BRICS & New World Order Thread

[Strangelove]

We're going to get more and more BRICS, New World Order and Global South cooperation news and developments, this thread serves this important subject area, instead just throwing it into Breaking & World News.

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18:33, 29-Jun-2022

BRICS and diversification of the international monetary system

By Feng Xingke

Editor's note: Feng Xingke is the secretary-general of Center for BRICS and Global Governance (CBGG), secretary-general of the World Financial Forum (WFF). The views expressed in the article are the author’s personal views and does not represent that of CGTN.

The Western sanctions shake the international monetary system. /CFP photo

Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began, Moscow has been subjected to extremely strong financial sanctions from the U.S., Europe and other Western countries. The sanctions include excluding Russia's major financial institutions from the international payment system SWIFT, suspending the use of Visa and MasterCard bank cards services in Russia, freezing the assets and gold reserves of the Russian central bank, and stopping the most favored nation treatment for Russia. The termination of project cooperation between the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and Russia has cut most links between Russia and the global financial system.

All these financial sanctions on Russia are backed by the dominant position of the U.S. and Europe in the international monetary system. The U.S., European countries, Japan and other major economies leading the sanctions against Russia have accounted for more than 95 percent of the global foreign exchange reserves. The currencies of several of the major economies that have imposed sanctions on Russia also account for more than 90 percent of global payments. This is the fundamental reason why those countries dare to implement and weaponize financial sanctions against Moscow.

The Western sanctions are shaking the international monetary system with the U.S. dollar and the Euro at the core. As a consequence of the sanctions, the global market players, investors and third parties not related to the sanctions may try to avoid using related currencies.

For example, they will try to avoid dollar and euro settlements. The authorities of relevant countries will gradually reduce their official reserves of the U.S. dollar and even the euro, for the sake of diversification and security of forex reserves.

Besides, the abuse of financial hegemony by the U.S. seriously threatens the stability of the international monetary system. It is also leading to the escalation of international contradictions and the acceleration of the process of "de-dollarization."

In fact, there have already been signs of de-dollarization and de-euroization in the world. Its manifested mainly in currency regionalization, local currency internationalization, currency swaps, currency digitization and gold monetization.

However, we should not overestimate the impact of the U.S., European and Western sanctions in the process of de-dollarization and de-euroization. The main reason is that the dominant position of the U.S. dollar and the euro in the international monetary system is still difficult to shake in the short term. Market entities still support the use of these two currencies for international trade investment and payment. The inertia of the market will support U.S. dollars and euros for a long time.

The BRICS countries have shown a high degree of consistency on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. From the United Nations Security Council to multilateral mechanisms, the BRICS countries essentially abstained from voting, and these countries' voting positions were basically the same. Even though Brazil voted in favor of the United Nations General Assembly, the country’s foreign minister did not support the initiative when he spoke, and opposed unilateral and unregulated sanctions and spillover effects on the global economy.

Since the establishment of the BRICS cooperation mechanism in 2006, the proportion of the total economic output of the five countries in the world economy has increased from 11.7 percent in 2006 to 25.9 percent in 2021. In the same period, the proportion of the total trade volume in world trade has increased from 11 percent to 19 percent, contributing more than 50 percent to global economic growth.

The position of the BRICS countries better reflects the position of developing countries and emerging market countries. The BRICS countries, along with other developing countries and emerging market countries, pay more attention to development, hunger, survival and stability. They also pay more attention to post-pandemic recovery, sustainable development, global financial stability and other issues. Therefore, the BRICS countries have a common voice on Russia and Ukraine conflict, but this common voice is often ignored and weakened internationally.

In the face of Western financial hegemony and the reform of diversification of the international monetary system, the BRICS countries should unite and continue to commit themselves to the cause of global financial governance reform that they have long been promoting.

The BRICS countries should strive for more governance rights under the existing framework of international financial cooperation, such as voting rights in the IMF, including SWIFT, through their own economic strength. They should also strive for more power within the existing framework.

