Farmers thresh hybrid rice in Kihanga, Bubanza Province, Burundi, on June 20. Chinese agricultural experts have set up a multidisciplinary research center in Bubanza where hybrid rice varieties have been cultivated. HAN XU/XINHUA
By EDITH MUTETHYA in Nairobi, Kenya | China Daily Global | Updated: 2023-12-18 09:36
Inclusion of six new members promises to reshape world economic and political order
The BRICS Summit held in South Africa this year will go down in history as a meeting at which a milestone was reached to shape the group’s direction.
During the summit in Johannesburg the BRICS group of emerging economies of Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa extended an invitation to Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that are expected to officially join the group next month.
After the enlargement, experts say, the platform will increase the influence of the Global South, which has traditionally been neglected in terms of economic growth and policies.
Aly Khan, an investment banker in Kenya, said the recent developments in BRICS, such as greater cohesion, its expansion and growing local currency settlement, all point to a grouping that is flexing its muscle.
BRICS expansion is significant, he said, foreshadowing a potentially new financial architecture and an ambition to reform global governance.
Cavince Adhere, an expert on international relations with a focus on China-Africa relations, said BRICS expansion will make the bloc an important platform for international collaboration, especially among Global South countries.
The bloc, with a combined population of more than 3.2 billion, accounts for about 42 percent of the world’s population, a quarter of world GDP and 17 percent of world trade.
“That tells you how important it is,” Adhere said. “It’s now composed of the largest market in the world.”
The bloc also brings together resource-rich countries, he said.
The future of BRICS will depend on its ability to deliver on the aspirations of the members that have already joined and those that are keen to join, he said.
The BRICS Ambassador at large, Anil Sooklal, has stated that a further 20 countries, in addition to the recently proposed six new members invited earlier this year, have applied to join the BRICS group. When discussing South Africa’s current Presidency of the BRICS, he stated in late November that “Over 20 countries have formally applied to join BRICS, while the same number have expressed interest. This is affirmation that BRICS is playing an important role in championing emerging and developing economies. There are a large number of interested parties and these will be dealt with by the respective Foreign Ministers.”
At present, the BRICS includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, while Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are expected to join from the coming January 1st.
Argentina was also invited to join however with a recent change in the political regime is now expected to decline. The five current members of BRICS are responsible for 37% of all global trade.
The 20 New BRICS Candidate Countries
In terms of the 20 new candidates, what will be attractive to many is the fact that the BRICS does not insist upon formal trade negotiations and the permanent imposition of tariff reductions. Rather than a defined tariff reduction regime, the BRICS has a far looser approach. This removes political barriers that include insistence on market and political reforms, which is more of a Western approach, and also means that tariff reductions and trade development enhancements can be implemented on an as-need basis. These are fundamental points of interests to emerging economies who may otherwise struggle to compete with cheap imports. It also allows more autocratic regimes to participate without the need to introduce unwelcome reforms that may not be considered in their national interest. Most of the 20 applicants have not been publicly identified, however in my experienced opinion are likely to include the following.
Afghanistan
An outlier, but Afghanistan has significant resources and is a member of the BRI. Diplomatic changes are required, but China, India and Russia are all keen to see redevelopment in the country once political stability can be secured.
Algeria
In terms of market size, Algeria has the tenth largest proven natural gas reserves globally, is the world’s sixth-largest gas exporter, and has the world’s third-largest untapped shale gas resources.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh is one of the world’s top five fastest growing economies and is undergoing significant infrastructure and trade development reforms. It shares a 4,100 km border with India.
Bolivia
Asset-rich but relatively poor, Bolivia has the fastest GDP growth rate in Latin America.
Cuba
Cuba’s sanctions defiance has long made it a favorite of China and Russia when wanting to annoy the United States. It also has significant agreements with China and Russia, is a member of the BRI and has significant Caribbean and LatAm influence.
Ecuador
Ecuador is negotiating Free Trade Agreements with both China and the Eurasian Economic Union. It would make sense to substitute these with a looser BRICS arrangement.
Indonesia
One of Asia’s leading economies, Indonesia’s potential has again been raised to join BRICS. In July 2023, Jakarta accepted an invitation to participate in the 2023 BRICS summit.
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan’s economy is highly dependent on oil and related products. In addition to oil, its main export commodities include natural gas, ferrous metals, copper, aluminum, zinc and uranium.
