G20 foreign ministers scrap ‘family photo’ as Lavrov crashes party
I keep thinking about how a photo, of all things, became the flashpoint. The G20 was built on the idea that the world’s biggest economies can sit at one table even when they disagree. But a photograph is different. It’s a statement of normalcy, and several ministers clearly didn’t want to be seen as normalizing Lavrov’s presence.
The host dropping the photo is a quiet way to keep the meeting moving without forcing anyone to choose between a boycott and a handshake. It’s also a reminder that the G20 has become less about consensus and more about managing the fault lines. I’d want to know whether the U.S. proposed the photo cancellation or simply accepted it, because that tells us how much pressure the other delegations put on Washington.
What matters most is that the meeting still happened. The photo is gone, but the talks went on. That’s probably the honest state of diplomacy right now: uncomfortable, awkward, and still necessary.