U.S., Britain press China and Russia on Syria

WASHINGTON -- President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron renewed their call Wednesday for Russia and China to join the other United Nations Security Council member countries in condemning the violent crackdown against opponents of Bashar Assad's regime in Syria.

The two called on the international community to support U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan as he makes his case to Russia and China that it's in their interest to condemn Assad.

"That's the most important thing we can do right now," Obama said at a joint news conference with Cameron.

The president again resisted calls for U.S. military action to stop the bloodshed in the conflict that has left at least 7,500 dead.

Both Russia and China have balked at Security Council measures aimed at Assad, saying opposition forces also must be pressured to stop fighting.

Cameron suggested that Russia could be open to persuasion in light of the specter of the "bloodied, broken, brutal regime butchering people nightly on the television screens."

"It's going to take a lot of hard work, it's going to take a lot of patient diplomacy, but I think it's actually in Russia's interests that we deal with this problem," Cameron said.

The two leaders met for about an hour of one-on-one talks before being joined by aides.

Beyond the situation in Syria, the two sides discussed strategy for winding down the 10-year-old war in Afghanistan, preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear-armed country and the U.S. and Britain's economies.

While the situation in Afghanistan has been complicated by Sunday's massacre of 16 civilians allegedly gunned down by a U.S. soldier and the burning of Qurans at a U.S. military base, Obama seemed reluctant to speed up the withdrawal of troops.

Presently, 23,000 Americans are scheduled to leave by September, and the United States is scheduled to end its combat role by the end of 2014.

"I don't anticipate at this stage that we're going to be making any sudden additional changes to the plan that we currently have," Obama said.

On Iran, Obama and Cameron were in lock step, saying that there is a window for diplomacy and sanctions to persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear program. That position collides with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's view that the situation is more dire. Still, Obama was less sanguine that efforts by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany to restart talks with Tehran will prove fruitful.

"There's been a tendency for Iran in these negotiations … to delay, to stall, to do a lot of talking but not actually move the ball forward," Obama said.

At a formal welcoming ceremony at the White House, Obama made light of the fact that British soldiers burned the White House during the War of 1812. Cameron, tongue firmly in cheek, apologized.

"I am a little embarrassed, as I stand here, to think that 200 years ago my ancestors tried to burn this place down," Cameron said. "Now, looking around me, I can see you've got the place a little better defended today. You're clearly not taking any risks with the Brits this time."

Cameron, who joined Obama for an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio, was honored with a state dinner Wednesday night. Among the guests were actor George Clooney and Vogue editor Anna Wintour.