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For US and Russia, it's now a walk in the park

By AP 24/06/2010 22:06:00

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AP – President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev walk through Lafayette Park in Washington, …

The president of the United States and the president of Russia enjoyed quite a summer's day on Thursday: Grab some burgers, joke about Twitter, take a walk in the park.

No summit, no sanctions, no weapons

treaty. Yet they did strike a deal on chicken exports.

This is the new day, on intentional display, between

President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. It's not all about nukes. Obama's first time hosting Medvedev at the White House will probably be remembered most for the extent to which they got along like a couple of buddies.

You want fries with that? Yes, they did. In fact, they shared some.

It was all a metaphor for two countries that were once at risk of

Cold War annihilation, and just two years ago were back to cold shoulder animosity.

And for Obama, on an oppressively hot day, in the midst of a most difficult week, it amounted to a surprising chance to relax.

The buzz around the White House centered much more on the presidents' unexpected jaunt for cheeseburgers to Ray's Hell Burger in Virginia — Medvedev took jalapenos_ and less about the many substantive matters they discussed.

Even Obama acknowledged the topics seemed a bit foreign.

"You know, sometimes it's odd when you're sitting in historic meetings with your Russian counterpart to spend time talking about chicken," Obama conceded in describing an agreement to

export U.S poultry products to Russia.

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