The minute the other BRICS countries have to carry the ball, they will be out...Those smaller countries or less moneyed countries want Russia and China to run this thing......Annnd just give everyone else money...Tons of it....
Also possible that “something” from Wuhan was leaked at the conference and Xi was keeping away from it.
We are quick to freeze bank accounts, homes, boats, planes etc., even private citizens property, restrict trade, force others to restrict trade in all aspects, leverage our dollar, limit the movement of people, censor...
But then we warn others of the huge threat of being dependent on Russian gas because the Russians may leverage this against one in the future if there is disagreement.
The problem is that we're behaving like assholes. We like to talk about these high and noble ideas, but reality has it that others have figured us out.
We're willing to use military force in furthering our economic interests, we are expansionist, we will subvert governments, fuel insurrections, cause uprisings, propagandize the crap out of someone, we kidnap, torture, assassinate, don't follow our own laws nor hold to our promises, outright lie and cheat, prop up dictators, are entirely NOT transparent. But we'll talk a lot about democracy, freedom, human rights, bla bla bla.
***Folks don't trust us, and many see us as the big bully on the playground, even though the common Joe in the US don't see it that way. After the end of the Cold War we were left as the only remaining worlds superpower. We have become ever more brazen in what we're willing to do to achieve our political goals and many have had enough or are frankly afraid. Even our neighbors and NAFTA members like Mexico are getting pissed. Only in our own mind are we still the knight in silver armor defending democracy and freedom, but for the rest of the world, to include India, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa, Serbia, Belarus, Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, Nicaragua (most of the worlds population and landmass)... “we” are the pariah.
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/how-america-took-out-the-nord-stream We are everything we accuse the Russians of being.
https://www.dw.com/en/kidnapped-by-the-cia-the-case-of-khaled-el-masri/a-61205120
Since our dominance extends into the realm of news media, big tech (search engines, social media, www infrastructure), we can control the narrative for the most part in our own world, leading to the dichotomy between how the average American sees how we behave and how the rest of the world sees us.
Poutine didn’t even go, attended remotely.
He’s scared to leave his bunker.
.
Who?
Chinese and North Korean leaders do not like for their whereabouts to be known when they are out of the country.