#BRICS economic bloc

[haqiqaglobalbusiness]

Ethiopia's Debut at the BRICS Summit 2024: A New Chapter in Global Diplomacy

Ethiopia's historic debut at the 2024 BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, marks a significant milestone. Discover the key discussions, outcomes, and implications of this event for Ethiopia and the global stage.

Ethiopia’s participation in the 2024 BRICS Summit, held in Kazan, Russia, marked a significant milestone in the country’s foreign policy. Ethiopia is a newly inducted member of the influential bloc. It joined Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa to shape the global economic landscape. It also contributes to the political landscape. This blog post delves into the key discussions,…

[thelostdreamsthings]

"Putin is isolated."

BRICS, 50% of the World population is telling a big "fuck off" to the arrogant, declining and decadent G7 amounting to 10% of the World's population.

🇺🇳🇷🇺 UN Secretary General Guterres respectfully bows and shakes the hand of Putin in Russia’s Kazan at the BRICS summit.

A lot of people start crying and scream hysterically when they see this picture, for some reason.

[BRICS Currency Looms Large: Could This Be the Beginning of the End for U.S. Dollar Dominance?

For decades, the U.S. dollar has been weaponized as a tool of global dominance, wielded by the American empire to enforce its geopolitical will.

Through sanctions, coercive financial practices, and the threat of exclusion from the dollar-based system, the U.S. has effectively terrorized nations across the world.

The pretense of a “free market” economy has long been shattered by Washington's aggressive use of the dollar as a weapon to cripple economies, isolate adversaries, and exert control over global trade.

But the world is growing tired—sick and tired—of this financial tyranny. And now, with the rise of BRICS, we may be witnessing the beginning of the end for U.S. dollar supremacy.

BRICS—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—represent a bloc of nations that together account for nearly half of the global population and a significant chunk of the world’s GDP.

For years, these nations have been quietly collaborating to counterbalance the West's stranglehold over international finance, and now, they are inching closer to launching their own currency.

The creation of a BRICS currency signals an outright challenge to the dollar-dominated global economy, and it is nothing short of a revolt against American financial imperialism.

Why is this happening? The answer is simple: countries are fed up with being bullied. The U.S. has used its currency like a sledgehammer, smashing nations that dare to defy its hegemony.

Whether through sanctions on Iran, Venezuela, or Russia, or by financially suffocating smaller nations into submission, the dollar has become a tool of coercion rather than commerce.

Nations who once played by the rules of the so-called “global order” have found themselves punished, their economies crippled, and their people starved—merely for refusing to kowtow to Washington's dictates.

But BRICS is offering an alternative. The creation of a BRICS currency, backed by the economic strength of its member nations, offers the world a way out of the suffocating grip of the dollar.

This is not just about financial autonomy—it’s about reclaiming sovereignty, independence, and the right to conduct trade without the constant threat of U.S. interference.

Russia and China have been leading the charge in this effort, driven in part by the U.S. sanctions imposed on Moscow following the Ukraine conflict and the ongoing trade war with Beijing.

Both countries have moved aggressively to reduce their reliance on the U.S. dollar, increasing trade with each other and with other BRICS members in their local currencies.

They are laying the groundwork for a currency that could be based on a basket of commodities, potentially gold-backed, further weakening the grip of the U.S. dollar on the global market.

The U.S. has long prided itself on its role as the issuer of the world’s reserve currency, but this dominance was never guaranteed to last forever.

The BRICS currency threatens to dismantle the global financial architecture that has allowed the U.S. to live far beyond its means.

For decades, the U.S. has run massive deficits, printing money at will, secure in the knowledge that the world would continue to rely on the dollar.

But as BRICS nations move to establish their own currency, that privilege could evaporate overnight.

The implications for the U.S. are dire. If the dollar loses its status as the world’s reserve currency, the U.S. economy could face a severe reckoning.

The artificial demand for dollars that has kept interest rates low and allowed the U.S. to run massive debt could vanish, leading to inflation, higher borrowing costs, and potentially a fiscal crisis.

The American empire, propped up for so long by its control of global finance, could find itself in rapid decline.

