FLASH
Shkruar nga Pierre Haski
How would you like to join Russian President Vladimir Putin's club? While some countries may be reluctant, the BRICS summit that begins Tuesday in the Russian city of Kazan, on the banks of the Volga River, shows that many countries are not hesitating, despite Moscow's continued occupation of Ukraine.
BRICS is the club founded two decades ago by Brazil, Russia, India and China, i.e. from the so-called "developing" countries, which will soon be joined by South Africa. At the Johannesburg summit last year, they welcomed new members, including Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Ethiopia.
Saudi Arabia has been invited to join, but is still reluctant to give a clear answer. Argentina, led by Javier Milei, has rejected the offer outright. The list of BRICS candidates is long, including Turkey, a NATO member.
This organization now represents almost half of the planet's population, compared to only 10 percent represented by the Western G7, and 35 percent of global GDP, again more than the G7. This does not yet make BRICS a global superpower. However, it makes it worth considering on the international stage, precisely at a time when the world order is being redefined.
Two perspectives, one message
There are two ways to see this summit. The first is to read it through the prism of the War in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin is showing that he is not an isolated leader, that heads of state, and not just his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, are unhesitatingly standing by his side.
This is an undeniable success for Putin, especially at a time when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is trying to gather support for his "victory plan". After 2 and a half years of war, Ukraine and the West have not managed to overturn the balance of power.
But there is another prism through which the Kazan Summit can be analyzed. It represents the visible call of the countries of the Global South to build a new world order, different from the one that the West, and especially the United States, built in 1945. Despite all the ambiguities that exist in and around the BRICS, this message should not be underestimated.
A whole new world?
Part of this ambiguity is that BRICS is not a coherent bloc. Thus, we can talk extensively about the enmity between India and China, the decisive weight of the Chinese economy, the presence of Iran or the difficulty this bloc is facing in promoting the process of de-dollarization of the global economy.
But these ambiguities have not at all prevented BRICS from expanding, attracting a host of candidates, and conveying an alternative symbolism. What unites the members of this organization is their hostility to a world order that still gives much pride to the West.
But not all of its members want to replace it with a Chinese-led order, or have Russian President Vladimir Putin as their protector or moral guardian. But the impossibility of reforming the world order, as well as the strong perception of "double standards" used by the West in relation to the conflict in the Middle East, are creating a window of opportunity for the BRICS.
This starts with China and its aim to be a leader of the Global South. For this reason, the Western powers should never ignore the message that will come out of the Kazan summit. Otherwise, they will risk waking up in a new world, which they did not see when it was emerging./ Pamphlet adapted from "Worldcrunch"
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