Republicans in Arizona lost the major races in this year’s election, including for U.S. Senate, governor and secretary of state. Arizona’s evolution into a political battleground has angered many conservatives in a state traditionally seen as staunchly Republican. In Cochise County, the Republican candidates for those posts won by wide margins.
13 hours ago · PHOENIX (AP) — Republican Blake Masters called Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly Tuesday to concede in the Arizona Senate race, joining other ...
Fight over election tally threatens Arizona certification
By BOB CHRISTIE
6 - 7 minutes
PHOENIX
(AP) — The two Republicans who control the elected board in a rural
Arizona county have sued their own elections director to force her to
conduct a greatly expanded hand-count of ballots cast in the Nov. 8
elections, a standoff that could affect certification of the results. . .
Upping the stakes, the lawsuit contends the Republican board members
have concluded that the expanded hand-count is “necessary to ensure
completeness and accuracy before certifying the election.” The county’s
certified results must be received by the secretary of state no later
than Nov. 28.
That means time is short to get a court ruling, pull
about 12,000 Election Day ballots from the director’s possession and
gather the more than 200 volunteers Stevens has said he is ready to do
the hand-count. Another 32,000 ballots were cast early.
If the
county misses the certification deadline, the secretary of state’s
office or a candidate could go to court and ask a judge to force the
board to certify the results. The deadline is in state law, and election
rules based on that law say county officials must certify and cannot
change the results.
The Pima County judge who heard heard the
previous case because local judges declared a conflict will also
consider the new lawsuit. Judge Casey McGinley set a daylong hearing for
this coming Friday.
The lawsuit also says Republican County
Attorney Brian McIntyre “has made clear that he will prosecute any
attempt by the Board and Recorder to exercise their lawful authority to
take custody of the ballots to complete an expanded hand-count
themselves.”
McIntyre has repeatedly told the board in recent
weeks that their efforts would be illegal, as has Secretary of State
Katie Hobbs, the state’s top elections officer and Democratic governor-elect. Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich, however, issued an informal opinion backing the board.
An
attorney for Marra said Tuesday her client had not been formally served
but that she was just beginning to review the lawsuit. A formal
response would likely come soon.
Marra conducted the required
hand-count audit on Saturday, as did other counties across the state.
Those audits choose a sample of both Election Day and early ballots.
Bipartisan teams of volunteers provided by the chairs of the county
Democratic and Republican parties count four races — five in a
presidential election year.
Marra’s certification to Hobbs’ office
says two batches of early ballots and two batches of Election Day
ballots from two vote centers were counted, totaling 2,202 ballots. The
hand-count results matched the machine count exactly.
PHOENIX
(AP) — Republican Blake Masters called Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly
Tuesday to concede in the Arizona Senate race, joining other vanquished
Republicans around the country who cast doubt on the 2020 election but
still acknowledged their own defeat.
Kari Lake, the Republican
candidate for governor, however, had not conceded a day after The
Associated Press called the race for Democrat Katie Hobbs.
PHOENIX (AP) —
Republican Blake Masters called Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly Tuesday to
concede in the Arizona Senate race, joining other vanquished Republicans
around the country who cast doubt on the 2020 election but still
acknowledged their own defeat.
Kari
Lake, the Republican candidate for governor, however, had not conceded a
day after The Associated Press called the race for Democrat Katie
Hobbs.
“There
were obviously a lot of problems with this election, but there is no
path forward,” Masters wrote in a statement he posted to Twitter. He did
not specify the problems, but has previously complained about long
lines at polling places and a problem with ballot printers at about a
third of the vote centers in Maricopa County, which includes metro
Phoenix.
Masters
said “Republicans are the underdogs now,” saying he attracted millions
in opposition spending by antagonizing Democrats, the media, big tech
firms and “woke corporations.” Republicans need to rethink the way they
run campaigns, he said.
13 hours ago · Republican Blake Masters called Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly to concede in the Arizona Senate race. Masters on Tuesday joined other vanquished ...
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Whoosh confirms data breach after hackers sell 7.2M user records
Bill Toulas
7 - 9 minutes
"The Russian scooter-sharing service Whoosh has confirmed a data
breach after hackers started to sell a database containing the details
of 7.2 million customers on a hacking forum.