For the rest of the world, however, the rise of a BRICS currency represents hope—a chance to escape the iron grip of U.S. financial imperialism. No longer will countries have to fear the punitive measures of the U.S. Treasury.

No longer will they have to worry about being cut off from the global financial system for standing up to American bullying.

The creation of a new currency could usher in a multipolar world, where nations are free to trade without being subject to the whims of a single superpower.

Of course, the U.S. will not go quietly. Washington will likely pull out all the stops to crush the BRICS currency before it can gain traction. The playbook will be the same: propaganda, financial sabotage, and even the threat of military intervention.

But this time, the world may not be so easily intimidated. The BRICS nations, backed by their vast resources and burgeoning economies, are prepared to stand their ground.

In the end, the creation of a BRICS currency is not just an economic development—it’s a revolutionary act. It’s a declaration that the age of American financial dominance is coming to an end, and that a new world is on the horizon.

The U.S. dollar, once seen as the bedrock of global stability, has become a symbol of oppression, and the world is ready to move on.

The question now is not whether the U.S. dollar will fall, but when. And as BRICS moves closer to launching its own currency, that day may be sooner than anyone expects.

The empire, long propped up by its financial manipulation, is facing a reckoning—one that could change the course of history.]

IMF Growth Forecast: 2024

🇮🇳India: 7.0% (BRICS)

🇨🇳China: 4.8% (BRICS)

🇷🇺Russia: 3.6% (BRICS)

🇧🇷Brazil: 3.0% (BRICS)

🇺🇸US: 2.8% (G7)

🇸🇦KSA: 1.5% (invited to BRICS)

🇨🇦Canada: 1.3% (G7)

🇿🇦RSA: 1.1% (BRICS)

🇬🇧UK: 1.1% (G7)

🇫🇷France: 1.1% (G7)

🇮🇹Italy: 0.7% (G7)

🇯🇵Japan: 0.3% (G7)

🇩🇪Germany: 0.0% (G7)

‼️ 159 out of 193 countries have signed up to use the new BRICS settlement system.

US and European Union will no longer be able to use economic sanctions as a weapon.

This system allows countries to settle trades and payments in their own currencies, reducing reliance on the U.S. dollar, which has long been the dominant global currency.

[ptseti]

FVCKING FACTS

DOLLAR IS JUST PAPER

At the 16th annual BRICS summit (22-24 October), member states adopted the ‘Kazan Declaration’, with provisions to strengthen multilateralism, enhance cooperation for global and regional stability and security, foster economic and financial cooperation, and strengthen people-to-people exchanges for social and economic development. They also approved a BRICS ‘grain exchange’ to ensure food stability.

Some, like Zimbabwe-born motivational speaker Joshua Maponga in this clip, argue that fiat currencies, like the US dollar, Euro, British pound and Japanese yen, should be abandoned in favour of a gold-backed system.

At the summit, the bloc of five original members (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) plus four new members (Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates) welcomed using local currencies for transactions between BRICS countries and their trading partners.

Many African presidents have called for de-dollarisation, but the biggest win may be when Saudi Arabia pulls away from a decades-old petrodollar deal with the US.

The US dollar was pegged to gold’s value until US President Richard Nixon (1913-94) removed the gold standard in 1971. Since then, the US has printed the world’s reserve currency at will, sealing its status as a global hegemon.

So, how can countries break free of the US dollar's grip? Maponga argues gold is the answer.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Palestinian minister: Country seeks to join BRICS

The Palestinian Authority’s Religious and Islamic Affairs Minister Mahmoud Al-Habbash also said that Brazil plays an influential role on the international stage. During his visit to the Latin American country, he attended a Muslim conference.

The Palestinian Minister of Religious and Islamic Affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, told ANBA on Monday (2) that Brazil plays an influential role on the global stage and that this influence can be leveraged to garner more support for the Arab country’s causes.

Al-Habbash, along with the Palestinian ambassador and dean of the Council of Arab Ambassadors in Brazil, Ibrahim Alzeben; Al-Habbash’s advisor, Hamza Daana; Judge Maher Khudeir; and the embassy’s minister-counselor, Ahmed Al Assad, visited the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) on Monday morning. They were welcomed by the institution’s president, Osmar Chohfi, and secretary-general and vice president of international relations, Mohamad Mourad.

