“The World Can Move On With or Without the US,” Says G20 Host South Africa
Pretoria says Washington’s boycott won’t derail efforts to secure a summit declaration: “We will mark them absent and continue with the business.”
G20 host South Africa says the upcoming leaders’ meeting remains on track and that negotiators are working toward a joint declaration, despite the United States’ boycott.
“We will mark them absent and continue the business,” South Africa’s Minister for International Relations told the Bloomberg Business Forum in Johannesburg.
Also speaking at the forum, Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said channels with Washington remain open, but warned there cannot be “endless aggression” from the Americans. He acknowledged South Africa must confront high levels of crime, but rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s allegation of a genocide against white Afrikaner farmers, saying there is “no genocide here.” If the Trump administration has concerns about South African policy, Lamola said, they should be “evidence based.” He added: “It’s a clear agenda to pursue fear-mongering.”
It is notable that Chinese President Xi Jinping will be absent from this weekend’s summit; he is sending his prime minister, Li Qiang, in his place. China, like South Africa, is a member of the BRICS bloc.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will also be marked absent — reportedly because of an outstanding arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, which accuses him of the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.
This year’s gathering is the first time an African nation hosts a G20 summit of the world’s largest economies.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will preside over a smaller group of leaders, including India’s Narendra Modi, Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and several senior European officials.
Modi famously left the 2023 BRICS summit in South Africa early, reportedly feeling sidelined by Xi and Lula (Putin stayed away and sent Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov instead). But at this G20, the absence of Trump, Xi, and Putin may make it easier for Modi to command the spotlight.
“The fact that the US is not here does not preclude a (G20 Summit) declaration. In fact, the countries that are participating now agree on a declaration. This is a declaration of countries that participated, and in so doing, it excludes the Americans” - South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana
South African Finance minister Enoch Godongwana has hit back at critics who raise poverty concerns during major international events hosted in SA, saying such commentary often amounts to an attack on the credibility of the occasion rather than a genuine engagement with policy. Speaking on the readiness of the G20 summit in Sandton, Godongwana said the state is perfectly aware of the poverty in the country and that the government is grappling with the issue daily and has put extensive measures in place to mitigate its impact. Godongwana stressed that while employment is the best way to combat poverty, in its absence, SA has developed one of the strongest social protection systems globally. “Part of the major instrument of dealing with poverty is employment. But in the absence of employment, you put mitigating measures that deal with poverty. In that respect, SA is second to none. The closest in terms of social protection we have is Chile,” he said - The Sowetan
Two mysterious planeloads of Gazans arrived in South Africa ahead of the G20 summit - allegedly “voluntary” evacuees, but flown out with the help of shady Israeli intermediaries. From Johannesburg, I connect the dots on why this matters: Israel’s long-standing push to empty Gaza, and what looks like pointed retaliation against Pretoria for its genocide case. A new front in the conflict - delivered straight to South Africa’s doorstep.
Two Ukrainian citizens who long worked for Russian intelligence have been identified as the suspects behind two acts of sabotage on Poland’s rail network, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. One suspect had already been convicted in absentia of acts of sabotage in Ukraine, Tusk told parliament. On Monday, he visited the scene of an explosion near Mika, south-east of Warsaw, which damaged the railway line leading to the Ukrainian border at the weekend, and called it an “unprecedented act of sabotage”. The Kremlin brushed off suggestions of Russian involvement. Polish authorities had initially said there was a very high chance that the two acts of sabotage on the Warsaw-Lublin railway line had been ordered by a “foreign service”. Then a spokesman for Poland’s special services minister said on Tuesday that “everything points to them being Russian special services….The goal was to cause a rail catastrophe,” Tusk told MPs. The Polish prime minister said he would not disclose the names of the two suspects as this could complicate the operation, though he told parliament that one was living in Belarus and the other was a resident of eastern Ukraine. Both suspects had crossed into Poland from Belarus during the autumn and had now returned there via the border crossing at Terespol in the far south-west of Belarus, close to the Ukrainian border, he added. Tusk said that a military-grade C4 explosive device had been detonated on 15 November at about 21:00 (20:00 GMT) near the village of Mika - BBC
US President Donald Trump threatened to expand his military campaign to countries across Latin America, rattling local markets and upending geopolitics in the region. The Trump administration has carried out strikes on vessels off the coast of Venezuela alleged to be ferrying drugs, and the president said yesterday he would be “proud” to extend attacks to include land targets in Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela. The threats mark a sharp shift in Washington’s foreign policy, suggesting it wants to make the Western Hemisphere — where Chinese presence has surged this century — its central focus, The New York Times’ Mexico bureau chief said. The “Donroe Doctrine… promises major benefits,” including access to natural resources and “strategic security positions,” Jack Nicas wrote - Semafor
Romanian authorities said the fire on a Turkish-flagged LPG tanker on the Danube River that marks the border with Ukraine has been extinguished after a Russian strike on the vessel sparked the blaze and forced the evacuation of several towns in the area. Colonel Daniel Petrov from the Emergency Situations Inspectorate in the Tulcea region said on November 18 that some residents have been allowed to return to their homes after being evacuated on the weekend, though some are still being kept away as the risk of an explosion on the fuel-laden ship remains - RFE/RL
Ukraine’s president said he will head to Turkey for possible talks with the chief White House envoy involved in talks to end Russia’s nearly four-year-old war on Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit, planned for November 19, comes amid a series of international travels, including to France, where he secured a verbal agreement to acquire scores of French Rafale fighter jets. He was in Spain on November 18, and prior to that, Greece, where a deal on gas supplies was signed. “We are preparing to intensify negotiations, and we have worked out solutions that we will offer to partners. Bringing the end of the war closer with all our might is Ukraine’s first priority,” Zelensky said in a post to Telegram. - RFE/RL
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After having accused the European Commission of “cancelling Christmas,” Italian conservatives are now turning their ire against the European Parliament, which in their view is guilty of allowing the sales of faux “Italian-style” products within its premises in Brussels. On Tuesday, the Brothers of Italy party’s delegation in Parliament announced it would formally submit a letter to President Roberta Metsola regarding the use of the Italian flag and names on some pasta sauce bottles sold in the Parliament building’s first-floor market. “The improper use of symbols or references to Italianness on products that do not come from Italy may constitute a deceptive practice and therefore be prosecutable,” Brothers of Italy head of delegation Carlo Fidanza said in a statement to Euronews, quoting an EU regulation prohibiting misleading ads. The letter follows a Facebook post by Italian Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, who posted pictures of some bottled sauces made in Belgium, labelled with Italy’s tricolour flag and Italian-sounding names, including the famous carbonara pasta sauce - Euronews
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