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.
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.
Beijing, Dec 5 (Prensa Latina) China today described the US blockade against Cuba as the worst example of the continuous and serious violation of human rights, denouncing Washington’s disregard for democracy.
The Foreign Ministry criticized in a document the persistence of that hostile stance kept for decades and the application of unilateral sanctions that infringe on the freedoms of the peoples of both countries.
“For more than 60 years, overlooking the multiple resolutions of the UN General Assembly, the United States kept intact its blockade against Cuba, based on embargo policies and domestic laws such as Torricelli and Helms-Burton,” it added.
He also remarked that it is the “longest and cruelest trade embargo, economic blockade and financial sanctions in modern history”, since they seriously obstruct development on the island and caused losses of more than 100 billion dollars.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s text in three chapters listed several facts, figures and opinions of experts and international organizations about the flaws of democracy in the United States, in reaction to a summit on the subject to be held by Washington this week.
He criticized the disadvantages of the American democratic system, as well as the overexploitation of the issue to meddle in the internal affairs of other nations.
He denounced the predominance of money in politics, the abuse of power by the elites, the invisibilization of ethnic minorities and the injustice in the rules of the electoral process there.
He emphasized that the crisis in democratic practices led to the unprecedented assault on the Capitol, exacerbated racism, contributed to the mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic, widened the gap between rich and poor, and undermined the freedom of speech.
He also cited as other consequences of the imposition of the American model the outbreak of “color revolutions” to undermine stability in countries and regions of the world, humanitarian tragedies and abuse of sanctions also against Syria, Venezuela, Iran and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea that violate international regulations
RT: So joining us to understand sanctions a little better we’re being joined by Sarah Flounders she’s the co-director of the International Action Center in New York City.
Sarah thank you for being with us today. So you say in your article that sanctions actually kill more people than bombs or guns. Can you explain that to us.
SF: Yes sanctions are war. They are actually directed at the poorest, the most defenseless, those who are older, sick; the youth, and as such they have a deadly consequence.
If the most basic medicine, or if you create artificial famine – and that is what they do – it actually helps to spread disease by preventing the most basic medicine. And it happens in country after country. 39 countries, a third of the population of the world, think of the impact and there are countries where it’s well known – Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, China and so on. And there are all kinds of countries around the world that we don’t know and that you see on the sanctions list; and this is true for Zimbabwe or Laos or Guinea. We could go on – Mali, Nicaragua, one country after another, that suddenly can’t get the most basic material.
RT: And Ajama Baraka has actually said on on this very program that sanctions he said softens a country for military invasion. What recent invasions can you point to that can prove that point is that a true thing.?
SF: Well when you look at the impact in Venezuela certainly sanctions were used absolutely to try to undercut support for a very popular government. We could look at Syria where sanctions since 2003 were an economic destabilizing force and and created great dissension within the country. So it can be a precursor to military action, to using contra and reactionary forces; and at the same time the economic strangulation is meant to undercut support for popular and for elected governments around the world.
It happens without us being aware of it here and that’s why we need really a grassroots International People’s Campaign which is exposing this as an act of war.
U.S. Republican Senator Marco Rubio. | Photo: Reuters
Russia and Iran have expressed interest in developing their own digital currencies to help combat U.S.-imposed sanctions.
Democratic United States Senator Bob Menendez and his Republican counterpart, Marco Rubio, have co-authored a letter denouncing Venezuela’s newly-launched cryptocurrency, the Petro, and requesting that the Treasury Department closely monitor its progress. The lawmakers also made suggestions on the measures the agency can take to undermine the success of the digital currency, which has raised over US $1 billion for the South American country since it was launched on Tuesday.
During a hearing convened by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs earlier this month, Menendez also made his intention to subvert the Petro in any way he can clear. Jay Clayton, Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, and Christopher Giancarlo, Commodity Future Trading Commission chairman, declined to respond whether their agencies could undercut the Petro, Giancarlo assured that his “would certainly look at” the cryptocurrency to guarantee that it doesn’t swindle U.S. buyers.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department had issued a statement on Petro in January. It read that “a currency with these characteristics would appear to be an extension of credit to the Venezuelan government” – a measure forbidden by U.S. sanctions – and that “U.S. persons that deal in the prospective Venezuelan digital currency may be exposed to U.S. sanctions risk.”
In reference to the Petro, a spokesperson for Menenedez said: “We continue to look for ways to prevent the Maduro regime from brazenly evading U.S. sanctions and plan to follow up with the Department of Treasury following their issuing of these guidelines.”
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said the goal of the Petro is to combat sanctions and the “economic war” waged by the U.S. government and its junior partners against his country and advancing “on issues of monetary sovereignty, to make financial transactions and overcome the financial blockade.”
The launch of the Petro was announced in December. It is regulated by the Superintendence of Cryptocurrencies and Related Activities, as well as the Blockchain Observatory.
