China and Russia's presidents -both- absent from the G20

[Belacqua]

2-America and its allies on the other end with their own economical road.

Well, what do we know about this new economical road?

So far, the US has shown a map and made a speech.

There is no budget, no announcement of who's paying, no timeline. 

There's also the question of why the route as currently planned would be a benefit. It would require loading goods onto a ship in Mumbai, unloading at Dubai and loading everything onto trains, unloading at Haifa and loading everything onto ships again, and then unloading at Piraeus and putting things onto trains again. Whereas the route basically follows what a single ship could do if it went through the Suez Canal. 

Then there's the problem that the ports at Piraeus and Haifa are already owned and operated by China. 

Then there's the problem that people in Asia tend to remember America's great infrastructure announcements about rebuilding Afghanistan, none of which worked. 

Then there's the knowledge that US infrastructure at home is crumbling, especially compared to China. The high speed rail system that was announced in California 15 years ago has spent billions of dollars, so far has no useable track, and is currently scheduled to finish its first leg of 190 miles in 2030. Do you know how much high speed rail China has built in that time? 

Can you tell us anything that Biden's "Build Back Better" project has accomplished? 

Beware of announcements. Look at what has been accomplished.