Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife Laureen arrive in Brisbane, Australia for the G20 Summit Friday, November 14, 2014. Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld BRISBANE, Australia — Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Russian leader Vladimir Putin to “get out of Ukraine” when the two leaders met Saturday at a retreat ahead of the G20 leaders’ summit in Brisbane.
According to PMO spokesman Jason MacDonald, Harper found himself near Putin who extended his hand to the Canadian leader. Accepting Putin’s hand, Harper was said to have told him: “I’ll shake your hand, but I only have one thing to say to you: Get out of Ukraine.”
Putin’s rejoinder to Harper’s demand was: “that’s impossible because we are not there” the Russian leader’s spokesman told Canadian journalists on Saturday.
That wasn’t the only cool greeting the Russian president received in Brisbane.
As happened at ceremonies in France marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, the presence of Putin at this weekend’s G20 summit is causing ructions.
Brisbane’s Courier Mail welcomed Putin by demanding in Russian that the president say “sorry” for the shooting down two months ago of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine.
Australians remain furious over the killing of 38 of their nationals in the crash and have squarely blamed Putin and his troops for the tragedy.
The same newspaper ran another big front-page headline Saturday that shouted “Ice Cold War” and reported that a third Australian warship had put to sea to keep an eye on the Russians.
The U.S. navy was said to have followed the Russian convoy, which included a missile cruiser, south from Vladivostok, the Australian newspaper reported.
An official from Russia’s embassy in Canberra told the Courier Mail that the long voyage was a test of the country’s capability to assist its climate change research in Antarctica.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott revealed Friday that he had demanded that Putin “stop trying to recreate the lost glories” of Russia’s past during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Beijing last week.
Abbott had earlier threatened to “shirtfront” Putin, using an Australian football term for a head-on shoulder charge to an opponent’s chest.
Despite being vilified, or perhaps because of it, Putin, has seemed intent on provoking his Australian hosts by pushing a naval task force much further south in the Pacific Ocean than is usual for the Russian navy. It usually lacks the confidence or ability to operate for long periods of time away from its headquarters in Vladivostok.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (R) chats to Governor of Queensland, Paul de Jersey (L) watched by Official Secretary to Australia’s Governor-General, Mark Fraser (C) as he arrives at the G20 Terminal on November 14, 2014 in Brisbane, Australia. Steve Holland/G20 Australia via Getty Images
The Russian ships were northeast of Australia beyond the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea, where U.S. and Japanese warships fought an epic battle in the Second World War. The Russian vessels were being closely tracked there by Australian frigates as well as by maritime reconnaissance aircraft.
Of “far greater concern” than the antics of Putin’s navy was “the continued penetration of a Russian presence in eastern Ukraine and obvious actions designed to provoke violence,” Harper said earlier Friday at a news conference in Auckland, New Zealand.
NATO accused Russia three days ago of once again pouring ground troops into eastern Ukraine that have been equipped with heavy armoured vehicles, towed artillery guns and rocket launchers.
The attention being paid to Putin, and not to the G20’s agenda of economic related discussions, underscores why there have long been doubts about the utility of this annual leaders’ meeting.
The G20 countries make up two-thirds of the world’s population and produce more than three-quarters of the global economy. The group includes China and other countries with rapidly expanding economies such as India, Indonesia, Brazil and South Africa — countries that are reshaping the world’s financial order. In theory, the Brisbane summit should be far more dynamic than the exclusive G7, consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and United States. The G7 unsuccessfully courted Russia, at one time, to become its eighth member.
But the G20 is an amorphous jumble of competing national interests and priorities with such modest achievements it might as well be the part of the United Nations. Harper, should feel right at home hobnobbing with fellow conservative travellers like Britain’s David Cameron, New Zealand’s John Key and his Australian host, Tony Abbott.
But these four hawks have little in common with U.S. President Barack Obama, who flip-flops or dithers on almost every international file. The hawks have even less in common with the leaders of China’s Xi Jinping and India’s Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, who came to power in May and for whom this gathering is a coming-out party.
Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott (2nd L) speaks at the B20 Summit in the IMC during the G20 Leaders’ Summit on November 14, 2014 in Brisbane, Australia. Steve Christo/G20 Australia via Getty Images
Prime Minister Harper is to meet privately with several other leaders on Saturday, including Modi. Those talks were expected to focus on increasing trade with India.
The G20 is supposed to be about the global economy. Australia’s Abbott has been trying hard to ensure that that remains its focus. His goal is for the G20 countries to collectively raise GDP by two per cent by 2019. This would add about $5 trillion to the global economy.
That target should be easy for China and a few other countries to reach. But it seems unlikely for Russia to achieve that goal because the economy there is in free fall. It’s also unlikely for Argentina and Italy, which are bankrupt or nearly so.
Despite Abbott’s intention to keep delegates focused on the economy, it is a certainty that there will be many bilateral chats on the margins of the official talks about what to do about Russia, terrorism and Islamic State.
Canada will not join the United States in attacking Syria if, as looks increasingly likely, Washington seeks to topple the regime of Bashar Assad, Harper said Friday.
“The government of Canada is prepared to engage in actions against ISIL (Islamic State) in Syria, but only as long as those are not interpreted as war against the government of Syria,” Harper said at a joint news conference with Prime Minister John Key of New Zealand, where the Canadian leader repeated his demand that Assad resign.
“Because whatever objections the government of Canada has against the government of Syria, we are not interested in any war with any government in the region,” he said. “Our only military fight is with ISIL.”
The question arose after strong hints have emerged in Washington that the U.S. was preparing to expand its war in Syria, which, until now, has been limited to air strikes against Islamic State. The U.S. has reportedly begun sounding out allies about joining them in this broader fight.
Following, earlier this week, a historic deal on greenhouse gas emissions by Obama and China’s Xi Jinping, there is also apparently going to be some kind of announcement this weekend on improving the environment.
The G20′s singular accomplishment was that it provided strong, practical leadership during the international financial crisis of 2008. With so many of the world’s economies tanking this year, there is a similar opportunity for the Group of 20 to forge a common front, to get member states to undertake tax and regulatory reforms, limit the bailouts to big banks, find ways to lower personal and government debt and encourage greater trade and fewer economic barriers.
And, of course, there will be polite bows to Third World development and some discussion about Ebola.
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