Back-to-Back Summits

by Stephen Lendman

On November 12 and 13, leaders and senior officials of 16 ASEAN and regional countries met in Phnom Penh, Cambodia to discuss challenges they face.

When concluded, (n)o collective decisions were made because (hegemon USA) and its Western (vassals) insisted on absolutely unacceptable language regarding the situation in and around Ukraine," Russia's Sergey Lavrov explained, adding the following:

Two days of discussions "confirmed" what's been unfolding in the region for years.

The empire of lies and forever wars, along with its Western vassals, seek to control regional nations by brute force and related dirty tricks.

They're militarizing the region to try containing and marginalizing Sino/Russian interests in the Asia/Pacific.

They aim to make the South China Sea "zone of confrontation" over cooperation among its member states.

Russia and China prioritize the latter over the former.

"But the (US-dominated) West has (belligerent) plans of its own."

And NATO "no longer" calls itself a "defensive alliance."

On the phony pretext of claiming "global responsibility" to protect Euro/Atlantic and Indo/Pacific security, the empire of lies and forever wars seeks regional and global dominion over the world community of nations.

Russia and China will continue to ally against hegemon USA's diabolical aims.

Most ASEAN member states are likeminded.

Russia stressed that its "absolute priority (aims) to promote concrete cooperation projects at the EAS, rather than engage in polemics," said Lavrov.

Its theme was "ASEAN ACT: Addressing Challenges Together."

At this year's EAS summit, Russia supported an initiative designed to develop volunteer movement(s) and establish contacts (among) EAS member countries as a contribution towards involving civil society to promote humanitarian contacts."

On November 15 and 16, the G20 summit will be held in Bali, Indonesia.

On Monday, China's Xi Jinping met with the fake Biden, the imposter saying the following:

The regime he heads in name only seeks to establish "red lines" with China, adding:

"We just got to figure out where the red lines are and what we…what are the most important things to each of us going into the next two years."

Time and again, Beijing minced no words in slamming unacceptable US support for Taiwan — including repeated visits by its senior officials and supplying the breakaway province with weapons and munitions.

China is also furious about illegal US sanctions on its chip industry.

Chances of resolving differences between both nations are virtually nil.

According to China's Global Times, heightened East/West tensions dim "the prospect of" anything positive from G20 talks — despite the summit's theme, stating:

"Recover Together, Recover Stronger."

On Sunday, Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, stressed the following:

"The world cannot be developed with rivalry and greed." 

Tolerance, mutual cooperation and respect for the rule of law are what's needed.

And this from Indonesian journalist, Jemima Shalimar Al Mubaroq, on Monday, saying:

"Everybody knows there are contrasting forces at the G20." 

Yet "the Indonesian government played a really great role in balancing out (opposing) forces and being on neutral ground by stepping off pressure from both sides." 

Separately, Center for Southeast Asian Studies at China's Academy of Social Sciences director, Xu Liping, said the following:

Given growing "global crisis" conditions, seeking recovery and development "is in the interest of all."

"If such an agenda overshadowed by geopolitical confrontation at the G20 summit, global governance will inevitably be harmed."

The US-dominated West has no intention of "put(ting) aside differences (to) build consensus" among G20 nations.

Its imperial agenda is all about pursuit of dominance over mutual cooperation and adherence to the rule of law, what it long ago abandoned.

Separately in response to Western fake news reports of Sergey Lavrov's health, falsely claiming he was hospitalized in Bali, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, set the record straight, saying.

"For a decade, (hostile US/Western regimes) have been reporting that our president is sick."

"Well, that's some sort of a game that is not new to politics."

"I would (advise fake news reporting Western sources) to be more honest than they have been and to report the truth more often without being limited in their reports to a single point of view, which they have been spreading on every issue involving the interests of the Russian Federation, which are being ignored."

Lavrov's health is fine.

He'll be delivering public remarks and holding bilateral meetings on the G20 sidelines both Monday and Tuesday.

Separately on Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Alexander Grushko, said the following about preconditions for talks on Ukraine:

While Russia is amenable to conflict resolution talks, making them dependent on withdrawal of its forces from liberated areas is "unacceptable."

Russia has no intention on compromising its publicly stated goals.

And this on Monday from Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, saying:

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service head, Sergey Naryshkin, met with his CIA counterpart, William Burns, in Ankara, Turkey — at the Biden regime's initiative.

According to Reuters, no negotiations on Ukraine or other issues took place.

For Russia, the meeting was a colossal waste of time.

Burns insulted the nation and its leadership by warning against use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine — knowing that the prospect of their use by Moscow is zero.

Hegemon USA is the only nation to have used these WMDs.

If used again by one nation against another, the empire of lies and forever wars will no doubt be the perpetrator, clearly not Russia or China.