Whoosh is Russia's leading urban mobility service platform, operating in 40 cities with over 75,000 scooters.
On Friday, a threat actor began selling the stolen data on a hacking
forum, which allegedly contains promotion codes that can be used to
access the service for free, as well as partial user identification and
payment card data. . .
In a new statement shared with RIA Novosti today,
Whoosh admits that there is a data leak and informs its user base they
are working with law enforcement authorities to take all mea insures to
stop the distribution of the data.
"The leak did not affect sensitive user data, such as account access,
transaction information, or travel details," stated a Whoosh
spokesperson.
"Our security procedures also exclude the possibility of third
parties gaining access to full payment data of users' bank cards."
What's for sale
On Friday, a user on the 'Breached' hacking forums posted a database
containing details about 7.2 millionWhoosh customers, including email
addresses, phone numbers, and first names.
Sale of Woosh data on Breached forums(BleepingComputer)
The database also contained partial payment card details for a subset of 1,900,000 users.
The seller also claimed that the stolen data included 3,000,000 promo
codes, which people can use to rent Whoosh scooters without paying.
The seller says they are selling the data to only five buyers for
$4,200 each, or .21490980 bitcoins, and according to the SatoshiDisk
platform used for the transaction, no one has yet to purchase the
database.
SatoshiDisk sale stats(BleepingComputer)
In a separate sale of the data on Telegram, the threat actor claims it was stolen during a November 2022 attack on Whoosh.
Russian database leaks
According to an August 2022 report from Roskomnadzor, Russia's internet watchdog, there were 40 confirmed Russian company data breaches since the beginning of the year.
In September 2022, Group-IB
published a report claiming to have observed 140 database sales stolen
from Russian companies this summer alone, with the total number of
exposed records reaching 304 million.
The most notable leak, in terms of its impact this year, was that of the food delivery app Yandex Food, which led to multiple collateral data exposures."
Whether it's your backup or your primary machine, this limited
edition Mac bundle includes Microsoft Office and 6 other programs for
$59.99, 96% off the $1,516 MSRP.
Older versions of the Spotify Backstage development portal builder
are vulnerable to a critical (CVSS score: 9.8) unauthenticated remote
code execution flaw allowing attackers to run commands on publicly
exposed systems.
A common threat targeting businesses is MFA fatigue attacks—a
technique where a cybercriminal attempts to gain access to a corporate
network by bombarding a user with MFA prompts. This article includes
some measures you can implement to prevent these types of attacks.
To help you free up more time in the day and ways to maximize our
budget, this Costco Gold Star Membership helps you manage those changes
and cut down on errands for $60.
The Chinese espionage APT (advanced persistent threat), tracked as
'Billbug' (aka Thrip, or Lotus Blossom), is currently running a 2022
campaign targeting government agencies and defense organizations in
multiple Asian countries.
Google will pay $391M to settle Android location tracking lawsuit
Sergiu Gatlan
7 - 9 minutes
"Google has agreed to pay $391.5 million to settle a privacy lawsuit
filed by a coalition of attorneys general from 40 U.S. states.
✓ The settlement shows that the U.S. attorneys general discovered while investigating a 2018 Associated Press article that the
search giant misled Android users and tracked their locations since at
least 2014 even when they thought location tracking was disabled.
While Android users were misled into thinking disabling the "Location
History" in the device's settings would disable location tracking,
another account setting—turned on by default and named "Web & App
Activity"—enabled the company to collect, store and use the customers'
personally identifiable location data.
✓ Google will pay $391.5 million to 40 US states following an investigation into how users' locations are tracked. State attorneys general called it the largest multistate privacy settlement in history and a major win against corporate surveilance of citizens. . .
Google will also have to be transparent with its users regarding its
location data tracking and collection practices, having to show
additional information when location-related account settings are
toggled and display detailed info about what data it harvests and how
it's used.
"The company's online reach enables it to target consumers without
the consumer's knowledge or permission," Michigan Attorney General Dana
Nessel said on Monday.
✓ "However, the transparency requirements of this settlement will
ensure that Google not only makes users aware of how their location data
is being used, but also how to change their account settings if they
wish to disable location-related account settings, delete the data
collected and set data retention limits."
2 days ago · Google has agreed to pay $391.5 million in a privacy settlement with 40 state attorneys general over its location tracking practices, according ...