Mongolia
Mongolia is both a problem and solution, while geographically attractive. It requires extensive investment in its energy sector; yet is resource-rich and a transit point between Russia, Kazakhstan and China. It is not a member of any trade bloc, with a looser BRICS arrangement better suited to maintaining its regional impartiality.
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is a mining play and the leading gold-producing country in Central America. It has a Free Trade Agreement with the ALBA bloc, and is an influential player in the Caribbean.
Nigeria
Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar has announced that the country intends to become a member of the BRICS group of nations within the next two years. Nigeria has a GDP of US$448 billion, a population of 213 million and a GDP per capita of US$2,500. It has the world’s 9th largest gas reserves and significant oil reserves.
Pakistan
Pakistan has filed an application to join the BRICS group of nations in 2024 and is counting on Russia’s assistance during the membership process, the country’s newly appointed Ambassador to Russia Muhammad Khalid Jamali has stated.
Senegal
Senegal is a medium capacity gold mining and energy player, with reserves in gold, oil, and gas. The energy industry is at a growth stage as reserves have only recently been found. The energy-hungry BRICS nations will be keen to secure its supplies.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka isn’t keen on opening up its markets yet has significant economic problems. China is interested in port and Indian Ocean access while Russian tourism investments are increasing. A BRICS agreement would be loose enough to satisfy all concerns, while India will want to keep an eye on it.
Sudan
Sudan’s top five export markets are 100% BRICS – China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, and the UAE. Sudan also has regional clout. It is Africa’s third-largest country by area, and is a member of the League of Arab States (LAS). Should Sudan join the BRICS it would give the group complete control of the Red Sea supply routes.
Thailand
Thailand is one of ASEAN’s largest economies, via ASEAN it has additional Free Trade Agreements with Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and India, and agreements with Chile, and Peru. Thailand is also a signatory to the RCEP FTA between ASEAN and Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea.
Turkiye
Turkiye’s trade figures with the current and most of the upcoming BRICS members show significant growth. Getting access to BRICS NDB funding may also prove attractive for Ankara as talks are expected across a number of issues.
Uruguay
Uruguay has joined the BRICS New Development Bank – a sure sign that official BRICS membership is pending.
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan is one of Central Asia’s fastest growing economies, yet it is hampered by being double-landlocked. Membership of BRICS would give it market access to China, Europe, and the rest of Asia in a more protected manner.
Venezuela
Another outlier, but its energy reserves and political stance fit well with China and Russia’s needs.
Additional candidates are also likely to include Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Chile, Peru, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Vietnam, Cameroon, DR Congo, Kenya and Tanzania among others.
Summary
At first glance this may appear a disparate and disjointed group with little in common. Yet this is part of the appeal. In the West, trade partner economies are typically viewed in terms of economic capability, and their immediate usefulness (or otherwise) to Western economies. Emerging economies that show promise are often ‘encouraged’ to embark on political and economic reforms to ‘bring them to international standards’. What has become apparent is that this tends to mean ‘Western benefits’ take precedence over these economies. That has included inadvisable World Bank loans, and the imposition of US dollar and Euro trade at the expense of their sovereign currencies.
In gathering together the ‘developing’ or ‘emerging’ economies, the BRICS have taken a bet on the future. While some potential members may fall into future difficulties created by regional conflicts, most will not. Absorbing these new members will take time – but could be completed by 2030.
Closer examination also reveals that many of the 20 listed above are significant economies, often amongst the leading players within their own respective trade blocs. These include the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA), Latin America’s Mercosur, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and ASEAN, amongst others. Having BRICS members inserted into these regional blocs significantly enhances the BRICS own reach and influence within them. By comparison, the European Union appears strictly rigid in its approach. It resembles a closed market rather than an open one. In this way, the BRICS can be seen as an antidote to the previously over-regulated Western trade group systems, where trade negotiations are measured in decades and political conditions imposed in return for Western market access.
What is happening instead is far more revolutionary, and is leading to a rather more considered, and inclusive multi-lateral approach. The BRICS movement is developing more as a trade philosophy than a specific bloc – and will pave the way ahead in terms of global trade flows well into the coming decades.
Chris Devonshire-Ellis is the Chairman of Dezan Shira & Associates.
A summit by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) resulted in a blanket condemnation of Israel, but lacked substantive solutions. The summit was sabotaged by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco, who recently normalized relations with Israel. These countries block significant actions due to extensive U.S. influence and future geopolitical calculations, causing disappointment among the international Muslim community.
