by LUKE ZUNGA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – THE sixteenth BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) summit was held in Kazan, a cultural and educational city in Tatarstan Western Russia, from 22 October to 24 October 2024.
This summit was more assertive in that the BRICS body saw the attendance of Iran, United Arab Emirates(UAE), Ethiopia, Egypt and to some extent Saudi Arabia to become a global voice, as BRICS Plus.
The agenda, Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security gave the tone for this group. The South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) website hosts the 32-page BRICS communique.
Multilateralism means working together. The BRICS plus summit chose that word to express the lack of reason, seen through a lopsided Security Council, and a world looking for new leadership in development, safety and security.
Here is a new power comprising the world’s largest populations and economies. It can attend meetings in Russia and accept Vladmir Putin as a world leader who must be talked to for the sake of peace.
The elephant in the room is the United States of America (USA), Britain and France. They are far right. They hate Russia, China, communism and anybody associated. There is no middle ground.
These countries, led by the USA, are reviving the Allies of the Second World War, through the efforts of the Biden Administration.
Far-right or right wing politics has a crescendo of extremism, such as belief in Jews as children of God, radicalism, ultra nationalism, authoritarian, nativism (we are Americans etc), fascism, Nazism, Falangists practising naked racial discrimination and supremacism, chauvinism, xenophobia, homophobia,oppression and genocide as seen on the Palestinians in Gaza, Westb Bank and Lebanon.
These countries gained capital through methods which cannot be repeated, through which they developed an upper hand in military capabilities using the wealth they generated.
They share a common market and can sanction any country they do not like. They crafted a world order to their favour such as using the US dollar and Euro for international payments.
The whole world buys the US dollar not because the USA is exporting but to use it to pay others. Russia was kicked out of their Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), and the question is, who is next? They control the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
The world had seen power shifts and empires collapsing. The Roman Empire, British colonial empire, the French and Union of Soviet Republics ended.
The authority of the United States is nearly collapsing and is severely tested in the current Israeli and Ukraine wars, where American weapons, ammunition, bombs, fighter jets, submarines, aircraft carriers are the makeup of the wars. Why is the USA at the centre of destruction of human beings and hegemonic wars?
The US is unable to tone down what it created of Israel.
BRICS countries create an axis that balances US military power. In other words, in future, deploying the USS Ford and other frigates in the gulf and Mediterranean and elsewhere, as the American and British have, would eventually have no impact.
BRICS are playing a central role between East and West. The difference between East and West is the size of Capital, as all countries in the world combine mixtures of capitalism and communism.
BRICS is not seeking to replace or overtake anybody but to play a central role, a more just order. BRICS countries are always cautious due to the need to facilitate free movement of capital and business.
The US is restricting free capital flows through sanctions, such as on Russia, Iran, Zimbabwe and the blockades such as Cuba. This cautiousness is reflected in Saudi Arabia which is close to the USA.
By delaying acceptance into BRICS but sending a delegation to attend BRICS, Saudi Arabia is raising a finger to the USA, especially the US blind support for Israel and supplying bombs and ammunition used by Israel to obliterate Palestinians and Lebanon.
However, BRICS countries do not have a central bond beyond friendships. BRICS countries such as Russia, China and India are competing as isolates. What is the BRICS bond? It must boil down to economics. The key is Capital.
A book, “What Economists are Missing” tracks how the USA gained capital through the First and Second World Wars, following years of slavery. The British developed naval power and colonized 35% of the world, and so were the French who still control and exploit large parts of Africa.
BRICS can cement their collectivism as “countries raising their own capital using technology to seed their citizens into industries for rapid industrialization”.
Russian Prime minister, Mr Mikhail Mishustin recently responded positively to the 1 cent proposal. China provides key elements of a new attractive world order. I worked in global finance and syndications.
There is more money outside the control of the USA, Britain or France, which need large vessels to utilize it. Currently these countries provide the vessels through the World Bank, Paris Club, etc. China is a large vessel. The BRICS vessels will bring competition and narrow the unnecessary East West divide. Halala BRICS!
NOTE: The views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author, Luke Zunga, and not those of CAJ News Africa.
– CAJ News