In order to avoid Western financial sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction and to reduce relevant risks, the BRICS countries should reduce the use of the U.S. dollar in international economic cooperation, and better employ the use, settlement and transaction of their own currencies.

The BRICS countries can also accelerate the feasibility study on establishing a payment and clearing system, which is conducive to avoiding sanctions and promoting cross-border investment and financing and trade cooperation among BRICS countries. This would benefit the regional economic and trade cooperation while eliminating the global clearing control of the U.S., and opposing American abuse of financial hegemony and long-arm jurisdiction.

BRICS countries should conduct international policy communications from the perspective of maintaining the principle of multilateralism. International multilateral institutions should not exclude Russia from the decision-making process by discriminatory means. It is in the common interest of the world and the BRICS countries that the IMF and the World Bank resume normal policy operations in Russia.

 

[Rettam Stacf]

Iran, Argentina seek BRICS membership​

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In an earlier post in another thread, I mentioned that which country(s) apply to join BRICS next will indicate which direction the BRICS+ want to go. It now appears that increasing the global population represented by BRICS+ is not the top priority. Rather, BRICS is focusing on increasing its economic influence by bringing in new members with significant positions on strategic and essential commodity resources like energy (oil, gas and coal), food (including fertilizer), noble gas and rare earth/precious metal, essential ores (iron, lithium, nickel etc) etc. etc., which many economists now refer to them as the "real" currencies versus fiat money and their financial systems controlled by the G7.

Iran is an energy powerhouse. Argentina, together with Brazil, encompass more than 50% of the landmass in S America. It is also a major exporter of food and several essential and rare earth metals.

As the economic MAD war following the Ukraine hot war taught the world, it does not require a cartel, just a couple of strategic exporter countries, to totally disrupt the global economy.

The following article, with a bit of scaremongering, is pretty much to the point.

The New BRICS Alliance is a Mortal Threat to the West

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Given this direction for BRICS, I am going to stick my neck out and make a wish for the next few membership applications to be from one or more of the following 4 countries - Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kazakhstan (all of which tended the BRICS Summit last week). That will make BRICS+ an extremely powerful economic alliance.

 

[Strangelove]

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West is struggling to compete with Asia and Africa – BRICS forum president to RT​

People in these regions are beginning to value their own natural and development resources, Purnima Anand claims

President of the BRICS International Forum Purnima Anand at the Eurasian Women's Forum in St. Petersburg. © Roscongress Foundation

The West is finding it more difficult to compete with Asian and African countries as people in these regions are beginning to understand the value of their own natural resources, the president of the BRICS international forum, Purnima Anand, said in an interview with RT on Thursday.

Anand argued that for a long time Western nations had been trying to establish the supremacy of the US dollar by exploiting the human and natural resources of other countries and continents. However, she noted, as the level of education increases, the people of Asia, Africa and other regions are beginning to understand the value of their own natural resources and their own development potential, and are now beginning to compete with Europe.

“The competition in Europe which they had among European countries is now flowing towards other continents and other countries,” stated Anand, claiming that the EU is beginning to lose competitiveness.

In her view, the countries of BRICS – an alliance that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – are progressing and it is “high time” they can demonstrate their development policies.

The international forum president also highlighted how the BRICS group played a “very important role” during the Covid-19 pandemic, adding that, now, amid the conflict in Ukraine, BRICS nations are “trying to make the balance.”

On the topic of Ukraine, Anand noted how the situation has led to dire consequences for people around the world and how sanctions imposed by the West against Russia have backfired.

“American sanctions on Russia spoil all traditional rules of trading all over the world,” she stated, highlighting that Russia was not just trading with Europe, but with numerous countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

“When the sanctions started then the whole world suffered [...] because all transportation and logistic systems just came to a stop,” she said.