Russia and Iran have expressed interest in developing their own digital currencies to help combat U.S.-imposed sanctions, following this week’s successful launch of Venezuela’s first cryptocurrency. Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, head of Iran’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, said the test model for a “cloud-based digital currency” is currently under development and will be submitted to the Iranian bank system soon.
The Iranian official announced the move following a meeting with the state-owned Post Bank of Iran on Wednesday, according to NPR.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan Financial Minister Simon Zerpa Delgado was in Russia this week, where he spoke with officials about strengthening collaboration and about the Latin American nation’s newly launched cryptocurrency.
Russian officials have previously exchanged ideas about issuing some kind of digital equivalent of the ruble to circumvent U.S. sanctions, according to The New York Times.
China and Singapore have also expressed interest in creating their own forms of cryptocurrency, but experts say the nations will wait to judge Venezuela’s success with the Petro before bringing their own versions to market.
Cryptocurrencies typically are not backed by any government or central bank, nor are they regulated. However, the U.S. Security and Exchanges Commission has been increasingly tracking digital currencies, classing some tokens as securities, thus making them subject to oversight.
Maduro said: “We have taken a giant step into the 21st Century… We are on the world’s technological vanguard.”
The executive order allows the president to use national emergency resources to fight the threat, such as enforcing sanctions against the country.
In March, Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to visit Cuba in 88 years. | Photo: Reuters
Consistent with their new strategy of planning and working for regime change in Cuba through indirect and covert means, the US government, through President Obama, has extended for another year economic sanctions against Cuba despite abstaining recently in the vote to end the blockade at the General Assembly of the United Nations.
A national emergency
The United States declared a national emergency to deal with perceived “threats” in Cuba and Venezuela on Friday, along with Iran, Libya, Ukraine, Zimbabwe and countries Washington claims “support terrorism.” The declarations effectively extend for another year economic sanctions already in place.
President Barack Obama warned that one of the main national security threats to the U.S. is mass undocumented immigration from Cuba, days after he ended the “Wet Foot, Dry Foot” policy, which granted residency to Cubans who arrived in the U.S. without visas, reported Sputnik.
Obama used an executive order in March 2015 to declare that the situation in Venezuela has “not improved.” He cited human rights violations, persecution of political dissenters and restrictions on the freedom of the press.
When a national emergency was declared against Venezuela in 2015, Obama also ordered sanctions against seven Venezuelan officials, saying they would be banned from traveling to the United States and any and all assets and properties belonging to them would be frozen.
Under the National Emergencies Act sanctions must be renewed every year, however, the executive orders Obama signed Friday are not set to expire until two months into the Trump administration. The move appears to suggest that the Obama administration is concerned that the renewals could get overlooked in the expected chaos of Trump’s White House. If he chooses to, Trump could rescind the sanctions by executive order.
The extension of U.S. sanctions against Iran come despite the historic agreement reached last year between the two countries. The extension of sanctions against Russia, imposed in response to their actions in Ukraine and Crimea, come amidst recent hysteria about suspected interference in the U.S. election by the Putin regime. Some have speculated that Trump’s pick for foreign secretary, Rex Tillerson, may soon move to remove the sanctions given they block a multi-billion dollar project he negotiated with Russia while CEO of ExxonMobile.
The United States currently has 31 officially declared national emergencies.
On Friday November 15, 2013, a religious leader from Iran, Moulana Mohammad Razavi, paid a courtesy visit to the headquarters of the Guyana Solidarity Movement with Cuba, GSMC, where he spoke with Halim Khan, president of the GSMC. Among the issues discussed were the unjust sanctions unilaterally imposed on both Iran and Cuba by the US and the imprisonment of the Cuban Five for over 15 years now. Both men noted that fear and bullyism should have no part in modern international relations.
The double standards being displayed by the US was also raised. While the US is offering $10m for information on anyone who carried out the attack in Bengazi, Libya, they have done nothing to those who over the years were known to have been behind the terrorist attacks against Cuba which resulted in the death of thousands of Cuban brothers and sisters. “Even after exile militant Luis Posada Carriles bragged about his role in the Havana bombings to the New York Times in July 1998, … on Sept. 12, 1998, a heavily armed FBI SWAT team arrested the members of the Cuban intelligence network in Miami and not Carriles” said President Khan.
“Today, fifteen years later, four of the Cubans still languish in American prisons while Carriles remains free.”
As predicted around the world, the war on terror has caused catastrophe from Afghanistan and Pakistan through Iraq and the Middle East to Libya, Somalia and beyond. The west has backed brutal Israeli assaults against Palestine and is threatening further intervention in Syria and Iran.
Ten years after the biggest demonstrations in history in February 2003, the warnings of millions have been vindicated. This conference will bring together leading activists and commentators to analyse continuing Western aggression and how to confront it.
JSC: Jamaicans in Solidarity with Cuba 