“Palestine has good relations with all the countries in the group. China, South Africa, and Russia are historically friendly nations to the Palestinian people. We have requested membership in the group and submitted a request to join the NDB (New Development Bank, the BRICS bank),” he said, noting that while BRICS is an economic cooperation bloc, economics and politics cannot be separated.

Continue reading.

[darkmaga-returns]

By Mariel Ferragamo

The countries that comprise BRICS—which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, and now five new members—are an informal grouping of emerging economies hoping to increase their sway in the global order. Established in 2009, BRICS was founded on the premise that international institutions were overly dominated by Western powers and had ceased to serve developing countries. The bloc has sought to coordinate its members’ economic and diplomatic policies, found new financial institutions, and reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar.

However, BRICS has struggled with internal divisions on a range of issues, including relations with the United States and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, its growing membership is both expanding its clout and introducing new tensions. Although some analysts warn that the bloc could undermine the Western-led international order, skeptics say its ambitions to create its own currency and develop a workable alternative to existing institutions face potentially insurmountable challenges.

Why does BRICS matter?

The coalition is not a formal organization, but rather a loose bloc of non-Western economies that coordinate economic and diplomatic efforts around a shared goal. BRICS countries seek to build an alternative to what they see as the dominance of the Western viewpoint in major multilateral groupings, such as the World Bank, the Group of Seven (G7), and the UN Security Council.

The group’s 2024 expansion comes with a range of geopolitical implications. It represents growing economic and demographic heft: the ten BRICS countries now comprise more than a quarter of the global economy and almost half of the world’s population. The group is poised to exert influence over the wars in the Gaza Strip and Ukraine, the shape of the global economic system, the competition between China and the West, and efforts to transition to clean energy.

[mariacallous]

This week’s BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, features a new participant: Turkey. A Kremlin official leaked last month that Ankara had applied to join the grouping, following repeated expressions of interest over the years. A spokesperson for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) then conceded that “a process is underway.”

The BRICS grouping undertook a major expansion recently, adding Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates in January, with Saudia Arabia still mulling whether to join. The acronym stands for the group’s original members: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

Still, Turkey’s BRICS application is a watershed moment in geopolitics. If Turkey joins BRICS as a full member or partner state, it would become the first NATO member and longtime candidate for European Union membership to have an active role in an entity seen by some analysts as a challenger to Western predominance.

Turkey’s diplomatic demarche is yet another sign that the global south is rising in world affairs, and it underscores the growth of active nonalignment as an ideology. But it is not a major break in Turkish foreign policy: Ankara’s BRICS application is an extension of its international balancing act, which aims to diversify alliances while maintaining ties with the West.

During two decades in office, Erdogan has promoted a non-Western-centric vision of the world and sought greater global autonomy due to frustration with the EU and the United States. For its part, BRICS is on a roll in terms of both membership and growing global clout. In addition to Turkey, countries such as Malaysia and Thailand have also applied for entry and sent envoys to this year’s summit.

Cooperation among BRICS members in energy, trade, and infrastructure development is growing at a fast clip. As a share of global trade, intra-BRICS trade in goods more than doubled from 2002 to 2022, reaching 40 percent. In 2015, the group created the Shanghai-based New Development Bank with $50 billion in capital. The bank, headed by former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, has since lent $33 billion for 96 projects.

BRICS now aims to create an alternative payment system to SWIFT, which it perceives as a Western-dominated international banking system. The project has taken on greater importance after Western countries disconnected Russia from SWIFT following the country’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

BRICS would benefit from Turkey’s accession. From a geopolitical standpoint, Turkey’s membership would enhance the group’s stature as a proponent of nonalignment, as opposed to a bloc with an anti-Western agenda—though it would certainly increase Western suspicions about Turkey. At present, the group is torn. China and Russia would like to build it into an anti-Western entity, while Brazil, India, and South Africa would prefer it to take a stance closer to nonalignment. Turkey’s presence is likely to strengthen the second view. The same goes for most of the new members, except for Iran, which is likely to hew close to China and Russia.

