G20 Summit Participants Should Not Ignore Russia Foreign Minister; No “Walk-Out” If President Putin Participates By Video Conference. President Biden Must Actively Engage With Those Whom He Disagrees.

G20 Participants In Bali Should Not Ignore Russian Federation Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.  Should Not “Walk-Out” If President Putin Participates By Video Conference. 

Tuesday through Wednesday, heads of state and heads of government will participate in the 2022 G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia. 

The relevance of the annual G20 Summit exists because the gatherings have remained opportunities for dialogue- not exclusively amongst those who agree with one another, but among those who have disagreements, from the petty to the fundamental to the existential.   

No member of a participating delegation should depart any session at the G20 Summit because a member of another delegation is speaking.  The G20 Summit is about listening and responding.  Hear from those with whom one objects- and then object when the opportunity beckons.    

Members of the G20: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkiye, United Kingdom, United States, and the European Union (EU) representing collectively its twenty-seven country members.  

The host for the 2022 G20 Summit is Joko Widodo, President of the Republic of Indonesia.  He was elected in 2014 and re-elected to a second and final five-year term in 2019, President Widodo is the 7th President of Indonesia.  The position of Secretary-General of the United Nations will be available in 2027 and the then sixty-seven-year-old former President Widodo could be a consensus candidate- and if elected would be the first person of the Muslim faith (approximately two billion of the world’s eight billion population).      

During the last months, President Widodo traveled to Kyiv, Ukraine, to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, and to Moscow, Russian Federation, to meet with Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation.   

During those visits, President Widodo extended invitations to each head of state to participate in the G20 Summit in Bali.  The Russian Federation is a member of the G20.  

President Putin will not be attending the G20 Summit, but reportedly will participate in a session(s) through video conference.  Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, will represent President Putin at the G20 Summit.  President Zelensky will be represented by the Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister and/or Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

The potential spectacle of Joseph Biden, President of the United States, avoiding Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (MBS), the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, because President Biden believes MBS abrogated an “agreement” relating to not decreasing quantities of oil production, is childish.  Just as absurd is President Biden walking clockwise around a room trying to avoid the counter-clockwise walking Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkiye, because of disagreements relating to the Russian Federation (Turkiye’s continuing economic and commercial engagement), Ukraine, NATO (ascension of Finland and Poland), and military equipment procurement issues (S-400 systems purchased from the Russian Federation).  And then there is Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of the Republic of India, the country which will hold the G20 presidency in 2023.  Will President Biden avoid a discussion- and seek to persuade Prime Minister Modi from continuing commercial, economic, and military engagement with the Russian Federation? 

The United States has issues relating to the People’s Republic of China, India, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye among other countries which are, and which are not connected directly to the armed forces of the Russian Federation on 24 February 2022 invading and invading further into the territory of Ukraine.   

For example: China (pretty much a to z), nuclear proliferation, Islamic Republic of Iran (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), Syrian Arab Republic (civil war), and imprisonment in the Russian Federation of United States citizens. 

President Biden and Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of State, should want to engage in a public, animated exchange with President Putin via a video monitor or in-person with Minister Lavrov.   

If the foundation of leadership is defined by engagement with friendlies and ignoring enemies, then that foundation is lacking. 

What United States taxpayers want from President Biden, and taxpayers too likely from his head of state and head of government colleagues participating in the G20 Summit, is dialogue.  For example, this exchange: 

President Putin or Minister Lavrov addresses the G20 Summit participants.  The other nineteen participants listen- and do not interrupt.  Then, President Biden speaks: “OK, Mr. President (or Minister), you have had your say, your time.  We have all listened and not interrupted you.  Now, here is my view… And, if you want to engage here, at the G20 Summit with the others in this room, we shall do that too.” 

Hopefully, President Biden will also have meaningful bilateral meetings (with readouts from The White House and the other government mirroring one another) with Prime Minister Modi, Crown Prince/Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and with President Erdogan.  If not, why travel 10,200 miles?  For a photo-op… but only with friendlies?