2 days ago · Google has agreed to a $391.5 million settlement with 40 states in ... South Korea fines Google, Meta $72 million over privacy violations.
20 hours ago · Why Google's $391.5M Settlement With 40 States Over Privacy Concerns is Just a Smokescreen ; Oregon. $14.8 million, Colorado ; Tennessee, $14.56 ...
1 day ago · Google has agreed to pay a record $391.5 million fine to settle with 40 U.S. states over allegations that it deceived users about location ...
2 days ago · Google on Monday agreed to settle a landmark privacy case with 40 US states over accusations that the search engine giant misled users into ...
2 days ago · The attorneys general for 40 U.S. states announced today that Google will pay almost $400 million in fines related to user privacy abuses.
1 day ago · Google has been fined numerous times for privacy and other regulatory violations, but its $391.5 million settlement with 40 U.S. states over ...
17 hours ago · "Under the settlement, Google will pay a total of $391.5 million to 40 states, the largest multi-state privacy settlement with state Attorneys
". . .As the chart illustrates, readings for a growing share of G20 countries
have fallen from expansionary territory earlier this year to levels that
signal contraction. That is true for both advanced and emerging market
economies, underscoring the slowdown’s global nature. . ."
Slowing Global Economic Growth is Increasingly Evident, High-Frequency Data Show
Tryggvi Gudmundsson
3 - 4 minutes
Global economic growth prospects are confronting a unique mix of headwinds,
including from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, interest rate increases to
contain inflation, and lingering pandemic effects such as China’s lockdowns
and disruptions in supply chains.
In turn, our latest
World Economic Outlook, released last month, lowered our global growth forecast for next year to
2.7 percent, and we expect countries accounting for more than one third of
global output to contract during part of this year or next. Moreover, as we
discuss in our latest report prepared for the Group of Twenty, recent
high-frequency indicators confirm that the outlook is gloomier.
As the Chart of the Week shows, there has been a steady worsening in recent
months for purchasing manager indices that are tracking a range of G20
economies. These survey-based measures gauge the momentum of manufacturing
and services activity.
✓ While gross domestic product releases for the third quarter surprised on
the upside in some major economies, October PMI releases point to weakness
in the fourth quarter, particularly in Europe. In China, intermittent
pandemic lockdowns and the struggling real estate sector are contributing
to a slowdown that can be seen not only in PMI data but also in investment,
industrial production, and retail sales. This will inevitably have a
significant impact on other economies
due to China’s large role in trade.
Despite growing evidence of a global slowdown, policymakers should continue
to prioritize containing inflation, which is contributing to a
cost-of-living crisis, hurting low-income and vulnerable groups the most.
As our G20 report emphasizes, the macroeconomic policy environment is
unusually uncertain.
However, continued fiscal and monetary tightening is likely needed in many
countries to bring down inflation and address debt vulnerabilities—and we
do expect further tightening in many G20 economies in the months ahead.
Nonetheless, these actions will continue to weigh on economic activity,
especially in interest-sensitive sectors such as housing.
Indonesia’s president called on world leaders need
to show responsibility and avoid conflict, for the sake of humanity
G20
summit host, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, has urged world leaders
to avoid dividing the globe into blocs and launching a new cold war.
In
his opening address to the gathering on Tuesday, the president, who
goes by the nickname Jokowi, stressed that the world’s leading
economies, comprising the G20, share a responsibility to humanity.
“Being
responsible means creating not zero-sum situations, being responsible
here also means that we must end the war. If the war does not end, it
will be difficult for the world to move forward,” he said, in an apparent reference to the conflict in Ukraine.
President
Widodo warned G20 leaders against ramping up global rivalries and
returning to the form of confrontation that defined the second half of
the 20th century.
“We should not divide the world into parts. We must not allow the world to fall into another cold war,” he urged his guests, calling for wisdom, leadership and cooperation.
The G20 summit has been largely overshadowed by the Ukraine conflict,
which started almost nine months ago, also pitting Russia against the
US and its allies, which have pledged to arm and fund Kiev “for as long as it takes” to defeat Moscow on the battlefield. They have also imposed harsh economic sanctions against Russia.
The sanctions have failed to garner support from some of the world’s leading economies, notably China, India and Brazil.
