Details of the first phone convocation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama since the recent US election have emerged.
The pair spoke about Syria and the opposing view that they hold on what President Assad is doing in the country. They also spoke about Israel and plans for more building in the West Bank. The economy was a big topic. With the US aiming to grow and China contracting Russia has to match the US growth. Putin also took time to congratulate Obama on his second term and joked that he should aim for a third.
Most surprising was a mention of the Mayan Prophecy. The two men discussed this in detail and agreed that it was all a bit of a hoax and the world would not end on the 21st of December 2012. It was then that the Russian President joked that between them the two Presidents could in fact make the prophecy come true by launching all of their nuclear weapons on the 21st. President Obama laughed along with this and even said that he thought it was a good idea as long as no one told Congress. The chat ended with Obama telling Putin that he had a date and to get the weapons set.
A statement from the White House read "The convocation was light hearted and friendly and no one is going to launch weapons of mutually assured destruction on the 21st of December." The Kremlin likewise issued a statement saying that it was a joke. However some people have pointed to the unrest in the middle east and the arsenal of nuclear weapons that Israel has at its disposal as a possible way for the prophecy to come true.