After all, the Arab street – even while repressed in their home nations – has pulsed with protests expressing ferocious rage against Israel’s wholesale massacre of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Arab leaders were forced to take some sort of action beyond suspending a few ambassadorships with Israel, and called for a special Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit to discuss the ongoing Israeli War Against Palestinian Children.
Representatives of 57 Muslim states convened in Riyadh on 11 November to deliver a serious, practical blow against genocidal practitioners and enablers. But in the end, nothing was offered, not even solace.
The OIC’s final statement will always be enshrined in the Gilded Palace of Cowardice. Highlights of the tawdry rhetorical show: we oppose Israel’s “self-defense;” we condemn the attack on Gaza; we ask (who?) not to sell weapons to Israel; we request the kangaroo ICC to “investigate” war crimes; we request a UN resolution condemning Israel.
For the record, that’s the best 57 Muslim-majority countries could drum up in response to this 21st-century genocide.
History, even if written by victors, tends to be unforgiving towards cowards.
The Top Four Cowards, in this instance, are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Morrocco – the latter three having normalized relations with Israel under a heavy US hand in 2020. These are the ones that consistently blocked serious measures from being adopted at the OIC summit, such as the Algerian draft proposal for an oil ban on Israel, plus banning the use of Arab airspace to deliver weapons to the occupation state.
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Egypt and Jordan – longtime Arab vassals – were also non-committal, as well as Sudan, which is in the middle of a civil war. Turkiye, under Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan, once again showed it is all talk and no action; a neo-Ottoman parody of the Texan “all hat, no cattle.”
BRICS or IMEC?
The Top Four Cowards deserve some scrutiny. Bahrain is a lowly vassal hosting a key branch of the US Empire of Bases. Morocco has close relations with Tel Aviv – it sold out quickly after an Israeli promise to recognize Rabat’s claim on Western Sahara. Moreover, Morocco heavily depends on tourism, mainly from the collective west.
Then we have the big dogs, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Both are stacked to the rafters with American weaponry, and, like Bahrain, also host US military bases. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MbS) and his old mentor, Emirati ruler Mohammad bin Zayed (MbZ), do factor in the threat of color revolutions tearing through their regal domains if they deviate too much from the accepted imperial script.
But in a few weeks, starting on 1 January, 2024, under a Russian presidency, both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi will expand their horizons big-time by officially becoming members of the BRICS 11.
Saudi Arabia and UAE were only admitted into the expanded BRICS because of careful geopolitical and geoeconomic calculations by the Russia-China strategic partnership.
Along with Iran – which happens to have its own strategic partnership with both Russia and China – Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are supposed to reinforce the energy clout of the BRICS sphere and be key players, further on down the road, in the de-dollarization drive whose ultimate aim is to bypass the petrodollar.
Yet, at the same time, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi also stand to benefit immensely from the not-so-secret 1963 plan to build the Ben Gurion canal, from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Eastern Mediterranean, arriving – what a coincidence – very close to now devastated northern Gaza.
The canal would allow Israel to become a key energy transit hub, dislodging Egypt’s Suez Canal, and that happens to dovetail nicely with Israel’s role as the de facto key node in the latest chapter of the War of Economic Corridors: the US-concocted India-MidEast Corridor (IMEC).
IMEC is a quite perverse acronym, as is the whole logic behind this fantastical corridor, which is to position international law-breaking Israel as a critical trade hub and even energy provider between Europe, part of the Arab world, and India.
That was also the logic behind Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s UN charade in September, where he flashed the whole “international community” a map of the “New Middle East” in which Palestine had been totally erased.
All of the above assumes that IMEC and the Ben Gurion Canal will be built – which is not a given by any realistic standards.
Back to the vote at the OIC, US minions Egypt and Jordan – two countries on Israel’s western and eastern borders, respectively – were in the toughest position of them all. The occupation state wished to push approximately 4.5 million Palestinians into their borders for good. But Cairo and Amman, also awash in US weapons and financially bankrupt as they come, would never survive US sanctions if they lean too unacceptably towards Palestine.
So, in the end, too many Muslim states choosing humiliation over righteousness were thinking in very narrow, pragmatic, national interest terms. Geopolitics is pitiless. It is all about natural resources and markets. If you don’t have one, you need the other, and if you have none, a Hegemon dictates what you’re allowed to have.
