Thread: BRICS divisions re-emerge ahead of critical expansion debate

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 22 (Reuters) - BRICS leaders met on Tuesday to plot the future course of the bloc of developing nations but divisions re-emerged ahead of a critical debate over a potential expansion of the group intended to boost its global clout.


Heightened tensions in the wake of the Ukraine war and Beijing's growing rivalry with the United States have pushed China and Russia - whose President Vladimir Putin will attend the meeting virtually - to seek to strengthen BRICS.

They are seeking to use the Aug. 22-24 summit in Johannesburg to forge the grouping, which also includes South Africa, Brazil and India, into a counterweight to Western dominance of global institutions.


"Right now, changes in the world, in our times, and in history are unfolding in ways like never before, bringing human society to a critical juncture," China's President Xi Jinping said in remarks delivered at a BRICS business forum.

"The course of history will be shaped by the choices we make."


Xi skipped the event, despite the presence there of counterparts Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.


His remarks were delivered by Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, and it was not immediately clear why Xi, who had a meeting with host Ramaphosa earlier in the day, did not attend.

Comments from Brazil's Lula pointed to a divergence of vision within the bloc, which political analysts say has long struggled to form a coherent view of its role in the global order.


"We do not want to be a counterpoint to the G7, G20 or the United States," Brazil's Lula said on Tuesday during a social media broadcast from Johannesburg. "We just want to organize ourselves."


Beyond the enlargement question, boosting the use of member states' local currencies in trade and financial transactions to lessen dependency of the U.S. dollar is also on the summit agenda.


"The objective, irreversible process of de-dollarization of our economic ties is gaining momentum," Russia's Putin said in a pre-recorded statement.


Russia's economy is grappling with Western sanctions over Moscow's war in Ukraine. Putin is wanted under an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, and is being represented at the summit by his foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.


South African organizers say there will be no discussions however of a common BRICS currency, an idea floated by Brazil as an alternative to dollar-dependence.

POINT OF CONTENTION


BRICS remains a disparate group, ranging from China, the world's second biggest economy, to South Africa, a relative minnow which is nonetheless Africa's most developed economy.


Russia is keen to show the West it still has friends but India has increasingly reached out to the West, as has Brazil under its new leader.


India and China have also periodically clashed along their disputed border, adding to the challenge of decision-making in a group that relies on consensus.


Speaking to reporters in Washington on Tuesday, White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said he did not see BRICS turning into a geopolitical rival of the United States.


"This is a very diverse collection of countries ... with differences of view on critical issues," he said.


Expansion has long been a goal of China, which hopes that broader membership will lend clout to a grouping already home to some 40% of the world's population and a quarter of global gross domestic product.


Russia is also keen to expand membership while South Africa's President Ramaphosa voiced support for the idea at the meeting with Xi.


The BRICS leaders will hold a mini-retreat and dinner on Tuesday evening where they are likely to discuss a framework and criteria for admitting new countries.


India, which is wary of Chinese dominance and has warned against rushing expansion, has "positive intent and an open mind", Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said on Monday. Brazil, meanwhile, is concerned that expanding BRICS will dilute its influence, though Lula reiterated on Tuesday his desire to see neighbor Argentina join the bloc.


An Argentine government source involved in the country's negotiations to join BRICS told Reuters that no new members were expected to be admitted to the bloc during the summit.


While a potential BRICS enlargement remains up in the air, the grouping's pledge to become a champion of the developing world and offer an alternative to a world order dominated by wealthy Western nations is already finding resonance.


Over 40 countries have expressed interest in joining BRICS, say South African officials. Of them, nearly two dozen have formally asked to be admitted, with some expected to send delegations to Johannesburg.

BRICS divisions re-emerge ahead of critical expansion debate | Reuters

Rumours swirl after Xi Jinping fails to give key Brics speech

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, unexpectedly skipped a scheduled speech at a key multilateral business forum in South Africa on Tuesday.


Xi arrived in Johannesburg for the Brics summit on Monday evening on what is only his second international trip this year, after visiting Moscow in March. He was met on the airport tarmac by South African president Cyril Ramaphosa.


According to the summit schedule, Xi was expected to attend the forum and deliver remarks alongside other leaders on Tuesday. But instead his speech was read out by his commerce minister, Wang Wentao.


Xi later attended the summit dinner, but no reason was given for missing the speech. It appeared to be a last-minute decision, as state media articles and social media posts from China’s foreign ministry spokesperson were published as though he had delivered it himself.




Some China watchers speculated whether something was “amiss” or if Xi was temporarily ill, but an explanation is unlikely to be given.


Bill Bishop, author of Sinocism, a popular newsletter about Chinese affairs, noted there had already been a long period this month without any public appearances by Xi, which seemed “a bit strange”.


“This last-minute decision to skip the business forum looks even stranger. So in the absence of any useful information from the PRC [People’s Republic of China] system rumours will fly,” he said.


The China Global South Project noted this was the second unexplained absence by a Chinese official after former foreign minister Qin Gang – who has not been seen in public for months – also missed last month’s foreign ministers Brics meeting.