Joining BRICS would also put Turkey, a NATO member, in a privileged position: Having a foot in both camps increases Ankara’s foreign-policy leverage. “Being involved in these structures does not mean abandoning NATO,” Erdogan told journalists at the United Nations General Assembly in September. “We do not think that this alliance and cooperation are an alternative to one another.”

Despite Erdogan’s high profile in global affairs, Turkey’s domestic agenda has become increasingly challenging for the president. In March, the AKP lost ground in municipal elections, while economic growth has slowed and inflation runs rampant. But domestic constraints have not limited Turkey’s quest for influence across Eurasia; if anything, these international endeavors offer a welcome distraction.

Erdogan’s foreign policy is built on a complex blend of Turkey’s Ottoman legacy, nationalist aspirations, and a sense that the West’s best days are behind it. He seeks a more multipolar world, where Turkey can act independently of Western hegemony and search for strategic options beyond the West, even if this means partnering with historical enemies, such as Russia, or with countries that have pursued draconian policies against Muslim minorities, such as China.

Erdogan has sought to expand Turkey’s strategic wiggle room through diplomacy. He has signed energy deals with Russia, allowing the Russian state-owned utility Rosatom to build, own, and operate Turkey’s first nuclear power plant; mediated in armed conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine war; and rallied support against Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

Turkey’s BRICS application is no different. It is not about breaking ties with the West but rather recalibrating them in favor of broader and more diversified alliances that are important to Turkey’s long-term national interests—particularly as Ankara’s prospects for EU membership grow dim and strategic ties with the United States weaken.

Turkey’s decades-long bid for EU membership has been marked by frustration. As Ankara has pushed for accession, EU responses have been lukewarm at best, especially after French and German opposition in the late 2000s. With a population of 87 million people, Turkey would be the largest country in the EU and the only Muslim-majority member. Democratic backsliding after the 2013 Gezi Park protests and the 2016 coup attempt have not helped its case. Today, while Turkey remains a candidate officially, its EU accession talks have stalled.

EU ambivalence over Turkish membership stems from concerns over Turkey’s human rights record and growing authoritarianism under Erdogan’s leadership. There are also disputes over Cyprus and maritime rights in the Eastern Mediterranean. The 2023 European Commission report on Turkey further strained relations; the report condemned Ankara’s democratic erosion and suggested that it is nowhere close to reaching full membership.

Turkey’s links with the United States have not fared any better. A major point of contention was Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system, which led to its removal from the F-35 fighter jet program. In response, Turkey opted for F-16s, taking advantage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine to upgrade its defense industry. The conflict also increased Turkey’s leverage over NATO, particularly as it stonewalled Sweden’s bid for membership.

Amid the war in Gaza, Erdogan’s alignment with the Palestinian cause and vocal criticism of Western support for Israel have deepened rifts between Ankara and Washington. In the past, the Turkish president also blamed the Obama administration for its support for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces during the Syrian civil war, an issue that has lingered.

All the same, Turkey has proved that it is still indispensable to the West: It has acted as a key mediator in the Russia-Ukraine war, underscoring its delicate balancing act between NATO commitments and partnership with Moscow. In this role, Turkey has achieved impressive results—such as facilitating the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War.

For Erdogan, these developments have confirmed Turkey’s need to pursue a form of nonalignment and to shift its focus toward the global south and non-Western entities. Turkey’s pivot has led it to engagements across the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, where Ankara has expanded its networks and business. In this context, BRICS offers Turkey a unique opportunity to join a rising bloc that represents a significant portion of the global south as well as Russia and China—key actors in Eurasia.

In a world marked by great-power rivalry and competing grand narratives, Turkey stands to regain its role as a bridge between the West, global south, and Eurasian powers. The country’s unique position draws on its geographical location and imperial history. By applying to join the BRICS—an informal yet high-profile group—Turkey is signaling to the West that it should not be taken for granted.

[head-post]

Indonesia joins BRICS despite Trump’s threats

Earlier, US President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100% duty on imports of goods from BRICS countries if they continued efforts to develop an alternative to the US dollar, but Indonesia joined the bloc despite the threats, according to bne IntelliNews.

Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, Director of the China-Indonesia Desk at Celios (Centre of Economic and Law Studies), urged the Indonesian government to stay vigilant against potential threats from Trump, as he previously followed through on his statements.