The Arab and Muslim street – and the Global Majority – may rightfully feel dejected when they see how these “leaders” are not ready to turn the Islamic world into a real power pole within emerging multipolarity.
It wouldn’t happen any other way. Many key Arab states are not Sovereign entities. They are all boxed in, victims of a vassal mentality. They’re not ready – yet – for their close-up facing History. And sadly, they still remain hostage to their own “century of humiliation.”
The humiliating coup de grace was dispatched by none other than the Tel Aviv genocidal maniac himself: he threatened everyone in the Arab world if they don’t shut up – which they already did.
Of course, there are very important Arab and Muslim brave-hearts in Iran, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen. While not a majority by any means, these Resistance actors reflect the sentiment on the Street like no other. And with Israel’s war expanding each day, their regional and global clout is set to increase immeasurably, just as in all of the Hegemon’s other regional wars.
Strangling a new century in the cradle
The catastrophic debacle of Project Ukraine and the revival of an intractable West Asian war are deeply intertwined.
Beyond the fog of Washington’s “worry” about Tel Aviv’s genocidal rampage, the crucial fact is that we are right in the thick of a war against BRICS 11.
The Empire does not do strategy; at best, it does tactical business plans on the fly. There are two immediate tactics in play: a US Armada deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean – in a failed effort to intimidate Resistance Axis behemoths Iran and Hezbollah – and a possible Milei election in Argentina tied to his avowed promise to break Brazil-Argentina relations.
So this is a simultaneous attack on BRICS 11 on two fronts: West Asia and South America. There will be no American efforts spared to prevent BRICS 11 from getting close to OPEC+. A key aim is to instill fear in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi – as confirmed by Persian Gulf business sources.
Even vassal leaders at the OIC show would have been aware that we are now deep into The Empire Strikes Back. That also largely explains their cowardice.
They know that for the Hegemon, multipolarity equals “chaos,” unipolarity equals “order,” and malign actors equal “autocrats” – such as the new Russian-Chinese-Iranian “Axis of Evil” and anyone, especially vassals, that opposes the “rules-based international order.”
And that brings us to a tale of two ceasefires. Tens of millions across the Global Majority are asking why the Hegemon is desperate for a ceasefire in Ukraine while flatly refusing a ceasefire in Palestine.
Freezing Project Ukraine preserves the Ghost of Hegemony just a little bit longer. Let’s assume Moscow would take the bait (it won’t). But to freeze Ukraine in Europe, the Hegemon will need an Israeli win in Gaza – perhaps at any and all costs – to maintain even a vestige of its former glory.
But can Israel achieve victory any more than Ukraine can? Tel Aviv may have already lost the war on 7 October as it can never regain its facade of invincibility. And if this transforms into a regional war that Israel loses, the US will lose its Arab vassals overnight, who today have a Chinese and Russian option waiting in the wings.
The Roar of the Street is getting louder – demanding that the Biden administration, now seen as complicit with Tel Aviv, halt the Israeli genocide that may lead to a World War. But Washington will not comply. Wars in Europe and West Asia may be its last chance (it will lose) to subvert the emergence of a prosperous, connected, peaceful Eurasia Century.
Egyptian officials say the expansion of the five-nation BRICS bloc into “BRICS Plus” is set to create a useful new platform for communication among developing countries.
First African nations
Egypt is one of two nations on the African continent to be invited to become part of the expansion initiative proposed by China in March 2017, and officials believe the country is set to benefit from.
“The idea of interacting with one of the biggest developing countries, which are the members of BRICS, is very useful to other countries, those who are not members. It establishes good bridges of communication, of interaction, of opportunities as well. There is the possibility of meeting with, perhaps, some companies in China, and interacting and exchanging views and perhaps listening to the updates and follow-ups of the business of these companies and the investment they are doing in Egypt,” Egyptian Ambassador to China, Osama Elmagdoub said.
Egypt is ready
Egypt is ready to actively explore more cooperation opportunities under the China-proposed plan, which aims to build a wider partnership among developing countries and boost south-south collaboration, during the summit to run from the 3rd to the 5th of September in China.
While China and Egypt have been cooperating on the construction of infrastructure projects, Egypt’s ambassador to China says the country is looking forward to selling more products on the Chinese market.
Egypt and Kenya have been invited to the 2017 Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (Brics) summit hosted by China.
The two African countries are among five countries – including Tajikistan, Mexico and Thailand – invited as guests to the annual conference.
