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BRICS hasn’t really been on the radar of most North Americans, but it should be.
As the West continues to kneecap itself in order to appease climate activists, China has been carefully building an alternative to U.S. dominance.
Over the last decade and a half, BRICS — an economic bloc that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — has been exerting its influence over developing nations.
The original block consisted of 40 percent of the world’s population and more than a quarter of the global GDP, but that is going to increase with new members, and a bunch of countries are clamoring to join.
Last week, the fifteenth BRICS summit was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, and it was the largest one to date — more than 60 countries attended alongside the original member nations.
It was also announced that the alliance would now include six more countries which would significantly increase the group’s dominance of oil production and reserves as well as other commodities required for modern life.
But the entire world order could shift as BRICS is increasingly becoming anti-U.S. because of the war in Ukraine.
Xi Jinping makes no bones about creating an alternative to the U.S. as a global leader.
As shown by the BRICS expansion and the long waiting list to join, Xi’s offer of an alternative world order is finding receptive ears in the Global South, where many countries feel themselves marginalized in an international system they see as dominated by the US and its wealthy allies.
Echoing their demand for a larger say in global affairs, the BRICS leaders’ declaration repeatedly called for “greater representation of emerging markets and developing countries” in international institutions – from the United Nations and its Security Council to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
Xi, who peppered his speeches at the summit with criticism of US “hegemony,” hailed the expansion as “historic” and “a new starting point for BRICS cooperation.”
Happymon Jacob, a professor of international studies at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, said the expansion highlights a shift in global geopolitical fault lines.
“Being a leader of non-Western forums and the Global South, which in general is dissatisfied with the US-led institutions, will invariably help China become a counterweight to the US and the world order led by the US,” he said.
Source: CNN
Related:
The alliance is also making some strange bedfellows that no one expected to see.
Iran and Saudi Arabia were among six countries set to join in the BRICS economic bloc next year, the bloc announced Thursday, a move that will likely throw more scrutiny on Beijing’s political influence in the Persian Gulf.
The United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Egypt and Ethiopia are also set to become new members of BRICS in 2024. BRICS was set up in 2009 as a group of emerging market economies and has become one of the leading voices for more representation of the developing world and the Global South in world affairs…
…Until recently, the inclusion of Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates together in the same economic or political organization would have been unthinkable, as tensions escalated following the collapse of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal and a series of attacks attributed to the country since.
Source: CBC
The days of the United States being the dominant global superpower may be coming to an end — and it’s largely self-inflicted.
The Biden Administration seems hellbent on implementing the radical climate agenda on Americans with proposed bans on gas stoves, stifling regulations on everything from dishwashers to ceiling fans, and an adamant refusal to develop natural resources in America — reduced oil extraction and obstacles in lithium mining.
In addition, Biden’s incompetence on foreign policy adds to the issue. His “small incursion” comment emboldened Russia to invade Ukraine, his administration is still trying to revive the terrible Iran Deal, and the botched withdrawal in Afghanistan showed that his administration is basically incapable on the global stage.
One interesting question to ask is if this BRICS expansion would be happening right now if the Bad Orange Man with the mean tweets was still in the Oval Office instead of the perpetually vacationing Dementia Joe whose son was paid by a Chinese energy company for … something.
