What happened at the G20 Summit?

Police officers in riot gear scuffle with demonstrators near the Bank of England in London April 1, 2009. Thousands of demonstrators converged on London's financial district on Wednesday, chanting "abolish money" and "storm the banks" in a heavily policed protest to coincide with the G20 summit of world leaders.

REUTERS/Andrew Winning (BRITAIN POLITICS BUSINESS CONFLICT SOCIETY)

In his post G-20 conference U.S. President Barack Obama made several statements. Overall he had been well received by his counterparts and remained very confident in stating his positions. There were a couple of comments made I didn't necessarily agree with. One being, "In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world," Obama said. He further stated, "Instead of celebrating Europe's dynamic union and seeking to work with you, there have been times where America's shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive. But in Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual, but can also be insidious. Instead of recognizing the good that America so often does in the world, there have been times where Europeans chose to blame America for much of what's bad," Obama said.

Athough I do agree with the anti-americanism statement. I did not agree with how he perceives our view of Europe and our supposed arrogance. When the whole concept of the word including it's origin came from Europe exclusively.

He added: "On both sides of the Atlantic, these attitudes have become all too common. They are not wise. They do not represent the truth." I whole heartedly agree with this statement because none of this nonsense either way seems to really represent any truth at all. With so much secrecy in the world today it's hard whether to know if your coming or going from one day to the next. Confusion creates dissention and the fact that the public suffers from a lack of information, these attitudes would be common. However in the prior claim of arrogance on behalf of the U.S. I would have rather him be more specific and say the arrogance of the George Bush Administration. I don't believe anyone can disagree with that.

During the summit Obama also encouraged Europe to support his new Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy.

"I understand there's doubt about this war in Europe," Obama said. "There's doubt even in the United States."

But he said the United States and its allies must continue to work to defeat the "terrorists who threaten all of us." And, he said Europeans and Americans had to look past disagreements over Iraq.

Obama opposed the Iraq war, which divided America from many of its traditional allies and was the source of bitter relations between the U.S. and Europe.

"We got sidetracked by Iraq and we have not fully recovered that initial insight that we have a mutual interest in ensuring that organizations like al-Qaida cannot operate," he said. "I think it is important for Europe to understand that even though I am president and George Bush is not president, al-Qaida is still a threat."

In Germany, Merkel said her country wants to bear its share of the responsibility in Afghanistan, and Obama thanked her for what Germany already has done.

But Obama also said: "We do expect that all NATO partners are going to contribute. They have thus far, but the progress in some cases has been uneven." He added, "We're going to refocus the strategy and then make sure the resources are there to do it."

Earlier in France, the president said he wants to look back at his tenure and know his work drastically lessened the threat of terrorism, particularly nuclear terrorism.

"We can't reduce the threat of a nuclear weapon going off unless those that possess the most nuclear weapons — the United States and Russia — take serious steps to reduce our stockpiles," Obama said. "So we want to pursue that vigorously in the years ahead."

On a good note President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev earlier this week pledged a new effort to reduce both nations' nuclear arsenals.

The U.S. President also was not afraid to touch on topics controversial in Europe. Obama promoted his decision to close the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay within a year, and said "without equivocation that the United States does not and will not torture."

Earlier, in a symbolic gesture, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told Obama that France would accept a prisoner from the detention center where terrorist suspects are held if that would facilitate its closing.

Saying that he was determined to "speak the truth," Sarkozy said that Guantanamo "was not in keeping with U.S. values." He said democratic states have a responsibility to speak honestly and do what they say, and that Guantanamo was a contradiction in that standard.

Obama said the U.S. needs help in finding a place to send those held at the center. He thanked Sarkozy for "being good to his word."

About 240 detainees are still held, some without charge at the Guantanamo Bay prison, which was set up after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to hold so-called "enemy combatants" accused of links to the al-Qaida terror network or the Taliban. Spain and Portugal have already said they could accept prisoners, while Germany and others remain tightlipped whether they will accept non-nationals or not.

The following are quotes from leaders at the summit:

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT DMITRY MEDVEDEV

"Twenty or 25 years ago it would be impossible to imagine a situation when so different nations, with so different economies, various mentalities and historical traditions could sit down at the same table and be able to agree on how to act in such a complicated situation, and to do it fairly fast!"

"The speed with which we are acting at least makes me think that many of the decisions we are taking will be pretty effective."

SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT KGALEMA MOTLANTHE

Crisis measures: "We are all concerned about the fact that the bottom of the crisis is not visible yet and therefore are aware and alive to the fact that the decisive and courageous steps that have been taken to stem the freefall may not be adequate to address the full impact of this crisis."

SPANISH PRIME MINISTER JOSE LUIS ZAPATERO

"This summit contributes to confidence ... and will facilitate recovery" "We have set in motion the greatest concerted plan of fiscal expansion in history. it is unprecedented. it reaches 5 trillion.....This amount will contribute in a decisive way to facilitate a recovery of the world economy and to preserve millions of jobs"

JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER TARO ASO

On another G20 summit: "It would be the easiest for countries to gather during the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Plus, New York is where it (the crisis) started. The United States and others have proposed New York and we think this is a good idea."

ITALY PRIME MINISTER SILVIO BERLUSCONI

Trade: "On the Doha trade round we decided we will look more closely at the issue and fix a meeting at Maddalena to make a final decision."

EU PRESIDENT JOSE MANUEL BARROSO

"It is an historic moment, a defining moment for our global response to the crisis...We took the right decisions," he told the BBC.

Trade: "Many participants underlined the importance of the Doha trade talks for promoting economic recovery. For Europe it's the cheapest way of doing it as you are not creating debt.

US: "The fact that President Obama showed a willingness to engage, it's a very good signal that we may reach that agreement during this year."

THAI PRIME MINISTER ABHISIT VEJJAJIVA, REPRESENTING ASEAN

"We are pleased that the communique covered a lot of ground and responded to our needs. The stimulus package is now clearly focussed on jobs and growth. And we are doing it through global financial institutions, not just individual country efforts. The various reforms in terms of the global financial institutions and the new facilities again respond better to the needs of emerging and developing economies. We are not losing sight of medium and longer term goals in terms of development."

Obviously optimism is brighter for some than others. There is a certain amount of skepticism in the outcome of steps being taken. However overall it would seem the general consensus was extremely positive in the eyes of world leaders.

In the meantime the U.S. jobless rate jumped to 8.5 percent. The highest since late 1983, as a wide range of employers eliminated a net total of 663,000 jobs in March. In Germany, Obama called the new unemployment report a "stark reminder" of the nation's woes.

Thousands of G-20 protesters jammed downtown London on Wednesday and some tried to storm the Bank of England, pelting police with eggs and fruit and rocking the barricades designed to control them. Hmmm I wonder why?

The answer was spoken very loudly as demonstrators shouted "Abolish Money!" and clogged streets in the financial district known as "The City" even as Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama held a news conference elsewhere in the British capital.

Demonstrators hoisted effigies of the "four horsemen of the apocalypse," representing war, climate chaos, financial crimes and homelessness.

At least eight people were reportedly arrested for having police uniforms. One police officer lost his helmet and demonstrators tossed it around like a trophy and chanted slogans.

Helicopters hovered above the protests and some buildings were boarded up in case the protests turned ugly. Many banks had extra security and hundreds of police officers lined the streets.

Despite the pushing and shoving along the police barricades, there were no reported injuries.

Protesters included anarchists, anti-capitalists, environmentalists, students, unionized workers, unemployed workers and others hurt by the global financial crisis.

Fearing they would be targeted by protesters, some bankers swapped their pinstripe suits for casual wear and others stayed home. Bolder financial workers leaned out their office windows Wednesday, taunting demonstrators and waving 10 pound notes at them. Many banks in the capital brought in extra security, and several streets were closed off entirely. Especially in Britain, bankers have been lambasted as being greedy and blamed for the recession that is making jobless ranks soar.

"It seems like everything is in a mess," said protester Steve Johnson, 49, an unemployed construction worker. "You get bankers getting massive bonuses, and the MPs (British lawmakers) are lining their own pockets."

Musician and political activist Billy Bragg said the time was now to make a difference. "It's better than sitting down shouting at the television at these bankers," he said. "We cannot go back to the way things were before to the million-dollar bonus culture."

"The greed that is driving people is tearing us apart," said Steve Lamont, 45, flanked by his family and protesters who were banging on bells, playing drums and blowing whistles.

"Every job I apply for there's already 150 people who have also applied," said protester Nathan Dean, 35, who lost his information technology job three weeks ago. "I have had to sign on to the dole (welfare) for the first time in my life. You end up having to pay your mortgage on your credit card and you fall into debt twice over."

Wow what a week! This is our reality!