Anand insisted that American sanctions on Russia need to be urgently reviewed and that the conflict in Ukraine will never be resolved unless the US and NATO take it “seriously.”

She also mentioned how the EU has a hard time adapting to the changing political landscape due to its reliance on the US for its policies. The EU has always had “internal democratic problems” and inflation has long been an issue for the union, Anand observed, adding that the conflict in Ukraine significantly exacerbated these issues.

As a solution to these problems, the EU is adopting policies that are backed by the US, which, Anand claims, cannot work because different countries require different approaches.

“Every country cannot be the same, all people’s problems cannot be the same,” she insisted, adding that Europe has always thought that what it decides and does is “for the whole world.” “But it is not true,” Anand said, adding that the West should truly understand what problems people around the globe actually face and what can be done to help them.

She stated that the policies the EU has adopted thus far have culminated in “results that are not in the favor of the people,” noting that people in the bloc are suffering as prices on everything from gas to general costs of living are increasing.

 

[Strangelove]

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The decline of the US and the rise of the East

By Daniel Kovalik Published: Jul 09, 2022 08:09 PM

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

We are now witnessing a great realignment and transformation. The so-called "American Century" has given way to a new century in which other countries are asserting themselves and taking the lead in the world. This new world order seemed quite unlikely several decades ago when the USSR collapsed and it appeared, and the US certainly declared, that the United States would be the one, dominant power for many decades to come. Ironically, it was the US' very attempt to maintain this status which has inexorably led to its losing it, and to its decline as a nation.

While ironic, this was all quite predictable. Indeed, the Democratic Party, in its 1900 party platform, warned of this very outcome when it stated, "[w]e assert that no nation can long endure half republic and half empire, and we warn the American people that imperialism abroad will lead quickly and inevitably to despotism at home." But no sooner were these words uttered than that the US embarked upon unprecedented empire-building beyond its already-giant mainland which itself was the product of a brutal settler-colonial project which displaced, subdued and killed millions of people already living from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

The US, of course, settled upon the instruments of war and violence to achieve its imperial aims. After all, the reasoning went, these had worked so well for it in building the nation to begin with. This addiction to unending expansion through costly wars, however, was not and is not sustainable. Indeed, in his farewell address in 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, himself a former General, warned that the US republic was under threat, not from abroad, but from a growing "military-industrial complex" which was threatening to usurp democratic and civilian rule of the country.

More recently, in what sounded like a postmortem of the United States, Jimmy Carter told President Trump when discussing China in 2019 that the US is "the most warlike nation in the history of the world," and that this has cost the US dearly.

As Carter explained, "We have wasted, I think, $3 trillion [on military spending since 1979]. … China has not wasted a single penny on war, and that's why they're ahead of us. In almost every way.

"And I think the difference is if you take $3 trillion and put it in American infrastructure, you'd probably have $2 trillion left over. We'd have high-speed railroad. We'd have bridges that aren't collapsing. We'd have roads that are maintained properly. Our education system would be as good as that of, say, South Korea or Hong Kong."

The results of all this have been disastrous. As just one example, Forbes magazine reported in 2020 that "54% of US adults 16-74 years old - about 130 million people - lack proficiency in literacy, reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level." Forbes estimated that this functional illiteracy - on par with what we used to call Third World nations - was costing the US $2.2 trillion a year. It is also costing the US in terms of its ability to maintain an informed electorate which can meaningfully participate in an ostensibly democratic system.

The other factor leading to the decline of the United States has been the increasing usurpation of power by the monied interests which now control every facet of life in the country, including the very system of "democracy," if one can still call it that. This was made possible by a decision of the least democratic branch of the US government, the Supreme Court, in its 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Electoral Commission which, in the words of the well-respected Brennan Center for Justice, "reversed century-old campaign finance restrictions and enabled corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited funds on elections."

