US brings back Russia’s Siluanov to G20 finance talks, angering Europe

[Hamartia Antidote]

US brings back Russia’s finance minister to G20 talks, angering Europe

Anton Siluanov holds talks with US counterpart as European officials object to Russia's return to G20 talks.

www.aljazeera.com

US brings back Russia’s Siluanov to G20 finance talks, angering Europe

Russian foreign minister holds talks with US counterpart as European officials object to his return to G20 talks.

Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov attends a plenary session as finance ministers and ce


Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has made a surprise appearance at United States-hosted G20 finance talks in North Carolina, sparking frustration and dismay among European ministers and officials.

Siluanov’s appearance at the talks in Asheville on Monday marks the first time the minister, who was appointed in 2011, has attended a G20 meeting in person since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

He held a bilateral meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, with Russia’s Ministry of Finance saying the two men discussed financial cooperation within the G20 framework.

A US official said the meeting focused on US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine.

Asked about the invitation to Siluanov, Trump told reporters: “We like getting along with everybody. One of the reasons I’m so successful, I get along with everybody.”

European officials, however, criticised the move.

Polish Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski said he was unhappy to see Moscow represented, although he recognised the right of G20 hosts to invite guests.

“We do not trust Russia. They lie constantly, and you need to be really, really cautious while discussing with them,” ⁠he told the Reuters news agency, stressing that Russia was the aggressor in its conflict with Ukraine.

“So for me, it would be very difficult to have any kind of conversation with Russia.”

‘Troubling’ signal​

German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said the US’s decision to welcome Siluanov sent a “signal I find troubling”.

He said he told Siluanov during a plenary session that Moscow had to end the war and “that we clearly support Ukraine”.

He also said Europe was preparing a further package of sanctions against Russia and hoped for close cooperation with Washington on the measures.

European ministers and central bankers also opposed appearing with Siluanov in the traditional G20 “family photo”, European officials said. The photograph was ultimately taken without the Russian minister.

Klingbeil said European officials, including European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, had discussed Russia’s involvement on Sunday and agreed that maintaining an avenue for dialogue could allow them to deliver a frank message to Moscow.

“However, the mere fact that the Russian finance minister is back – after, I believe, four G20 meetings without Russian participation – indicates an attempt at normalisation, and that makes it all the more important for us to push back,” he said.

Siluanov’s appearance marked a sharp contrast with the G20 meeting in Washington, DC, in April 2022, when his virtual participation prompted officials from Canada, the United Kingdom, the US, and the European Central Bank to walk out.

White House defends talks with Russia​

Asked about Siluanov’s attendance, White House spokesman Kush Desai told the AFP news agency that the Trump administration had been working with Russia to push for a deal that “would stop the endless bloodshed that the president has really condemned”.

“The president and the administration will never shy away from talking with the folks we need to talk to, to further that,” he said. “That’s what we’re working on here at the G20.”

Separately, Reuters and AFP, citing sources familiar with the Washington-Moscow talks, said Bessent had made clear that the US would not provide Russia with economic relief until war in Ukraine was over.

Trump has pushed Moscow and Kyiv to reach a deal to halt the fighting, but an initial 28-point plan that largely adhered to Russia’s demands was criticised by Ukraine and European governments.

The US, which currently holds the rotating G20 presidency, did not invite South Africa, last year’s G20 host, to the gathering. Poland, which is not a permanent G20 member, was invited.

Certain reporters from major US newsrooms, including The New York Times and Bloomberg News, were not granted credentials to cover the gathering.

The decision was condemned by the National Press Club, which said that “no administration should be allowed to handpick the press corps that scrutinizes it”.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Musk Says AI May Grow Global Economy by 20%-30%

Musk defends AI data centers, slams EU rules at G20

Elon Musk on Tuesday urged the G20 to tread softly on regulating tech and AI, saying European-style rules inhibit innovation.

www.france24.com

Musk defends AI data centers, slams EU rules at G20​

Chapel Hill (United States) (AFP) – Elon Musk on Tuesday urged the G20 to tread softly on regulating tech and AI, saying European-style rules inhibit innovation.

Musk also made a defense of building data centers to meet the needs of the AI revolution, amid a growing backlash against their construction in the United States ahead of midterm elections later this year.

The Tesla and SpaceX chief was participating virtually in a tech-focused G20 meeting in North Carolina amid a global debate on how governments should address the dangers and promise of artificial intelligence.

The Trump administration is largely committed to a hands-off approach that would leave the industry to find ways to self-regulate, even as companies race furiously to stay ahead in AI despite the risks.

In a sign that his administration is loath to create any obstacle for the AI industry, President Donald Trump on Monday attacked opponents of artificial intelligence data centers, saying they would end up "backwards and poor" and were helping rival China.

At the meeting in Chapel Hill, home to the University of North Carolina, a leading US research hub, Musk said the AI data centers were badly needed to fill a "power shortfall" in meeting AI needs.

He insisted that data center builders should be paying their fair share of tax, but that the technology world was in urgent need of the AI capacity the data centers provide.

With ministers from EU members France, Italy and Germany sitting in the room -- as well as EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen -- Musk slammed EU policies for inhibiting technology.

"You have to have an environment that's relatively free of regulation, meaning that new things must be default legal as opposed to default illegal," Musk said.

"In the EU, for example, we find that the regulation level is extraordinarily high, and things are generally default illegal, and this inhibits progress with new technologies," he added.

"It doesn't ultimately stop it, but it slows it down quite considerably," he said, in arguments that EU officials in Brussels firmly reject.

The United States holds the rotating G20 presidency this year and is hosting a series of ministerial meetings ahead of a leaders' summit that Trump will convene on December 14-15 at his Trump National Doral resort in Miami.

Washington has framed its host year around limiting regulatory burdens and promoting new technologies.

The Chapel Hill meeting is organized by White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who want attendees to commit to light-touch AI regulation.

The meeting is spread over two days, with Nvidia's Jensen Huang and OpenAI's Sam Altman expected in person on Wednesday for fireside chats with Lutnick.

Google DeepMind boss Demis Hassabis and Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg will also participate virtually.

At the meeting, Kratsios is defending something called the Carolina Principles, a policy under which governments commit to avoid creating too many rules for the deployment of AI.

'Disaster'​

The meeting takes place just weeks after OpenAI revealed that testing of its AI models went seriously awry, when automonous AI programs -- known as AI agents -- operating without human supervision went onto the internet and broke into a website.

The incident is still causing major ructions in Silicon Valley, with some, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates, calling for the industry and officials to urgently come up with ways to govern the development of the sector.

In the fallout, Hassabis in July called for the United States to create an organization that would test the most powerful AI systems before they can be released to the public.

Speaking at the G20, Trump's former AI czar David Sacks -- who still holds considerable sway with the White House -- said he was against the creation of any such bodies, as they would stifle AI's development.

"There's already, I think, a thicket of laws that apply to AI," Sacks said during his own virtual address to the G20 ministers.

Having AI's cutting edge models regulated as closely as the manufacturing of airplanes or drugs "would be a disaster," he said.

 

[Skukuza]

Russia needs to give the Poles a second lesson in manners