Beijing,
which has criticized Moscow’s decision to send troops into Ukraine, has
also blamed Washington’s actions and the expansion of NATO as root
causes of the crisis.
The Indonesian leader called for immediate
steps to address the shortage of food and fertilizer on the global
market. Both issues have been exacerbated by anti-Russia sanctions.
Moscow says it is largely unable to export grain and fertilizers, due
restrictions affecting insurance for merchant ships and port services.
Before the G20 summit, President Widodo resisted pressure from
Western nations to exclude Russian President Vladimir Putin from the
gathering. Putin ultimately declined Widodo’s invitation, instead
sending Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to head the Russian delegation.
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky delivered a speech to G20 attendees via videolink. He addressed the “G19”,
presumably disregarding Russian membership, and reiterated Kiev’s
uncompromising position. He demanded a full pullout of Russian troops to
pre-2014 positions, reparations, and other concessions before a peace
deal can be signed.
Washington reveals details of high-profile US-Russia talks
3 minutes
Top spies from both sides met to discuss avoiding
“miscalculations,” US National Security Council spokesman said
The recent unannounced meeting of top Russian
and US spies in Ankara was meant to maintain dialogue between two
powers, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told US media
on Tuesday.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Kirby was asked to comment on
the talks in Türkiye’s capital, which involved Sergey Naryshkin,
director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), and CIA
Director Bill Burns.
“This was really about keeping the
channels of communication with Russia open on issues that affect both
our security’s futures,” the official said, adding that Burns’ sit-down with Naryshkin was “all about routine channels of communication” that Washington has with Moscow at various levels.
Kirby noted that in recent weeks US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley spoke with
their respective Russian counterparts. By doing so, the US is “making sure that… there won’t be any miscalculations,” the official said.
At
the same time, Kirby didn’t say whether the parties discussed US
citizens that are currently in Russian custody, noting that he was not
present at the meeting. “The main purpose was to talk about issues around strategic stability,” he said.
Previously,
the White House said that the Ankara talks didn’t have anything to do
with the Ukraine conflict and revolved around nuclear weapons and US
citizens that had been detained in Russia. Meanwhile, Moscow confirmed
that the talks had indeed taken place, but refused to provide any more
details.
Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan held behind-the-scenes
negotiations with top Russian officials to decrease the chances of a
broader conflict over Ukraine. At the time, Kremlin Press Secretary
Dmitry Peskov said Russia had nothing to say about the report, adding
that “Anglo-Saxon newspapers release a lot of hoax stories.”
Vladimir Putin is absent from this week's G20 summit: What does it mean for the Russian President and the event itself?
12 - 15 minutes
"As Sergey Lavrov replaces the country's leader on
the sunshine island, what do Russian experts think about the situation?
This week's G20 summit, in Indonesia, is
unlikely to be a pleasant event for Russia. Information suggests that
many of theevent’s participants intend to refuse to take part in photo-ops with representatives of Russia, and will even try to isolate them.
✓ If
this speculation proves true, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
will take the full brunt, as he will be the one leading the delegation.
According to the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin has personally decided to skip
the summit due to his busy schedule and the need for him to stay in
Russia.
French President Emmanuel Macron has stated the need to continue
dialogue with Russian President, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz admitted
that "it would be good if Putin went," and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan believes that the participation of his Russian counterpart would be appropriate.
All this is against the backdrop of China's support. The Washington Post has written
that Western countries are alarmed by the partnership between Putin and
Xi. The newspaper's sources do not think that Beijing will refuse to
support Russia at the summit even after the meeting between Biden and
and the Chinese head-of-state.
China says it wants to help build a 'multipolar world'
3 minutes
Wang Yi told his Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov that Beijing will work with Moscow
Beijing will cooperate with Moscow to build a
multipolar world, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday,
after meeting his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of
the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.
“China is
ready to work with Russia and other like-minded countries to promote the
development of a multipolar world, firmly support the democratization
of international relations, and defend the international system based on
the United Nations,” he said, according to remarks posted by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Wang’s phrasing echoes statements
made by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping,
when they met in Beijing in early February. Putin had also said that he
and Xi “hold largely the same views on addressing the world’s problems.”
In a cordial meeting with his Russian colleague on Tuesday, Wang also said Beijing would “continue to take an objective and fair stand” on the conflict in Ukraine and “play a constructive role in facilitating peace talks.”
