Update(1515ET): Yesterday’s reports that both Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi will attend the G20 Bali summit in person have set off a firestorm of anxiety and angry reaction among Western leaders. First, the White House response was to say Friday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should also attend in-person the summit set for November in the scenario that Putin actually attends.
A White House National Security Council statement said, “As President Biden has said publicly himself, he does not think President Putin should attend the G-20 as he wages his war against Ukraine,” the White House National Security Council said in a statement. But if Putin does attend, the US believes that Zelenskiy should participate too,” according to Bloomberg.
Other governments, for example the United Kingdom, are talking about either a formal reprimand of Putin by the G20 leaders, or else attempting to veto his presence:
According to the British Foreign Office, Truss is prepared to personally reprimand the Russian president for his decision to invade Ukraine as she said a month ago, after it became known on Friday that both Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, will attend the meeting, as revealed by the Indonesian host and leader, Joko Widodo.
And there’s the following option being mulled, reports Bloomberg further: “On the other hand, the other best placed to succeed Boris Johnson, former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, considers that the G20 allies should veto Putin’s presence at the meeting, which will take place on November 15 and 16 in Bali until the war in Ukraine ceases, a position also defended by the White House.”
A statement by Sunak’s office said, “Sitting around the table with him is not a good thing when he is responsible for children being killed in their beds while they sleep.”
Regardless of any of the above scenarios, it’s sure to make things awkward if Xi and Putin are present. There’s long been speculation that they will opt for a virtual address before the G20; otherwise, there’s sure to be plenty of tense meet-and-greet moments and summit dinners.
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The western world is about to stop waging some bizarro war against Vladimir Putin that has sparked loathed energy hyperinflation across most of Europe, and is about to embrace the Russian leader, behind closed doors of course, even if it means a terribly vexxed Zelenskyy and US deep state.
Why? Because “pariah” Vladimir Putin is about to re-emerge on the G20 scene again, this time courtesy of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who today said that both Putin and China’s president Xi both plan to attend the G20 summit in the resort island of Bali later this year.
“Xi Jinping will come. President Putin has also told me he will come,” Jokowi, as the president is known, said in an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait on Thursday. It was the first time the leader of the world’s fourth-most populous nation confirmed both of them were planning to show up at the November summit, according to Bloomberg.
Needless to say, the presence of Xi and Putin at the meeting will set up a showdown with the deep state handlers who control Joe Biden’s teleprompter and other, less senile “western” leaders, all of whom are set to meet in person for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The attack has left the G-20 divided over whether to place sanctions on Russia, because while a handful of G-20 countries are relatively self reliant, most are desperate for Russia’s commodity exports, whose lack has sent European energy prices to… well, just look for yourselves.
Putin and Jokowi discussed preparations for the G-20 summit in Bali in a phone call Thursday, the Kremlin said in a statement that didn’t mention whether the Russian leader will attend. Putin’s attendance will also likely bring him face to face with Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the first time since Russia’s invasion because for some odd reason the Ukrainian president – who also doubles as a Vogue model – is also slated to be in Bali.
Showing just how inconsequential the Biden White House has become in global affairs, Putin’s presence will take place even though Biden had called for Russia to be removed from the G-20, and US officials had earlier been pressuring Indonesia to exclude Putin from the Bali summit.
It’s almost as if when it comes to the world deciding between Putin’s nat gas exports and the deep state’s wishes, the world chooses the former. To make that point, Indonesia’s leader explained that as the new global axis lines are drawn, Asia stands with China and Russia.
“The rivalry of the big countries is indeed worrying,” Jokowi, 61, said in the interview. “What we want is for this region is to be stable, peaceful, so that we can build economic growth. And I think not only Indonesia: Asian countries also want the same thing.”
“Indonesia wants to be friends with everyone,” he said. “We don’t have problems with any country. Each country will have their own approach. Each leader has their own approach. But what’s needed by Indonesia is investment, technology that will change our society.”
Jokes aside, however, as Bear Traps report author Larry McDonald notes, we are likely just months away from quietly shelving western sanctions on Russia.
JP Morgan trading Russian bonds, Putin back in the G-20, what war? Invite to get a deal on energy for the EU heading into the winter I suspect. https://t.co/rPZO6WMVB2
— Lawrence McDonald (@Convertbond) August 19, 2022
