Do the G7 Meetings Ever Accomplish Anything?

Around the 1973 oil crisis period, George Schultz (then US Secretary of the Treasury) had this improve-type meeting with the finance ministers of West Germany, France and the UK.  Basically, the western nations needed a script for a united front.

After this original meeting....they agreed to add Japan to the group.

So this started the term "Group of Five".  Later, Italy got added, and then Canada.

Since the mid-1970s....you can go down the historical part of the deal, and find the yearly meeting to be mostly just a get-together deal where pictures are taken....short speeches are given...and then everyone pats themself on the back for participation and achievements.  News journalists like it because they get a great week of prepared words....a four-star hotel situation.....and dinners with various other journalists.  Riot-thugs like it because they can come out and slug away at capitalistic 'regimes' and get headlines.

This weekend, President Trump will travel to Canada for the latest G7 meeting, and there's supposed to be some opposition 'force' to make a stand against him.  My humble guess is that at least 10,000 revolutionary thugs will come out and riot enough to take half of the headlines.  Some journalists will try to pretend things occurred of a major nature,

The summit planned back in 2012 for Chicago?  Well....tons of preparation was laid out and millions spent on the background required.  Then about five days prior to the event....President Obama cancelled it entirely and moved the location over to Camp David.  The reason?  Tens of thousands were slated to be in Chicago for riots and that would have taken the headlines.

What will happen in the 2020 episode, which President Trump will be attending?  No one has disclosed the location, and most expect massive riots. 

Generally, I would describe the worthwhile nature of the meetings to be marginal.  Other than meeting face-to-face and getting some perception on insider dealings....the meetings have no value.  But on the PR scale....you'd probably have to suggest (if you can run one without the riots), they measure up to an '8' in terms of value of images.