China also praised Russia’s “rational and responsible position” on the use of nuclear weapons.
Moscow has repeatedly and explicitly
reaffirmed its commitment to the joint statement against nuclear war by
the five major atomic powers, adopted in January, that nuclear war is
unacceptable and should never be fought. That hasn’t stopped Western
governments from accusing Russia of making nuclear threats, as US
President Joe Biden did in his meeting with Xi on Monday.
While
Xi’s remarks before and after the meeting with Biden expressed a desire
to improve relations with the US, the Chinese president also clearly
set out Beijing’s “red lines.” He warned the US against
supporting separatists on the island of Taiwan and asked Washington to
live up to its written commitments.
“A
statesman should think about and know where to lead his country. He
should also think about and know how to get along with other countries
and the wider world,” Xi told Biden.
Lavrov is on the mission
Although
several days have passed since Sergey Lavrov’s trip was announced, it
is still unknown whether any bilateral meetings are planned for the
Russian minister. In particular, Moscow has yet to mention a possible
encounter with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The main news
about Lavrov in Bali, so far, was pushed by AP and some other Western
outlets, on Monday, reporting that he had been taken to hospital with
heart problems shortly after arriving.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said these reports are “top-level fake news”. The diplomat, who is also in Bali, said that she was reading the news with the foreign minister and they both “just couldn’t believe our eyes.”
Earlier
she announced that Lavrov plans to speak at the summit about Russia’s
initiatives to provide food and energy to foreign markets. In addition,
Moscow’s agenda includes presenting its plan to enhance gas cooperation
with Turkey.
In general, this fits into the official G20 agenda. According to
preliminary information, the summit’s participants plan to discuss
health issues, the transition to sustainable energy, and digital
transformation.
However, it is not known whether the 2022 Bali
summit will be useful in helping the world take a step forward in
overcoming the Ukrainian crisis, as some expect. So far, all the
statements of Western leaders have indicated the opposite.
Western
countries have been putting pressure on the summit’s host to exclude
the Russian Federation from the event since Vladimir Putin announced the
military operation in Ukraine last February. For example, the US
president’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said that Russia
can no longer take part in the international community’s business “as
usual,” while Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau even suggested that
his country should take Moscow’s place in the G20 club.
Nevertheless, Indonesia sent an invitation to President Putin, despite the pressure.
✓ Meanwhile,
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky was also invited to take part in
the meeting, despite the fact that his country is not a member of the
G20, and not remotely close to meeting the criteria.
However, the
leaders of the two countries wouldn’t have met in person in any case.
Zelensky also refused to visit Bali but is expected to take part in the
summit in an online format.
Expectations vs Reality
Oleg
Barabanov, program director of Moscow's Valdai International Discussion
Club, believes it's best to separate the standard issues on the G20
agenda from the expectations of possible agreements on Ukraine that
could have been made on the sidelines with the participation of Vladimir
Putin.
“The annual agenda of the G20 includes discussing the green
economy, as well as the fight against poverty and inequality. One of the
main issues that will be addressed in Indonesia this year is recovery
from the Covid-19 pandemic. Though it’s a pity that Putin will not take
part in this, these issues will nevertheless be considered with the
participation of Lavrov,” Barabanov told RT.
On the
other hand, he says various backstage discussions, meetings, and
searches for compromise on the crisis could really have taken place in
Bali.
“Obviously, nothing will happen now. And expectations
that the G20 summit could lead to a breakthrough in settling the
Ukrainian conflict were not justified,” the expert lamented.
Academic
Director at the Higher School of Economics’ Centre for Comprehensive
European and International Studies (CCEIS), Timofey Bordachev, in turn,
warns against exaggerating the impact of Putin’s absence from the Bali
summit.
“By and large, nothing will be lost because Putin’s
not going to the G20. I don’t think the Chinese will be very happy about
it. They want formats like this to continue, as the leadership role
will gradually shift from the West to China. It will also be a little
unpleasant for Western countries that wanted to put on a show in front
of the Russian president. Now the performance will be staged in front of
Lavrov. Russia won’t lose anything at all because it doesn’t face any
issues dependent on the G20’s cooperation. I don’t think the Indonesians
will be too offended either. They rebuffed all attempts by the US to
exclude Russia, but they did it for their own sake, to show that
Indonesia isn’t beholden to the United States,” Bordachev told RT.