The BRICS Plus conference
The September 3 to 5 summit to be held in Xiamen city was described by the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in March as the BRICS Plus conference due to the invitation of non-members.
He explained that the invitation is not an attempt to expand the group, but to broaden their discussions, local media report.
“We want to broaden the discussion to non-BRICS countries as well. I am confident that the dialogue this year will also be a success and also help expand BRICS influence,” he said.
The summit was hosted by India last year and they agreed to fast-track the setting up of their own credit-rating agency to better cater to developing economies.
The five member countries also vowed to forge closer trade ties at the end of their annual summit in Goa.
BRICS was formed in 2011 with the aim of using members’ growing economic and political influence to challenge Western hegemony.
“For Russia, Brazil is an important foreign partner in Latin America and the world,” added Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
CIA has an extensive record of carrying out covert operations around the globe aimed at destabilizing governments that refuse to comply with U.S. interests. | Photo: Reuters
The Russian Foreign Ministry spoke out Wednesday against the efforts to oust Rousseff, pinning the move on “foreign interference.”
“For Russia, Brazil is an important foreign partner in Latin America and the world,” added Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
BRICS group
Russia and Brazil have an important relationship and are members of the influential BRICS group.
A 2015 document, reported in various Russian news agencies, addressed the possibility of U.S. intelligence agency involvement in the parliamentary coup against President Dilma Rousseff. “It is quite possible that the CIA is involved in the plan to stage riots in Brazil nationwide,” the Russian news outlets said in a 2015 report.
One article by Pravda explains that over the past few years, BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have become a significant geopolitical threat to the interests of the United States.
Rousseff’s support for creating a new world reserve currency
The report added that one of Washington’s biggest worries is Rousseff’s support for creating a new world reserve currency, as well as the threat BRICS poses to the U.S. dollar.
“The reasons, for which Washington wants to get rid of Dilma Rousseff, are easy to understand,” Sputnik wrote. “She signed the agreement about the establishment of the (BRICS) New Development Bank with the initial registered capital worth US$100 billion reserve fund, as well as additional US$100 billion.”
Fiber-optic telecommunications system across the Atlantic to Europe initiated by Rousseff
The United States government was also concerned by the construction of a 5,600 kilometer-long (about 3,200 miles) fiber-optic telecommunications system across the Atlantic to Europe initiated by Rousseff in October 2014. The new communication system would guarantee protection against foreign espionage, and would undermine the U.S.-backed communications monopolies. Telebras president told the local media that the project would be developed and implemented without the participation of any U.S. company.
Protests erupted in Brazil after Rouuseff denied the US companies to access the country’s oil fields
Rousseff has also angered Washington by blocking major U.S. oil and mining companies from returning to Brazil and instead looking to China for investment. The United States has been looking to shore up its stakes in natural resources in Latin America, as indicated by the WikiLeaks revelation that Hillary Clinton pressured Mexico to privatize its oil industry when she was U.S. Secretary of State.
Sputnik noted that U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited Brazil in May 2013 to try to persuade Rousseff to allow U.S. companies to access the country’s oil fields—a proposal denied by the Brazilian president. In the period after Biden’s visit, protests erupted across the South American country and her rating dropped from 70 percent to 30 percent.
“During this period, the Americans were consistently destroying Rousseff’s regime through other protests. They included large-scale protests against the excessive costs of the World Cup and insufficient funding of social welfare programs and health care,” Sputnik noted.
Also immediately after Biden’s visit, reports attempted to link Rousseff in the so-called “Car Wash” scandal involving the state-run oil company, Petrobras.
“All of a sudden, the Brazilians forgot that the Workers’ Party had taken around 30 percent of the population out of poverty with the help of public support programs. Hunger and illiteracy became history. Was it because of short-term memory? No, as the CIA knows very well how to brainwash people through subordinate media,” Sputnik stated.
In an interview with teleSUR however, Rousseff denied U.S. involvement in her country’s political crisis. “The U.S. has stayed away from the Brazilian process,” maintained the Brazilian leader, despite reports that opposition figures recently met in Washington.
Recently, Venezuelan journalist Jose Vicente Rangel alleged U.S. intelligence agencies had sent about 500 agents to Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Cuba, with the sole purpose of destabilizing their governments.
