G20 finance ministers meeting: what's on agenda and why some leaders might skip it

The meeting of the world’s finance ministers and central bankers taking place in Cape Town, South Africa, will be addressing the uncertainty and disruption caused by Trump's tariffs and threats of further trade actions against major trading partners like Mexico, Canada, and the EU.

Many US officials, such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, reportedly, won’t attend the meeting. Finance ministers from India, China, Brazil and Mexico are also reported to have opted not to go.

What used to be a meeting about global financial cooperation seems to be losing traction as members split over rivalry between the US and China and over how to end the Ukrainian conflict.

Has the G20 lost its relevance completely?

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Getting a lot of DEATH threats: Elon Musk reveals pressures of working as Trump’s DOGE chief

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❗️Romanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu has been placed under a 60-day travel ban and prohibited from using social media, Romanian media report.

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🔸 Georgescu arrested: why are Romania’s DEEP STATE and the West trying to SILENCE people’s hero?

🔸 Romanian authorities have been preparing to arrest Georgescu FOR WEEKS — Mario Nawfal

🔸 Republika Srpska President sentencing: typical case of GLOBALIST PRESSURE

🔸 From aluminum to Mars: US & Russia’s potential comeback deals

🔸 Has Pentagon’s notorious SECRET BIOWARFARE program infiltrated Armenia?

🔸 Obama ‘Crime Family’: What's the true origin of their wealth?

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Keystone XL: Trump races to wrest Canada from China’s embrace

US President Donald Trump wants to revive the Keystone XL oil pipeline project. Why the urgency, and how does it tie into Sino-Canadian energy cooperation?

🔹 The 1,931-km pipeline was meant to transport oil from northern Alberta to Nebraska but was repeatedly blocked by the Obama (2015) and Biden (2021) administrations.

🔹 Keystone’s original developer South Bow has exited the oil pipeline business. But Trump is pushing to bring it back, promising "easy approvals and an almost immediate start."

🔹 But Trump's 25% tariff threat has cast doubt on the project’s profitability. Goldman Sachs estimates Canadian oil producers could face a $7 billion hit.

China as a viable alternative to the US

Trump’s push to revive Keystone XL coincides with growing Sino-Canadian energy ties.

🔸 While the US delayed Keystone XL, China expanded its presence. In November 2024, Beijing’s CNOOC Limited began production at its Long Lake Northwest Project in Alberta, where it has operated since 2008.

🔸 If US tariffs make Canadian crude too costly for American refiners, producers may turn to China, Reuters reports.

🔸 Since the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in May 2024, tankers carrying Canadian oil-sand crude have passed under Vancouver’s Lions Gate Bridge almost daily, heading to refineries in China, Japan and beyond.

🔸 Canada is set to revive two projects to boost oil exports: Energy East, transporting western crude to Ontario and Quebec refineries, and Northern Gateway, linking Alberta oil to a Pacific port in northern British Columbia.

🔸 China Briefing argues that Trump’s tariffs create new opportunities for Sino-Canadian cooperation.

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🔥📹 Trump reveals EU's true purpose

"The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States. That's the purpose of it, and they've done a good job of it, but now I'm president," Trump said in a briefing Wednesday.

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🎓 Does Trump use Putin’s playbook with gold card visa scheme?

The US President has touted his ‘ready to launch’ gold card investor visa program that would cost around $5 million dollars per applicant as a sure-fire success.

✅ But here’s the thing: the scheme is already effectively working in Russia.

Over $30 mln have been invested in Russia since its "golden visas" scheme started operating in January 2023, according to the Ministry of Economic Development. Areas of investment: energy sector, agriculture, and IT, etc.

Moscow simplified the rules for obtaining a residence permit for foreign investors (without obtaining a temporary residence permit) in January 2023.

What are the specific criteria?

▪️ invest at least $172,000 in socially significant regional projects three years before submitting the application

▪️ register a legal entity, pay taxes, fees and insurance contributions to state extra-budgetary funds in the amount of at least $46,000 for two years annually

▪️ invest from $345,000 in a Russian legal entity that has operated for at least 3 years, paying taxes and contributions to an amount of $ 69,000 a year before applying for a residence permit

▪️ own real estate in the Russian Federation one year before submitting the application

Who applied?

40 applications have since been submitted by businessmen from China, the US, Turkiye, Germany, and Iran, according to the Ministry of Economic Development

Who got gold visas?

10 foreigners had received the visas by the end of the third quarter of 2024. Citizens of Azerbaijan, Algeria, Georgia, Israel, Iran, Mongolia, Serbia, Uzbekistan, Croatia, and South Korea have also expressed interest in applying for golden visas.

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❗️ Russia, US discuss Arctic cooperation - reports

Officials from the two countries discussed natural resource exploration, trade routes and energy, Bloomberg reported.