Andrey
Suzdaltsev, a political scientist, also believes that there was no
great need for Vladimir Putin to go to the summit, but for a different
reason.
“It doesn’t make much sense for Russia to go to the
G20 now. For Putin to appear there, Russia needed to have some kind of
advantage, be it military, economic, or political. For example, the
advance in the Donbass, but definitely not the evacuation from Kherson.
In addition, it’s necessary to have international support – here Russia
at least has contacts with China and India. You also need to offer your
own initiatives, bring a briefcase with you. Russia has failed to do
this now, which means that it is, in fact, pointless to go. It’s one
thing if you have a lot of authority, and another when you have some
problems,” Suzdaltsev said.
Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the Institute of CIS
Countries, thinks it can be useful to communicate with the leaders of
non-G7 countries at the G20. “The importance of the G20 will
decrease somewhat due to the absence of Putin. No matter how many nasty
things they throw at him, he’s one of the leading leaders of the world.
Yes, Lavrov will be there. But, as the saying goes, sand is no
substitute for oats. With all due respect to the Russian Foreign
Minister, this, of course, still constitutes a downgrade in the level of
representation, and a decrease in the significance of the G20. After
all, they are going to discuss pressing world problems there, one of
which is the wide conflict between Russia and the West. It is much more
difficult to discuss this without Putin’s participation,” Zharikhin explained.
Where is the G20 Headed?
The
G20 format was born in the late 1990s after the Asian financial crisis,
when the mainly Western countries in the ‘Big Seven’ – the US, the UK,
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Canada – realized that a number of
large economies were not participating in discussions on global issues.
The newcomers invited to the table include Argentina, Australia, Brazil,
India, Indonesia, China, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, South Korea, South
Africa, Saudi Arabia, and the European Union.
However, the format
did not reach its current status until the next global financial crisis,
in 2008-2009. Prior to that, the meetings had only included finance
ministers and the heads of central banks. However, subsequently world
leaders themselves met at the summits annually to consult, first and
foremost, on financial and economic issues. In 2013, the G20 was held in
St. Petersburg.
The goal of the format was to achieve global
economic stability and to create conditions for sustainable growth,
while reducing the risk that financial crises would occur.
The G20
countries are home to two-thirds of the world’s population. They also
account for 85% of world GDP and about 75% of world trade.
Decisions of the G20 are by consensus and are recorded in a communiqué, but are not binding.
Russian experts have been skeptical about how effective the group has been in recent years.
“In
general, both the G20 and the G7 stand for everything good against
everything bad. Year in and year out, they publish beautiful communiqués
calling for all the right things. But it’s difficult to say how much of
this is actually implemented in real politics. Moreover, every year, a
new chair country sets the tasks for the year, while ignoring what its
predecessor had included,” Barabanov points out.
According
to Bordachev, the last few years have betrayed the club’s lack of
effectivity in solving the world economy’s most important problems.
“In
recent years, it seems that everyone has been solving their problems
individually. The format exists, and no one wants to abandon it because
everyone wants a stage on which to speak out, but everyone really acts
in their own interests. China is trying to gradually rebuild these
institutions and organizations, which the West created with its own
goals, according to its own vision. And now it’s important for Western
countries to come out as a united front to show their unity to the
world. But, of course, mistakes and problems that can’t be solved will
not be recognized in the general communiqué,” he expects.
Zharikhin shares a similar point of view. In his opinion, all meetings and agreements have become devalued because “the world’s former leader, the United States, builds its policy as if in a game without rules.”
“Tomorrow
they’ll say that they’ve decided otherwise – we remember how they’ve
withdrawn from treaties and failed to fulfill their obligations.
Objectively, all international organizations, starting with the UN, are
losing their influence. But the point of participating in them still
remains precisely for the sake of communicating with non-Western
countries that are ready to seek compromise,” he believes.
Suzdaltsev agrees that there is not much life in G20 resolutions, since they contain mostly guidelines for the future.
“But
there is a negotiating element at summits like these, and the G20
provides a forum for this. It’s still better than having a war,” he says."
By Maxim Hvatkov, a Russian journalist focusing on international security, China's politics and soft-power tools.
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