There are two erstwhile ‘summits’ going on.

The first we can simply note and then let it go because it is of null value.  This is the December 13–15 US-Africa Summit, with 49 delegations from African states and one from the African Union (AU).  It is clear that this summit was called for one reason only.  This reason is to talk, bully and threaten the African states out of working with China and Russia, so, it is not really a summit at all and I get notes from the African side, who reports that there is a deficit of trust.  With the rest of the world, Africa saw that the collective west is non-agreement capable and at least in the Mali area, they kicked out the French.  The US will not get out of this summit what they hoped for, which is an African shift to the west.

In somewhat of a segue, we see the same trajectory very clearly now in Peru, where the Peruvians are out on the streets, protesting, being killed, and not leaving.  The latest is that the military has been called in to try and establish order.  There are three demands from the Peruvians:  1) Closure of the right-wing congress 2) New elections 3) Free Pedro Castillo, and also a constitutent assembly to close the loopholes in the Peruvian establishment of congress, because this coup was the result of pure lawfare.  The pattern of deficit of trust is clear here as well and these countries.  Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Bolivia released a joint statement supporting Peru’s elected President Pedro Castillo, saying he is victim of “anti-democratic harassment,” following a US-backed coup.

Back to the main topic.  The second ‘summit’ which cannot be classified as a summit per se, is the end-of-year gathering of the Valdai Club.  I’ve been catching as much of this as is possible.  The one paper that really caught my attention is titled: A World Without Superpowers.  It can be downloaded here:  https://valdaiclub.com/files/39600/

There are two presentations in this report that I would take issue with.  The one is on page three and reads as follows: 
A new system is bound to take shape in a future stage of global politics, even if this is unlikely to happen any time soon.

I would consider this statement political as it does not really fit the rest of the presentation.  It probably was added as a type of soporific because the new system is making strides of progress.   I do know this will take time.

The second problem is the graph on page 10, specifically:  The size of the economy (current US$).     

I don’t believe the presentation of GDP for one hot minute and at the moment, the numbers could look very different.

Do enjoy the paper if you decide to download. Maria says it openly:

💬#Zakharova: The US-led Western countries have created an elaborate neocolonial system that, under the guise of offering aid, protecting human rights and other beautiful slogans, pursues the sole aim of building the eternal global hegemony of the West. pic.twitter.com/gAMDCU0JsA

— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) December 15, 2022