This would cause a sharp decline in export volumes, particularly for products heavily reliant on the US market.

If tariffs are imposed, Indonesia’s economy could face instability over the short to medium term. Trump’s re-election also risks escalating the trade war between the US and China.

Celios Executive Director Bhima Yudhistira also said Jakarta should develop partnerships with other BRICS countries rather than China. If Indonesia focuses on China, its membership in BRICS will only reinforce Beijing’s dominance.

Researcher Yeta Purnama urged the Indonesian government to co-operate on green investment and develop green capital markets.

Multilateral cooperation has its benefits, but if it revolves around the same economic circle, any downturn in a dominant member’s economy, such as China, could undermine domestic economic stability.

On Tuesday, Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry (Kemlu) described the country’s BRICS membership as a reflection of its active engagement in global issues and its commitment to promoting multilateral dialogue.

Indonesia sees its BRICS membership as a strategic step to enhance collaboration and cooperation with other developing countries based on principles of equality, mutual respect and sustainable development.

The move underscores Indonesia’s burgeoning influence on the world stage. It also raises the issue of the country’s development within BRICS and the wider global economy.

Read more HERE

[urbangeographies]

BRICS Adds Six New Members Yesterday, the BRICS group of nations (Brazil, China, India, Russia, and South Africa), announced the bloc's expansion to include six new members: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. It is the first expansion of the group since South Africa joined in 2010. The group of emerging economies has been described as an effort to create a counterweight to Western economic and political dominance and to bring greater relevance to the concerns of the Global South. With China as the group's most powerful member, the group has become more active in developing alternative financial systems, particularly since the imposition of Western-backed sanctions on Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

This map depicts the current members of the BRICS group of countries in orange, with the members who have been approved to join the bloc in yellow. Click on the map to learn more.

Source: American Geographical Society. Further Reading: Reuters, Washington Post, NPR, The Guardian, South China Morning Post, American Geographical Society. Graphic Source: Al Jazeera

[dertaglichedan]

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Tuesday that China expects fellow members of the BRICS economic bloc to push back against President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats.

“As an important platform of cooperation for emerging markets and developing countries, BRICS advocates openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, not bloc confrontation, and does not target any third party. The aim is to realize common development and prosperity,” Lin said at a press conference on Tuesday.

“China stands ready to continue working with BRICS partners to deepen practical cooperation in various fields and make more contributions to the sustained and steady growth of the world economy,” he said.

Russia, the “R” in BRICS, likewise rejected Trump’s statements on Monday.

“More and more countries are switching to the use of national currencies in their trade and foreign economic activities,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“If the U.S. uses force, as they say economic force, to compel countries to use the dollar it will further strengthen the trend of switching to national currencies,” Peskov predicted.

[weedle-testaburger]

they should form a bloc of countries that are memes. it can be like the eu or brics but with no socio-economic power whatsoever

[warsofasoiaf]

Would a US-Saudi defense pact modeled on the US-Japan defense pact be valuable to the US, or is this more the US buying Saudi diplomatic actions on Israel by promising to protect Saudi interests? Would this make Saudi Arabia less likely to join BRICS, or align with Russia? Is the US overpaying for Arab-Israeli rapprochement?

It would be valuable to the US, if it actually delivered all that it promised, establishing an anti-Iran Middle Eastern bloc and fend off Chinese influence in the region, which are strategic goals for the United States. As an added bonus, getting Saudi Arabia off fossil fuels and toward civilian nuclear power would be a step toward accomplishing climate goals.

I doubt it can actually materialize. Netanyahu can't really promise any concessions to the Palestinians that Riyadh has demanded as part of any normalization arrangement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and convincing 67 senators to sign on to an increasingly unpopular Saudi Arabia with a defensive pact is difficult - especially if it can be interpreted to get the US involved in the war with the Houthis. So in that sense, I can't say the US is overpaying, because it's likely they'll be paying nothing to get nothing, unless they decide to make more measured, smaller actions.

BRICS is largely a toothless entity - there's been big talk about BRICS being the new game-changer, but largely ignored is that India and China hate each other and frequently have border skirmishes and neither would be willing to employ economic concessions that would grant the other entity (or BRICS itself) control over their country's economic output.