“To say [Xi’s absence] is extraordinary is an understatement as Chinese leaders never miss highly choreographed events like this,” it said.

The speech, delivered by Wang, made thinly veiled attacks on the US, describing an unnamed country as “obsessed with maintaining hegemony, [and] has gone out of its way to cripple the emerging markets and developing countries”.


“Whoever develops first becomes their target of containment. Whoever is catching up becomes its target of obstruction,” Wang said on behalf of Xi.

The Brics countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – represent about 40% of the world’s population and a quarter of global GDP. Leaders of all member nations except Vladimir Putin attended in person as he currently faces an arrest warrant for war crimes issued by the international criminal court.


The summit was attended by representatives of dozens of other countries, as the main members consider expanding its membership.


Some members like China are seeking to build up Brics as a counterweight to western blocs like the G7 or G20, although there is division within the group. On Tuesday Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said it wasn’t the group’s aim to compete with western institutions. India’s leadership, which has an often fractious relationship with China, is also hesitant over empowering Beijing through Brics.

Rumours swirl after Xi Jinping fails to give key Brics speech | Xi Jinping | The Guardian

BRICS is really a joke.

Sounds like Mr. Shithole is asking for some of those Belt and Owed loans back.

Originally Posted by misskit

Comments from Brazil's Lula pointed to a divergence of vision within the bloc, which political analysts say has long struggled to form a coherent view of its role in the global order.


"We do not want to be a counterpoint to the G7, G20 or the United States," Brazil's Lula said on Tuesday during a social media broadcast from Johannesburg. "We just want to organize ourselves."

have at it

Thursday, August 24, 2023

China and Russia Announce their Future Plans for the Moon, Including a Human Base

"China and Russia have released a Guide that details their plans for a lunar base that will rival NASA's, and they are looking for countries to join them! This final phase will involve the completion of all in-orbit and surface facilities that provide energy, communication, research, exploration, and transport services.

It will also involve the verification of all ISRU-related and other potential technologies. Once the ILRS is complete, China and Russia hope to maintain and expand it as needed.

This phase will involve five jointly-developed IRLS missions to establish:

The base architecture, establishment of the command center, basic energy, telecommunications facilities, establishment of lunar research exploration facilities IRLS-3 IRLS-4 IRLS-5 I

The Guide also establishes that partner organizations will have the opportunity to conduct their own missions as part of each phase. Those missions are to conform to the objectives of each phase in question, with possible roles ranging from assisting with exploration to the construction of necessary infrastructure in orbit and on the surface, and the creation of base facilities."

China and Russia Announce their Future Plans for the Moon, Including a Human Base

Great about the Chinese going to the moon and the Indians once they are all there global pop , communist, pollution will plummet, a free roti in the dhoti or a bucket of chicken should work like the 10 pound poms. Will the last China apologist sweep the chicken feet bones before waving Zaijian.

Gracie Fields - Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye [Lyrics in discription] - YouTube

next step

Is there rice on Mars

Stats - August 2023

BRICS, G7, ROW

Originally Posted by david44

Is there rice on Mars

You may wish to watch this movie:

The Wandering Earth II



Available here:

https://moviesjoy.is/movie/the-wandering-earth-ii-95638

AUGUST 28, 2023 BY M. K. BHADRAKUMAR

India, the reluctant BRICS traveller

"India became a beacon of hope for the Western media for a short while in the run-up to the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg — a potential dissenter who might derail the grouping’s acceleration toward a “de-dollarisation” process.

Reuters floated a rumour that Prime Minister Narendra Modi might not attend the summit in person, which of course was an excessive case of wishful thinking but called attention to what a high stakes geopolitical game BRICS has become.

Such paranoia was unprecedented. If up until last year, the Western game was to mock at BRICS as an inconsequential club, the pendulum has swung to the other extreme. The reasons are not far to seek.

At the most obvious level, there is great sensitivity in the Western world that the massive effort through the past 18 months to weaponise sanctions against Russia not only flopped but boomeranged. And this is at a time when the United States’ morbid fear of being overtaken by China peaked — burying the global hegemony of the West since the “geographical discoveries” of the 15th century.

The recent years witnessed a steady strengthening of the Russia-China partnership, which has reached a “no limits” character, contrary to the Western calculus that the historical contradictions between the two neighbouring giants virtually ruled out such a possibility. In reality, Russia-China partnership is shaping up as something bigger than a formal alliance in its seamless tolerance of the optimal pursuit of each protagonists’s national interests while concurrently supporting the core interests of both sides.

Thus, any format in which Russia and China play a lead role, such as BRICS, is bound to be in the US’ crosshairs. It is as simple as that. The New York Times called the BRICS expansion “a significant victory for the two leading members of the group, increasing China’s political influence and helping to reduce Russia’s isolation.”

It drew comfort that the group is heterogeneous and does not have a clear political course, “except for the desire to change the current global financial and management system, making it more open, more diverse and less restrictive.”