The result is that US electoral positions now go to the highest bidders which in turn act on behalf of themselves and their super rich friends, and against the interests of the vast majority of the population who are forced to languish in poverty, ill-health and ignorance. Nowhere was this phenomenon better demonstrated than during the recent pandemic in which the US suffered the highest number of cases and deaths in the world while the measures imposed by the US government to ostensibly combat the pandemic ensured that the very rich became $4.5 trillion dollars richer at the expense of everyone else. This is the mark of a country that is not working as it should. The US is, indeed, a failed state, and it is failed by design so that the few oligarchs can rule in the breach created by the chaos.

While the US suffers this sad decline, countries in the East like China and Vietnam are rising. With their economies focused on meeting human needs, rather than on fueling war and the gross enrichment of the few, these countries are lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty and building sustainable infrastructure in their own countries and around the world. The US, rather than viewing these countries as adversaries or even enemies, should have the humility to learn from them and indeed work with them in creating a more just and prosperous world. This would require the US to radically change course and to focus on adopting peaceful means in its dealings with the world; on creating rather than destroying. It is my hope that the US can make this course correction before it is too late for all of us.

The author is an American lawyer who currently teaches International Human Rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. [email protected]

 

[Strangelove]

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More countries knocking on BRICS’ door a sign the world needs fairer governance than West-dominated one

By Global Times Published: Jul 16, 2022 04:56 PM

BRICS Photo: VCG

BRICS, a grouping of major emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa - has become one of the trending buzzwords in global public opinion lately. After Iran and Argentina applied to join the BRICS mechanism, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt also plan to knock on the door of the BRICS for official membership, Sputnik quoted BRICS International Forum President Purnima Anand as saying.

If the trend tells anything, it is the growing charm of BRICS' strength and values, as well as the loss of attraction in the current West-dominated global governance.

Crises have been surfacing on a global level since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Quite a few countries, especially those in the West, are being confronted with crippling inflation, untenable energy costs, looming recessions and food shortage. Yet BRICS countries have shown much less sensitivity and vulnerability than the US and European countries amid these challenges.

The reason stems from BRICS members' own strength and enhanced cooperation within the group. According to the World Bank, Russia holds the world's largest natural gas reserves, the second largest coal reserves, and the eighth largest oil reserves. Brazil has diverse agricultural products and vast mineral wealth. Their different advantages plus the promotion of BRICS' cooperation on food supply and the exchanges of national currencies have made the group less impacted by the global crises.

More importantly, BRICS countries have the will, and, in different degrees, capability, to fix the deficit in global governance. In this regard, BRICS has already launched a series of innovations. Take the BRICS-led New Development Bank (NDB). The initial subscribed capital is equally distributed among the founding members - the five BRCIS countries. The voting power of each member is also equal based on their shares in the capital stock of the bank.

This example, just a tiny part of the BRICS cooperation though, shows that BRICS is a group where the five countries are on a completely equal footing, with equal rights to speak, vote, and make decisions. This is nothing like any Western alliance, where there is always a dominant role who has the biggest say in the bloc, and with crystal clear agenda - bloc confrontation.

When facing possible BRICS enlargement, the West can hardly hide their Cold War mentality. Since the BRICS summit was held in June, Western media outlets have been hyping the topic under the theme of East-West confrontation.

Earlier this month, US magazine Newsweek said that when NATO's "largest expansion in decades" took place, "Beijing and Moscow are looking to take on new members of their own" blocs, and BRICS was named particularly in the article. By the end of June, the Hill published a headline, "An out-of-touch G7 could lose global leadership to BRICS."

On Twitter, some Western netizens also describe BRICS as a rival of G7 and NATO. It cannot be more narrow-minded to view BRICS in this way. As if for some Westerners, when some countries get together, they are bonding to have a target to oppose, just like what the West has always done.

Cooperation has been one of the natural needs across the globe, as well as a normal state in international relations for a long time. Why deliberately twist a specific cooperation into a bloc confrontation? BRICS has simply no interest in becoming another G7 or NATO.