Thanks for the question, Cle-Guy.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[workersolidarity]

🇷🇺🇨🇳 🚨

RUSSIA, CHINA AND BRICS PREPARE MASSIVE BLOW TO US DOLLAR DOMINANCE WITH LATEST CURRENCY MOVES

The BRICS trade organization, with the backing of the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, is preparing a major blow to U.S. dollar dominance in the global economy with an expanded payments system for trade between nations that will not be pegged to the U.S. dollar, according to reports in the Russian media.

The report, published in Russian news outlet Ria Novosti, stated that a new decentralized, blockchain-based international payment system, known as BRICS Pay, will make it possible to bypass Western sanctions while boosting the economic influence of BRICS, BRICS member states, as well as developing countries that trade with BRICS nations, while accelerating efforts to create a new international trade currency.

The United States sees these developments as a direct threat the U.S. dollar and its status as the World's reserve currency, according to the news outlet, with one of the main goals of the BRICS organization being the avoidance of International dependency on the U.S. dollar for trade outside the Western sphere of influence.

Already, 95% of trade between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China is conducted in Yuan and Rubles.

This kind of trade, conducted outside the U.S. dollar, "increases solvency and economic resilience to uncertainties and external shocks," says Shen Yi, the Chief of the BRICS Research Center at the Development Research Institute of Fudon University, as quoted by Ria Novosti.

“Objectively speaking, the diversified development of the international monetary and payment systems is consistent with the changing trends in the distribution of power and the general direction of evolution of the global system,” Yi noted in an interview with the Russian news outlet.

The news agency says the next step in this development is "our own system of international payments."

Recently, Russian Presidential Assistant, Yuri Ushakov, announced the intention of the BRICS commonwealth to create a payment system using a blockchain-based digital currency, with the purpose of developing a modern, effective payment service (BRICS Pay) intended to make international payments between countries "convenient, cost-effective, and most importantly, free from political influence."

"We need to completely move away from the peg [of international trade] to the dollar and Western instruments like [the] SWIFT [payments system]." Ushakov added.

Experts point to a BRICS payment system as a method of avoiding the sanctions of the United States and its Western allies, emphasizing that BRICS countries, and countries trading with BRICS member-states, will be able to perform mutual payments while avoiding the U.S. dollar, weakening the currency's role as the backbone of international payments and the world reserve currency.

The report also adds that a decentralized cryptocurrency payment system based on blockchain technology would be far more difficult to track, helping countries to avoid secondary sanctions while trading with nation-states under economic assault by the West like the Russian Federation.

Furthermore, a BRICS payment system will become a direct competitor to the Western-dominated and controlled SWIFT payment scheme, strengthening multipolarity in global finance and undermining the dictats of the United States and the European Union, while increasing the financial and political heft of the BRICS organization and its members.

According to Yaroslav Ostrovsky, a specialist in the strategic research department at Total Research, “If this project is implemented, its participants will switch to their own currencies in international payments, without the dollar and SWIFT terminals. At the same time, it is planned that countries outside the bloc will also be able to use the new system. The synergistic effect from such interaction will strengthen the position of BRICS in the global economic system."

Setting up such a payment system will take time, with financial experts suggesting it could take upwards of a year for debugging and implementing the payment scheme, while some experts say the system could become the basis for a future, single, BRICS supranational currency, and perhaps even a direct challenger the U.S. dollar's position as the world's reserve currency.

The new payment system, as well as any future BRICS currency, are a part of a process for which BRICS aims to become a global organization, trade union, and international financial association in direct competition with the Western-dominated international trade system, based on the U.S. dollar, that is currently wielded as a weapon against the adversaries of the West through its sanctions regime and it's control over International institutions.

#source

#photosource

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil’s BRICS Balancing Act Is Getting Harder

The bloc’s expansion is amplifying its anti-Western tendencies, creating strategic risks for Brazil.

Since Brazil co-founded the BRICS in 2009, Brazilian analysts and politicians have largely agreed that membership brought tangible benefits to the country—including closer ties to China. But as this year’s summit approaches, the costs are adding up. The meeting in Kazan, Russia, will occur as the invasion of Ukraine, more than halfway through its third year, continues to cloud Vladimir Putin’s reputation.

