XV BRICS Summit South Africa
France is said to have applied to join BRICS and was rejected by an organization which is rising to dominate the world’s economy, while the USA and G7 economies have stalled and are now in terminal decline. Report by Harold James, Corporate Africa.
With the exception of Russia members of BRICS share a common history. Five established members were former colonial subjects of a G7 nation that exploited them to build their economies. And Russia, an old European power, has probably been invaded more than any other European nation. Except for Africa, Russia has more mineral reserves than any other region, and other European nations have coveted their wealth for centuries, including Germany, which was thoroughly defeated on Russia’s Eastern Front during the Second World War, bringing an end to the Second World War and Germany’s notorious leader, Adolf Hitler.
The six new members accessing BRICS in January 2024 are Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Iran. They, too, have at one time or another been invaded or colonized by a member of NATO. It is, therefore understandable why they consider BRICS to be an opportunity and desire an alternative Economic Group to generate development and sustainable growth and prosperity instead of remaining subordinates inside the global world order, which is fiercely policed and controlled by the USA and her G7 Allies. What logic can justify a precedent that says the Leader of the World Bank and IMF must be a European or American? It is, however, understandable through the lens of hostile intent towards the global south.
BRICS stated goal is to use their collective voice to build a world that is more equitable, balanced, and governed by an inclusive system of global governance. The BRICS New Development Bank which commenced trading in 2015 has also pledged to break the cycle of debt imposed upon nations in the global south by the two Bretton Woods institutions, the IMF and World Bank. It will offer finance for economic growth and development instead of of never ending cycles of debts and poverty. BRICS will undoubtedly strengthen the push towards de-dollarization of international trade, challenge the USA’s authority in global affairs, and neutralize US efforts to isolate countries with sanctions, including Iran and Russia, whose economies have been growing at a higher rate than the USA despite the proxy war with NATO, and the seizing of US$300 billion of its national reserves by the USA. There is a stampede of nations knocking at the BRICS door desiring to join the club, and the reason for this is to escape the harsh international rule-based system presided over by the USA, which means that America must get what it wants at all costs. Presently, America is at war with Russia: seizing a nation’s assets without a legal mandate and supplying a third country with armoury and personnel to fight on its behalf is war. America is also waging an economic war against China, and history teaches that economic wars always turn into entire military warfare. Some analysts forecast an all-out war between the USA and China or Russia before the end of 2024.
Saudi Arabia and Iran, newcomers to BRICS, are aware of America’s vengeance and her desire to sanction nations sympathetic to China and Russia. Together with Russia, they account for eighty per cent of the world’s energy reserves. The ascension of Egypt and Ethiopia to BRICS have also provided China with a massive capacity to extend its economy inside Africa and out into the USA through the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. This is especially true in Ethiopia, whose textile industry, vehicle and telephone assembly plants, and major roads, rails, and metro infrastructure have been built and financed by China, the world’s manufacturing hub. The ascension of Ethiopia to BRICS offers China a guarantee for its multi–billion dollar investments and Africa’s second-largest population, 120 million, to service and exploit.
Confident in Russia and China’s military and economic might and the astute and intelligent leadership of Presidents XI Ping and Vladimir Putin, BRICS members are set for a prosperous future. On the other hand, the USA has a leader who is not in control of his mental faculties or his country’s agenda and is a threat to global peace. The BRICS have half of the world’s population and a GDP of purchasing power parity GDP higher than the G7 and rising. The G7 GDP have been in perpetual decline since 2000.
Prior to setting up the BRICS trading currency, trade in the group is conducted through a basket of members’ currencies based on fairness and equity. This means that trade can be settled in member’s currency even if two members desiring to trade have no previous trade relations. The settlement could be affected through a third member’s currency, a member with trade links with one or both parties seeking to trade. Trading in local currencies is a powerful tool that will inevitably build-up capacity in BRICS members’ economies and lead to a rapid decline in the amount of trade carried out in the US dollar. It will shift the global economic plate away from the West to the Global South. This is very apparent at present, and the USA is doing everything possible to stop the shift from the dollar, but nothing has worked. The economic, political, and financial sanctions against Russia have failed. The blowing up of the Nordstream Pipeline has failed: They have also failed on the battlefield with their proxy Ukraine, which has been unable to make a mark on its powerful neighbor who is yet to operate in full war mode. According to Russia, it is still carrying out a special operation in Ukraine. Seeing this situation, America is fully aware that only its military is probably still on par with BRICS, especially Russia, and China, and we wait to see if it will use it to try and destroy what it sees as an imminent threat that could change the world for millennia.