Instead, as stipulated in the organization's spirit, namely "openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation," BRICS calls for global security and economic governance, while emphasizing not only South-South cooperation, but also dialogues between South and North.

What BRICS is against are power politics, hegemony, the law of the jungle, all of which basically determine that in international politics, only major powers have a say, and small countries must be obedient, or even be exploited. Against this backdrop, BRICS calls for fairness and justice, a global governance in which developing countries have their due status and their voices can be heard. The BRICS just want to bring a balance in the current global order.

When the West compares BRICS with G7 and NATO, it has turned a blind eye to the fact that G7 has long become a rich countries' club, and NATO's mentality is still trapped in the Cold War. Whenever G7 attempts to put up a show to discuss various global issues nowadays, all it really cares about is containment of China and Russia.

But BRICS advocates win-win for the entire world, that is, a win-win not just for the developing countries, but also for the developed powers. This is the biggest difference between BRICS and Western blocs.

In the past, developing countries had not enough strength to reach the goal. Now the timing has come.

Regulations or legal procedures for BRICS enlargement are under discussion. It is thus unlikely that BRICS will absorb new members any time soon before relevant principles and rules are carried out. But when Turkey, a NATO ally, applies for BRICS membership, it mirrors BRICS, be it its capacity or ideas, represents something much cooler than US-dominated rules and orders. At least it signals that the world needs a reformed governance where Western voices are not the only sound.

 

[Strangelove]

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Sisi advances Egypt's bid for BRICS membership​

President of the BRICS International Forum Purnima Anand revealed Egypt's interest in joining the group along with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and the position is to be discussed at the BRICS summit scheduled for next year in South Africa.

China's President Xi Jinping (L), Russia's President Vladimir Putin (2nd L), Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro (C), India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (2nd R) and South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa (R) attend a meeting with members of the Business Council and management of the New Development Bank during the BRICS summit in Brasilia, Brazil, Nov. 14, 2019. - Pavel Golovkin/POOL/AFP via

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July 24, 2022

CAIRO — President of the BRICS International Forum Purnima Anand announced July 14 that Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are interested in

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.

In an interview with the Russian newspaper

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, Anand said, “All these countries [Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey] have shown an interest in joining and are preparing to apply for membership. I think this is a good step, because expansion is always positively perceived; this will clearly increase the influence of BRICS in the world.”

She continued, “During the 14th BRICS leaders’ summit virtually held on June 23-24, China, Russia and India deliberated the three countries’ interest in joining the group.” (There has been no official statement on the outcome of the deliberations.)

The BRICS group was

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by Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2006. South Africa joined it in 2010. According to a

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by Al-Arabiya, it is an independent international organization that works to encourage trade, political and cultural cooperation among member states.

At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who chaired the last BRICS summit, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took part June 24 in the high-level

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on global development at the

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.

In his

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via video conference, Sisi said, “I would like to express my appreciation for the BRICS group — a forum whose position is growing day by day at the international scene, considering the scope of the economies of its countries that represents more than 20% of the world’s gross domestic product [GDP]. This is in addition to their weight at the international fora, both political and economic, and their prominent role in enhancing cooperation between the southern countries.”

This is the second time Sisi participates in a

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; he participated in the group’s summit in 2017, also at the invitation of the Chinese president.

Presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said in a June 24

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, “The BRICS group is one of the most important economic groups in the world … and China’s invitation to President [Sisi] to participate in the high-level dialogue session of this year’s summit is an assertion of Egypt’s position and its leading political, economic and commercial capabilities at the regional level, and this qualifies it to boost its ties with this vital development forum.”

Rakha Hassan, former Foreign Ministry assistant minister and member of the

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, told Al-Monitor, “There has been Egyptian interest for years in joining the BRICS group, but the request has been postponed until economic reforms are carried out. These include an increase in the

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in Egypt.”