The Collapse of the Western Fiat Monetary System may have Begun. China, Russia and the Reemergence of Gold-Backed Currencies
On 19 April 2016, China was rolling out its new gold-backed yuan. Russia’s ruble has been fully supported by gold for the last couple of years. Nobody in the western media talks about it. Why would they? – A western reader may start wondering why he is constantly stressed by a US dollar based fiat monetary systems that is manipulated at will by a small elite of financial oligarchs for their benefit and to the detriment of the common people.
In a recent Russia Insider article, Sergey Glaziev, one of Russia’s top economists and advisor to President Putin said about Russia’s currency, “The ruble Is the most gold-backed currency in the world”. He went on explaining that the amount of rubles circulating is covered by about twice the amount of gold in Russia’s Treasury.
CIPS replaces SWIFT
In addition to a financial alliance, Russia and China also have developed in the past couple of years their own money transfer system, the China International Payment System, or the CIPS network which replaces the western transfer system, SWIFT, for Russian-Chinese internal trading. SWIFT, stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, a network operating in 215 countries and territories and used by over 10,000 financial institutions.
Up until recently almost every international monetary transaction had to use SWIFT, a private institution, based in Belgium. ‘Private’ like in the US Federal Reserve Bank (FED), Wall Street banks and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS); all are involved in international monetary transfers and heavily influenced by the Rothschild family. No wonder that the ‘independent’ SWIFT plays along with Washington’s sanctions, for example, cutting off Iran from the international transfer system. Similarly, Washington used its arm-twisting with SWIFT to help Paul Singer’s New York Vulture Fund to extort more than 4 billion dollars from Argentina, by withholding Argentina’s regular debt payments as was agreed with 93% of all creditors. Eventually Argentina found other ways of making its payments, not to fall into disrepute and insolvency.
Macri ready to pay Argentina’s illegal debt
All of this changed for Argentina, when Mauricio Macri, the new neoliberal President put in place by Washington, appeared on the scene last December. He reopened the negotiations and is ready to pay a sizable junk of this illegal debt, despite a UN decision that a country that reaches a settlement agreement with the majority of the creditors is not to be pressured by non-conforming creditors. In the case of Argentina, the vulture lord bought the country’s default debt for a pittance and now that the nation’s economy had recovered he wants to make a fortune on the back of the population. This is how our western fraudulent monetary system functions.
CIPS also applied by he remaining BRICS countries, Brazil, India and South Africa
China’s economy has surpassed that of the United States and this new eastern alliance is considered an existential threat to the fake western economy. CIPS, already used for trading and monetary exchange within China and Russia, is also applied by the remaining BRICS, Brazil, India and South Africa; and by the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), plus India, Pakistan and Iran, as well as the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU – Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan).
Washington trying hard to destroy BRICS
It is said that CIPS is ready to be launched worldwide as early as September 2016. It would be a formidable alternative to the western dollar based monetary Ponzi scheme.
The new eastern monetary sovereignty is one of the major reasons why Washington tries so hard to destroy the BRICS, mainly China and Russia – and lately with a special effort of false accusations also Brazil through a Latin America type Color Revolution.
The Yuan has become an official reserve currency
In addition, the Yuan late last year was accepted by the IMF in its SDR basket as the fifth reserve currency, the other four being the US dollar, the British pound, the euro and the Japanese yen. The SDR, or Special Drawing Right, functions like a virtual currency. It is made up of the weighted average of the five currencies and can be lent to countries at their request, as a way of reducing exchange risks. Being part of the SDR, the yuan has become an official reserve currency. In fact, in Asia the yuan is already heavily used in many countries’ treasuries, as an alternative to the ever more volatile US dollar.
The western dollar-led fiat monetary system is on its last leg
It is no secret, the western dollar-led fiat monetary system is on its last leg – as eventually any Ponzi scheme will be. What does ‘fiat’ mean? It is money created out of thin air. It has no backing whatsoever; not gold, not even the economic output generated by the country or countries issuing the money, i.e. the United States of America and Europe. It is simply declared “legal tender’’ by Government decree.
No pyramid scheme is sustainable in the long run and eventually will collapse. It was invented and is used by a small invisible upper crest of elite making insane amounts of profit on the back of the 99% of us. Since these elitists are in control of the media with their lie propaganda, as well as the warmongering killing machine, US armed forces, NATO, combined with the international security and spy apparatus, CIA, MI6, Mossad, DGSE, the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and more, we are powerless – but powerless only as long as we ignore what’s really going on behind the curtain.
