Will Putin and Biden meet at the G20 summit in Indonesia?
Text | Sea Passengers
The annual Valdai International Debate was held in Moscow on October 27, local time. Russian President Vladimir Putin said here that he may go to Indonesia next month to participate in this year’s G20 summit.
Putin to attend 2022 Valde meeting
But at this juncture, US Secretary of State Blinken said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that US President Biden is not ready to meet Putin during the G20 summit.
From Uncle Hai’s point of view, whether it’s the Valdai International Debate or Blinken’s interview with CBC, both the United States and Russia are showing off through the media.
Blinken speaks to CBC
As for whether Putin and Biden will meet at the upcoming G20 summit in Indonesia, the answer is actually very clear.
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At about the same time, the United States and Russia disclosed some of the possible itineraries of their heads of state at this year’s G20 summit, which shows that both sides attach more importance to such occasions as the G20.
I still remember that more than half a month ago, the United States and Russia also mentioned whether the two heads of state would meet at the G20 in Indonesia.
In June 2021, the heads of state of the United States and Russia will meet in Geneva
The US side said that Biden does not want to meet Putin very much. This is obviously showing a kind of “political correctness” to the United States, hoping to show a tough stance by advocating that Biden is at odds with Putin. When the mid-term elections in the United States are about to begin, and the situation in the Democratic camp is very unfavorable, the Biden administration’s attitude is obviously first and foremost to get enough votes-after all, for the Democratic Party, it can continue to obtain a majority of seats in the Congress, which makes the Biden will not become a “lame president,” better than anything else. You know, the last president, Donald Trump, had an “Achilles’ heel”, the so-called “Russia Gate”. Can Trump, who wants to make America great again, make it clear about his unclear relationship with Russia? This, to some extent, can sway the votes. Since the Republican camp cares about the relationship with Russia, and figures like Trump have said that if he is still on stage, with his friendship with Putin, Russia and Ukraine will definitely not be able to fight, then Biden will naturally have nothing to be polite. It’s the opposite of Trump’s line.
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Putin said that Biden loves to see or not. In fact, the Russian side showed such a gesture more than half a month ago. But Putin said again at the Valdai annual meeting this time that he may go to Bali, Indonesia, to participate in this year’s G20 summit. Did he mean to meet Biden? In Uncle Hai’s view, Putin may not have such an idea – talking and seeing are better than not talking or not seeing. After all, Putin did not say that he did not want to meet Biden. But he probably hopes to see more G20 leaders in Bali. This is an international venue, not a conference where the United States sits on the podium and other countries listen in the audience. Even this is not a NATO meeting. It is impossible for everyone to follow the lead of the United States.
After the outbreak of the epidemic, after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, why would Putin not do it?
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The Biden administration, through the level of the secretary of state, showed the media that it was unwilling to meet Putin. In addition to explaining to the country before the mid-term elections, there is another point that the United States and Russia probably did not negotiate anything privately.
Before the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, in June 2021, Biden and Putin had bilateral talks in Geneva. But what did they talk about? At that time, Putin talked about the eastward expansion of NATO, which violated the West’s commitment to Russia after the reunification of the two Germanys. The United States is also accusing Russia of various faults, especially on the Crimea issue, which seems to have failed to satisfy the West. After that, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out, the Russian army crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border, and NATO continued to provide military assistance to Ukraine. Biden even claimed that he wanted Ukraine to fight to the last person.
In June 2021, NBC released an exclusive interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, when Putin said the West’s commitment to the reunification of the two Germanys
Today, both Russia and NATO conduct exercises involving nuclear weapons. The United States is also preparing for a nuclear war on its own. Under such circumstances, as long as there is progress in the meeting between the heads of state of the United States and Russia, I believe that the two countries will disclose it as soon as possible.
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In the current situation, in Uncle Hai’s view, there are roughly three points to pay attention to:
1. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine will inevitably continue, and it will not end in 2022. When the Russian-Ukrainian conflict began in February this year, Russian troops quickly interspersed around Kyiv. At that time, some media said that the Russian army would capture Zelensky alive and quickly end the conflict. Some people in the West also predicted that Ukraine would not be able to withstand the Russian offensive, and even prepared to prepare a government-in-exile for the Zelensky authorities in Poland. But looking back now, some people really underestimate Zelensky. It also overestimates the combat effectiveness of the Russian army. Although Shoigu’s military reform seems to be a righteous one, it can be found through actual combat that the Russian military still has a lot of room for improvement in aspects such as multi-arms joint operations, the participation of drones in systematic operations, and the establishment of the latest intelligence and reconnaissance system. And the inherent steel torrent posture of the Russian army seems to be no longer as brave as it used to be. As for the Ukrainian army, it seems that the will to war is stronger than expected, and NATO may have provided intelligence support. In addition, the sinking of the Russian cruiser “Moscow”, the attack on the Kerch Bridge in Crimea, and the assassination of Dukina, the daughter of Russian scholar Dukin, all show that Ukraine has a lot of asymmetric combat capabilities. Perhaps it is “matching an opponent”, the war between Russia and Ukraine has now become a war of attrition, and there is no sign of stopping for the time being.
Satellite images show that the Russian army has completed the construction of a pontoon bridge across the Dnieper River, which shows that further fighting may occur between Russia and Ukraine in Kherson
2. The United States and Russia actually have communication channels behind them. The two sides know each other’s “asking price”, but they have not yet reached an agreement. Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain why the United States and Russia have twice released news to the media on whether the two heads of state will meet in the past two weeks. However, for the first time, both the United States and Russia said that their presidents would not meet with each other’s presidents. But this time, before the US and Russia briefed the media again on whether the two presidents would meet, the defense ministers of the two countries had two phone calls in three days. Isn’t the call between defense ministers a “background communication channel”? There must be communication channels in the dark. Maybe one day, the United States and Russia will discover some common interests and let Zelensky “help count the money”, and this situation may not happen. After all, only change in this world is permanent.
3. It is Europe that suffers. The first to bear the brunt is the people of Ukraine, a country in Eastern Europe. Secondly, it is the common people of European countries all the way west. Of course, there are also some countries whose governments are having a hard time. Look, Italy just changed prime ministers, Sweden just changed prime ministers. There is also the United Kingdom, which has changed two prime ministers in a row. Liz Truss, who just became the former prime minister, said during his tenure that Britain could use nuclear weapons in response to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Putin spoke bluntly on this issue at the Valdai meeting – this girl seems crazy!
Putin is Putin after all. Compared to Truss, who is in his forties, it is not wrong for him to call her “girl” in his seventies, right?
Let’s just hope Putin isn’t crazy, even though his remarks at the Vale Conference were full of chills down the spine. For example, “The next ten years will be the most dangerous decade since World War II”, and “Has the United States apologized for dropping nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during World War II?”
Putin’s implication is that the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on Japan back then was a just act, can Russia also do a “just act” now?
Alas, that sounds terrifying.
Finally, look at the key points –
Will Putin and Biden meet at the G20 summit in Indonesia?
In Uncle Hai’s view, if Putin attends the meeting, even if the United States and Russia do not arrange a bilateral meeting, the leaders of the two countries will definitely meet at the G20 summit. As for what to talk about after meeting, I am afraid it is another news that can make headlines in the world’s media. Of course, the one who cares most about this news is probably Zelensky. Although Ukraine is not a member of the G20, there is a high probability that Zelensky will go to Bali. Can the two Vladimirs – Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky meet? This is what the world cares about.