This is the whole point. The Indian analysts are missing the wood for the trees. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov disclosed to the media that behind closed doors, the Johannesburg summit had “quite a lively discussion” [read divergent opinions] but reached a consensus on the “criteria and procedures” of BRICS expansion, which he outlined as follows:

“The weight, prominence and importance of the candidates and their international standing were the primary factors for us [BRICS members]. It is our shared view that we must recruit like-minded countries into our ranks that believe in a multipolar world order and the need for more democracy and justice in international relations. We need those who champion a bigger role for the Global South in global governance. The six countries whose accession was announced today fully meet these criteria.”

Later, after returning to Moscow from Johannesburg, Lavrov told the Russian state television two important things:

“We [BRICS] don’t want to encroach on anyone’s interests. We simply don’t want anyone to hamper the development of our mutually beneficial projects that are not aimed against anyone.” Western politicians and reporters “tend to wag their tongues, while we use our heads and [engage in] concrete issues.”
There is no need for BRICS to become an alternative to the G20 now. That said, “the formal division of the G20 Group into G7+ and BRICS+ is taking a practical shape.”
Unless one is myopic, BRICS’ sense of direction is there for all to see. The grumbling and hand-wringing about the logic of BRICS expansion is complete nonsense. For, the unspoken secret lies here, as a leading Russian strategic thinker Fyodor Lukyanov wrote in the government daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta:

“We can hardly talk about an anti-Western orientation — with the exception of Russia and now, perhaps, Iran, none of the current and likely future [BRICS] participants openly wants to oppose themselves to the West. However, this reflects the coming era, when the policy of most states is a constant choice of partners to solve their problems, and there may be different counterparts for different problems.”

This is the reason why India, which carefully protects its line of “multi-alignment” — that is, cooperation with everyone — is also satisfied with a large and heterogeneous BRICS. Delhi is least interested in strengthening antagonistic sentiments within the BRICS community. The Indian commentators cannot grasp this paradox.

Indeed, the pragmatism in admitting three major oil producing countries from the Gulf region (Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE) only signals what Lavrov meant by the “projects” and “concrete issues” that BRICS is grappling with — principally, creating a new international trading system to replace the 5-centuries old system that the West created, which was geared to transfer wealth to the metropolis and enabled the latter to get fatter and richer.

Basically, this is today about tackling the phenomenon of the petrodollar, which is the pillar of the western banking system and at the very core of the “de-dollarisation” process that the BRICS is aiming at. Suffice to say, the curtain is coming down on the Faustian deal of the early 1970s that replaced gold with American dollar and ensured that oil would be traded in dollars, which in turn required all countries to keep their reserves in dollars, and eventually turned into the principal mechanism for the US’ global hegemony.

Put differently, how is it possible to roll back the petrodollar without Saudi Arabia being at the barricades? That said, it is also well understood by all member states, including Russia and Saudi Arabia, that while BRICS is “non-western,” a transformation of the BRICS into an anti-Western alliance is impossible. Quintessentially, what we are seeing in the BRICS’ expansion, therefore, is its transformation into the most representative community in the world, whose members interact with each other bypassing Western pressure.

This is enough for a start, as the reaction in the Western countries to the outcome of the Johannesburg summit testifies. The leading German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung noted that with this limited expansion itself, BRICS has gained “significant geopolitical and economic weight. The question now is how the West will react to this.”

A top official at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Caroline Kanter told the daily, “It is is obvious that we [Western countries] are no longer able to set our own conditions and standards. Proposals will be expected from us so that in the future we will be perceived as an attractive partner.”

France’s Le Figaro wrote that the “enthusiasm” of some 40 countries for BRICS membership “testifies to the growing influence of developing countries on the world stage.” The Guardian highlighted expert opinion that BRICS expansion is rather “a symbol of broad support from the global South for the recalibration of the world order.”

At the same time, the bottom line is that BRICS expansion is perceived in the West as a political victory for Russia and China. Nonetheless, despite its tensions with China, India did the right thing by trimming its sails accordingly while sensing the winds of change and anticipating a new dawn breaking for BRICS cooperation that could inject new vitality into the grouping’s functioning and further strengthen the power of world peace and development.

It is about time the government rethinks the viability of its strategy to holding the relationship with China hostage to the border issue. The BRICS Summit highlighted that China enjoys big support from the Global South. It is quixotic, to say the least, to act as a proxy of the US to contain China.

India will find itself in a cul-de-sac by dissociating itself from the issue of local currencies, payment instruments and platforms simply because China could be a beneficiary of a new trading system that is part of a more just, equitable and participative global order. India risks alienating the Global South who are China’s natural allies, by turning its back on the BRICS’ core agenda of a multipolar world order."

https://www.indianpunchline.com/indi...ics-traveller/

Tragic new axis of evil, mock democracy India (ask a muslim dalit or hill tribe) plus really evil homophobic racist places , sad to see Lula's full Brazilian endorsement

One benefit of nuking the lo may be a brief nuclear winter, cull vegans those who lack Blubber and allow Gaia to restore a less parlous ice flow for Emporer Tud's and Penguins