The Ministry of Foreign Relations of the Republic of Cuba energetically condemns the parliamentary coup underway in Brazil, and resolutely supports the people and the legitimate government of this sister country.
Sectors of the right wing representing the oligarchy, in alliance with the reactionary press in Brazil, openly supported by the corporate media and imperialism, have consummated in the country’s House of Deputies the first step in what constitutes a parliamentary coup d’etat against the legitimate government of the Workers’ Party (PT) and President Dilma Rousseff, which has been in the works for several months.
This is an attack, based on unproven accusations with no legal foundation, on Brazilian democracy and the legitimacy of a government which was elected at the polls by a majority of the people, as has been denounced by the head of state and by former President and PT leader, Luiz Inacio “Lula” Da Silva, and by numerous leaders of left wing political parties and Brazilian social movements.
Under the Workers Party 25 million Brazilians escaped poverty
Since 2003, the year in which the first Workers Party government led by Lula took office, important social programs have been implemented in Brazil, which have had a significant impact within the less privileged population. According to the World Bank, 25 million Brazilians escaped poverty, thanks to programs such as “Bolsa Familia”; “Mi Casa, Mi Vida”; “Más Médicos” and “Hambre Cero”.
Bolsa Familia provides financial aid to poor Brazilian families
Brazil became an influential international actor, a defender of just causes, and a promoter of unity and Latin American and Caribbean integration.
Coup plotting opposition seeking to roll back social gains
The coup plotting opposition is looking to end the cycle of popular governments of the Workers Party, and thus roll back the social gains won by the Brazilian people, to install a neoliberal government which will allow large transnational companies to plunder the natural resources of this sister Latin American country – especially its immense oil, mineral, water, and biodiversity – and one which will subordinate its foreign policy to hegemonic imperialist interests.
BRICS targeted
The coup against Brazilian democracy is part of the oligarchy and imperialism’s reactionary counteroffensive against Latin American integration and progressive process in the region. It is, at the same time, directed toward the group of countries known as BRICS, a bloc of powerful economies which have challenged the hegemony of the U.S. dollar.
The Ministry of Foreign Relations of the Republic of Cuba energetically condemns the parliamentary coup underway in Brazil, and resolutely supports the people and the legitimate government of this sister country, as well as President Dilma Rousseff, in defense of the political and economic gains and social accomplishments achieved during the Workers Party governments.
Brazil, India and South Africa are helping to launch a major livestock development program in the Caribbean Island of Saint Lucia, which should boost food security and empower farmers. The government of Saint Lucia sees the South-South solidarity project as one of the keys to poverty reduction. It could reduce the island’s food imports bill, boost employment and improve people’s health, say some residents. The project is being implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Alison Kentish reports from Saint Lucia for teleSUR.
President Nicolas Maduro said South American countries should follow the lead of BRICS countries and build alternative financial institutions.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks with teleSUR in Caracas, Venezuela, July 8, 2015. | Photo: AVN
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro proposed that the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of America, a leftist bloc of Latin American and Caribbean countries known as ALBA, join the new BRICS bank, which is set to be fully functional by the end of this year. “We will propose to ALBA for us to incorporate into the BRICS bank, in order to build new financial realities,” President Maduro told teleSUR in an exclusive interview.
The group of emerging countries known as BRICS — an acronym that stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — is holding its seventh summit of the heads of state and government of its member states in the Russian city of Ufa.
One of its priorities for this summit is the launching of a much-anticipated BRICS development bank as a means of breaking away from Western-dominated financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In line with that thinking, the central banks of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa officially agreed to invest US$100 billion in a joint currency pool Tuesday. The funding will be delivered by the end of July.
Maduro: Follow the lead of BRICS to build regional institutions
Maduro added that the countries of Latin America should follow the lead of the BRICS countries and redouble their efforts to build regional institutions designed around the principles of complementarity and bilateral cooperation. “Seeing this experience of the BRICS (bloc) should motivate us. The world is moving, it is a multi-centric world… each center is an engine that generates results, and we have produced some results on the continent,” Maduro told teleSUR.
The Bank of the South
In late 2007 the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela signed an accord to create the Bank of the South, a development bank with similar aims to the BRICS bank. However, the initiative has been stalled, according to President Maduro, as a result of a “lack of political will” and “bureaucracy.”
Egyptian officials say the expansion of the five-nation BRICS bloc into “BRICS Plus” is set to create a useful new platform for communication among developing countries.
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