoR/RK