French President François Hollande arrived in Washington on Tuesday to talk to President Obama about building a more robust international coalition to combat the Islamic State.
Hollande is trying to get the big international players — the U.S., Russia and Germany — on the same page.
Hollande will meet with Obama today; with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday.
On Morning Edition, NPR's Scott Horsley explained that Hollande is trying to bridge a tough divide: the United States and Russia have a fundamentally different view of the civil war in Syria.
Scott explains:
"While Russia sees Syrian President Bashar Assad as a bulwark against terrorism, Obama sees the Syrian president as a recruiting tool for the group. Every time Assad attacks his own citizens, Obama says, it drives more people into the arms of ISIS. Middle East analyst Aaron David Miller of the Woodrow Wilson Center says bridging those different viewpoints will not be easy, but only Russia has the necessary leverage if Assad is to be pushed out. "'For better or worse, right or wrong, [the U.S. needs] Putin if there is going to be any resolution and any kind of political transition in Syria," Miller said."
Obama and Hollande are scheduled to talk to the press after their meeting. We'll update this post with the latest.
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