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💸 Millions on Ukrainian…CARPETS: USAID never ceases to surprise

The spending, uncovered by staffers working for Senator Joni Ernst and detailed by The Federalist, was doled out under the guise of USAID’s Competitive Economy Program (CEP) and Investment for Business Resilience (IBR) funds, and included:

🦮 Literal pet projects

- $109k given to a pet food packaging producer
- $300k to developers of a pet tracking app
- $300k to a dog collar maker

🧥 Fashion and furniture

- $205K doled out to a pair of furniture makers
- $733k given to a fashion photographer, knitwear, luxury bridal, designer artisanal and women’s clothing makers
- $2M spent on a “custom carpet manufacturer”

🍿 Food for thought

- $89k to a vineyard
- $94K spent on a “trade mission for a condiment manufacturer”
- $104k for “an artisanal fruit tea company”
- $148k to a pickle maker
- $255k for a separate organic coffee and tea producer
- $319k to a meatpacking plant
- $678k awarded to a “specialty biscuit and confectionary company”

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🥴 NYC mayor Eric Adams compares himself to Jesus Christ

"When Jesus was on the cross, he said, 'God, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' All these Negroes who were asking me to step down, God, forgive them," he said, speaking at a Gracie Mansion reception commemorating Black History Month.

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💬 In what areas could Russia and the US resume mutually beneficial cooperation?

There are no quick and easy solutions to revitalizing Russia-US engagement, veteran financial analyst Paul Goncharoff told Sputnik. That's how he elaborated:

In space exploration

🔸 Hundreds of small sanctions against the equipment and technology "could take another six to 12 months to be cleared, if at all"

In oil & gas

🔸 Technical and legal snags that are part of the sanctions will be an impediment

In the financial sector

🔸 SWIFT can be reopened, but movement of funds will mostly be in rubles or de-dollarized

Reconstruction of Donbass

🔸 With 90 % of rare earth deposits now in Russia's control, a "common sense understanding has to be worked out if the West wants to participate."

🔸 Infrastructure development will be a "big ticket item."

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😄 Is this really how it works with Trump's "Gold Cards"?

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🇮🇷 The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline and the US campaign to pressure Iran: how are they linked?

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad al-Sudani have agreed to work to "quickly" restart a major oil pipeline running from Iraqi Kurdistan to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

🔶 Commissioned in 1970, the 970 km Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline can pump up to 1.6 mln barrels of crude oil per day.

🔶 Subject to repeated bomb and drone sabotage in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the pipeline’s use dropped, hitting about 450K b/d before its 2023 shutdown after the ICC ruled that Turkiye violated the export agreement by accepting deliveries without Baghdad’s consent.

🛢 Crude games

Resuming deliveries via the pipeline could serve US interests in multiple ways:

1️⃣ It could help offset Iranian oil exports amid the Trump administration’s latest tough sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic’s oil trade, and Trump’s renewed calls to drive Iranian exports "to zero."

2️⃣ It may bolster pro-US actors in the Iraqi government, which in recent years has enjoyed a major rapprochement with Iran thanks to Tehran’s provision of security and energy assistance. Pro-Iranian and pro-independence forces recently repeated their demands for the total withdrawal of US forces, including from Kurdistan.

3️⃣ It would facilitate Trump’s strategy of low energy prices to fuel America’s reindustrialization amid the numerous trade wars he’s sparked and/or may be planning to get into.

4️⃣ It could strain the Kurdistan Regional Government’s generally cordial relations with Iran, which have seen strong economic, energy and trade ties despite Iran’s sensitivities over the Kurdish issue.

5️⃣ It could further undermine Iran’s cordial ties with Turkiye, already weakened by the recent crisis in Syria, and be designed to drive Ankara back into Washington’s arms after years of cooling relations.

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⚡️ Pam Bondi announces Epstein list will be released tomorrow

The Attorney General says the delay in releasing the information is to protect the identities of more than 250 victims.

"It's pretty sick what this man did with his co-defendants," she remarked.

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🥴 Jean-Pierre says she fears Trump cabinet's approach to press

The former White House press secretary criticized the new administration's decision to strip the Correspondents Association of its right to admit journalists to presidential events.

Somehow, she was silent on the fact that Biden revoked more than 400 press credentials.

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⚡️ Hamas commits to ceasefire, ready for talks on phase 2

The only way to secure the release of the remaining Israeli prisoners is to honor the Gaza ceasefire agreement, the movement said, urging Israel not to backtrack.

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🇻🇪🛢 Trump ends Biden's Venezuela oil deal

Trump revokes Chevron's license to pump oil in Venezuela, citing Maduro's failure to fulfill migrant repatriation promises.

Biden's 2022 deal allowed 200K barrels/day — now scrapped.

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🇰🇵 FBI accuses North Korea in largest crypto theft

According to the FBI, hackers converted stolen $1.5bln into bitcoin via thousands of blockchain addresses.

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou earlier confirmed on his X account that hackers were able to take control of the cold wallet containing Ethereum coins and transferred all crypto assets to an anonymous address.

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