BRICS membership (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) helped solidify Brazil’s status as an emerging power, a narrative that has held up remarkably well despite economic stagnation during the last decade. It also guaranteed Brazilian leaders regular facetime with China’s political leadership and bureaucracy, which became the country’s top trading partner in 2009.

The countless intra-BRICS meetings on areas ranging from defense and health to education and the environment helped Brazil’s bureaucracy, largely ignorant about China until recently, adapt to a less Western-centric world. Perhaps most importantly, however—and often overlooked by Western analysts—is that Brazil found common cause with other BRICS members in seeking to actively shape the transition towards multipolarity, which they regard not only as inevitable but also desirable and a development that will help constrain Washington.

Meanwhile, the costs of BRICS membership were largely seen as negligible, so neither center-right president Michel Temer (2016-18) nor far-right president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-22) questioned Brazil’s membership. On the contrary, by the end of his government, Bolsonaro was a pariah in most of the West, but thanks to the BRICS grouping, he avoided complete diplomatic isolation. After all, it was only during encounters with fellow BRICS leaders that the former right-wing president could be sure not to face uncomfortable questions about his handling of the pandemic, deforestation or his unfounded allegations about electoral fraud.

Recent developments in the BRICS grouping, however, have the potential to undermine this relatively broad consensus in Brazil vis-à-vis the benefits of membership. Until last year, Brazil had, along with India, successfully prevented the bloc’s expansion, promoted by Beijing since 2017. Both Brasília and Delhi feared a loss of the grouping’s exclusivity and a loss of capacity to control intra-BRICS dynamics, having worked to fend off efforts by China and Russia to include anti-Western language in the summit declarations. Symbolizing the growing rift between an anti-Western bloc and another that opts for multi-alignment (or non-alignment), Russia often seeks to portray BRICS as a counterweight to the G7, while President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva likes to insist that BRICS is “not against anyone.”

Continue reading.

[darkmaga-returns]

In the face of the intensification of global economic tensions, the central role of the dollar in international trade is increasingly being called into question. At the heart of this upheaval, the BRICS nations are seeking to free themselves from this dependence by exploring alternative solutions

Friday, January 31, 2025

In the face of the intensification of global economic tensions, the central role of the dollar in international trade is increasingly being called into question. At the heart of this upheaval, the BRICS nations are seeking to free themselves from this dependence by exploring alternative solutions. According to economist Jim Rickards, these countries already have a common unofficial currency: gold. This discreet yet strategic approach allows them to circumvent the financial pressures exerted by the United States, particularly through economic sanctions. As the United States intensifies the use of the dollar as a geopolitical weapon, the BRICS present a resistance that could redefine the rules of global trade. This strategy raises questions about the future balance of the international monetary system.

The BRICS, between economic pressure and monetary innovation

Jim Rickards, a recognized economist and author, claims that the BRICS do not need to create a single currency to facilitate their commercial exchanges. In his view, gold already fulfills this role, as the precious metal acts as a common unofficial currency within the bloc. This statement was made during an interview broadcast on Bannon’s War Room on December 3, 2024, a channel hosted on the Rumble platform.

[mariacallous]

The Kremlin is eager to spotlight the BRICS summit in Kazan, which began on Oct. 22, as evidence that Russia is not diplomatically isolated from the rest of the world. Putin aide Yuri Ushakov noted that around 30 countries have applied for membership in the bloc, which Russia hopes to position as an alternative to the G7 and G20. However, some of Moscow’s closest partners, such as Kazakhstan and Serbia, are distancing themselves from talk of joining BRICS. To make matters worse, a number of expected guests also didn’t show up in Kazan — Brazil’s President, Lula da Silva, canceled at the last minute, citing a head injury. Political and economic divisions are weakening the organization, and the influx of membership applications shouldn't be mistaken as a sign of strength, says Anton Barbashin, political analyst and editorial director of the analytical platform Riddle Russia. While BRICS serves as a form of self-therapy for Russia, helping it maintain the illusion of global importance, other member states are happy to go along while taking advantage of Moscow’s economic generosity — including discounted energy supplies.