APEC summit: Event "for show"?

The meaning of the APEC summit commented for Radio Liberty Bruce Klowner , an employee of the Washington Analytical Fund "Heritage":

- The results of such summits are difficult to assess. Now, for example, one of the most important problems of the region is the problem of border disputes and conflicts, the threat represented by North Korea. But it can hardly be expected that a common language will be found on them. Although APEC membership involves the development of ways to eliminate disagreements, this forum is not particularly effective. Problems, as a rule, are more confidently solved during bilateral meetings. This is true, including for such large regional players as Russia and the United States, for which the meetings on the sidelines of APEC or, even better, exchange of visits are much more useful.

- At the current APEC summit in Vladivostok, the United States will become almost the only country represented by the first person in the state?

-When President-publisher George Bush did not attend APEC summits, the Democrats criticized him, saying that this clearly indicates the lack of interest of the United States in Asia. However, now the Obama administration notes that with all the priority of the Asia-Pacific direction in the foreign policy of the United States, the summit is coincided with the national congress of the Democratic Party, and the president cannot come to Vladivostok under any conditions. And it sounds convincing.

- On September 6, there was a message about the upcoming meeting of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the APEC summit this weekend. How important can this meeting be?

- I do not know anything yet, which would indicate the importance of this meeting, and it is difficult for me to assume what Clinton will talk about with Putin. Although I note that there are a lot of disagreements between the United States and Russia, and they even exacerbate. For example, regarding the placement of a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. One of the fresh examples of the acute disagreements of the United States with Russia is a question about Syria. Contrary to the insistence of the United States and its allies about the adoption of at least some diplomatic resolution in the conditions of the Civil War in Syria, Russia and China continue to resist this initiative.