In 2017, Egypt aspired to membership in the BRICS group. The State Information Service said in a

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in early September of that year, “Egypt’s accession to the

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has many opportunities and advantages, especially in the field of development, trade and investment.”

Hassan said, “Talking about increasing the number of BRICS members comes amid very complex international circumstances. Differently put, each party [meaning the major countries] is trying to assemble the largest number of allies, with the BRICS group leaning toward the Russian and Chinese side.”

See link for rest of article.

 

[Strangelove]

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BRICS becomes appealing to more countries as Algeria signals interest in joining group: experts

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Published: Aug 01, 2022 10:15 PM

BRICS Photo: VCG

Signals from Algeria that it wants to join BRICS demonstrate that more and more countries have faith in the group, and its ability to offset the negative influence of certain countries' rising unilateralism and protectionism, said experts.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said Algeria is interested in joining the BRICS group, and the country largely meets the conditions of joining the group, Reuters reported.

Observers believe that it is the BRICS' great strength and potential in driving the world economy and its important role in establishing a more equitable and rational global governance environment that is drawing more countries to become part of BRICS in this turbulent era.

After the BRICS summit this year officially proposed studying the standards and procedures for expansion, the group of major emerging economies has become increasingly appealing to more countries.

In addition to Iran and Argentina, which have officially applied to join BRICS, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt are also signaling an intent for membership of the group, media reported.

Zhu Tianxiang, director at the Center for BRICS Political and Security Studies, Institute of BRICS Studies of Sichuan International Studies University, told the Global Times that more countries are eyeing joining BRICS as they have faith that its growing collective discourse power and capability in driving economy will better lead global governance toward a fair and equitable future and promote the building of a new international political and economic order, Zhu noted.

In this turbulent year when hegemony, cold war mentality and camp confrontation are prevalent and continue to pose threats to the development of developing countries, their desire for an open, inclusive, mutual respect based collaboration is stronger than ever. Unlike the closed and old-fashioned G7, BRICS has no strings attached and all cooperation is mutually beneficial, the expert explained.

BRICS countries account for about a quarter of the global economy. In recent years, they have contributed 50 percent to world economic growth, the Xinhua News Agency reported in June.

The BRICS Summit Beijing Declaration issued in June agreed to propose discussions among its members on the group's expansion process, and also stressed the clarification of the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures for this expansion process after full consultation and consensus.

The five-country BRICS group initially formed in 2009 and is made up of China, Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa, which joined in 2010.

Observers explained that although many countries have expressed a willingness to join BRICS, the expansion will take some time after criteria were agreed among all the current members. It is more likely that the granting of official membership will start next year at the earliest, they said.

Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at the Renmin University of China, suggested in a previous interview with the Global Times that G20 countries interested in joining BRICS can be considered first. He mentioned Indonesia as a potential candidate.

Zhu believed that priority for new membership should be given to countries that can better represent the voices of developing countries of different regions.

"There is a lot of flexibility in the process before any new members are included. Besides economic influence and representation, strategic factors may also be considered," Zhu noted.

 

[Rettam Stacf]

Other than the country with the biggest land mass in Africa, what value Algeria will bring to BRICS ?

Of the 5 countries that have submitted or in process of submitting applications, they each have unique values. Iran, Argentina and Saudi Arabia are rich in various resources from energy, agricultural to essential metals. Egypt controls the critical maritime choke point Suez Canal. And Turkey is the key land transit point of the Silk Road between Central Asia and Europe.

 

[Strangelove]

Other than the country with the biggest land mass in Africa, what value Algeria will bring to BRICS ?

Of the 5 countries that have submitted or in process of submitting applications, they each have unique values. Iran, Argentina and Saudi Arabia are rich in various resources from energy, agricultural to essential metals. Egypt controls the critical maritime choke point Suez Canal. And Turkey is the key land transit point of the Silk Road between Central Asia and Europe.

Oil & gas, geographically close to Europe and anti-french sentiment.

 

[Strangelove]