B.R.I.C.S. Discussion

Instead of BRICS, GAPP - Global and Peaceful Pack of countries.

Pepe Escobar: US Attempts ’Divide and Conquer’ Strategy Against BRICS, Sputnikglobe.com. 06.12.2023.

Something extraordinary, at least on the surface, happened on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore earlier this month - a somewhat pompous affair self-described as “Asia’s premier defence summit”.

Intel heads of 24 nations met in de facto semi-secrecy, because in the end the event was duly leaked (Western spin qualified it as an “informal” meeting).

Among the 24, the real deal comprised the US and all the other Five Eyes, plus representatives of two BRICS members, China and India. All the others were not identified with certainty or preferred to remain anonymous - presumably due to their “hanger on” status.

Crucially, key BRICS member Russia was not represented.
Reuters swore the information about the not-so-secret gathering came from five different - unnamed – sources.  A Southeast Asian diplomat independently confirmed the presence of the Five Eyes, China, India and Singapore – and that was it. The de facto sponsor of the meeting was Singapore’s Ministry of Defence.

Things gets curioser and curioser when we examine the leak a bit closer. So many sources basically corroborating each other point to a concerted spin – practically on an official level. If this was meant to be really secret, as in the past, that would have been the case, with every involved lip conveniently sealed. So why leak it?

Washington’s Divide and Conquer Strategy.

Such spy vs. spy meetings, historically, take ages to prepare, especially one involving 24 nations and featuring superpower rivals US and China. That implies countless qualified sherpas redacting documents; very complicated logistics; an ultra-secure environment; and an extremely detailed script covering every intervention.

All of that must have been discussed in excruciating detail for months, side by side with putting together the larger agenda for the Shangri-La Dialogue: and all the while there were no leaks.

And then what was leaked, after the meeting, was just that it happened. With only selected participating players fully identified. There’s absolutely nothing on substance.

It beggars belief that the Five Eyes would openly discuss Western security fears and/or procedures openly with the Chinese, not to mention the other minor hangers-on. After all the Beijing leadership is fully aware the US-UK is engaged in full hybrid war against China, with the Five Eyes and containment mechanisms such as Quad and AUKUS in tow.

The main reason for the leak is a dead giveaway when we see what US Think Tankland is spinning: the US was talking security with China and India behind Russia’s back. Translation: the US is trying to undermine the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) from the inside.

This is purely wishful thinking – because no one knows anything about the substance of the discussions. The meat of the matter was not leaked on purpose.

The dead giveaway about the leak being engineered to undermine the BRICS – at least in the Western public sphere – would have to come from the usual suspects themselves: US think tanks, inserted in what the indispensable Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst, christened as MICIMATT (Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think Tank complex).

The chairman of the Eurasia Group laid it all out in detail: US foreign policy needs essentially to deploy the whole arsenal of Hybrid War techniques to seduce, coerce or subdue 6 so-called “swing states” in the geopolitical arena: Brazil, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkiye.

It’s no accident three of these are BRICS members (Brazil, India, South Africa) and the other three (Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye) are prime candidates to the inevitable expansion, BRICS+, already being discussed and about to get started during the upcoming BRICS summit in August in South Africa.

The American tactics remain predictable: classic Divide and Rule; attempts to undermine BRICS from the inside via P.R. operations and a vast 5th brigade; and if all goes wrong, attempts at color revolution and regime change.

Recently, the tactics miserably failed against both Turkiye and Saudi Arabia, and are also failing in terms of provoking mischief within the key RICs trio (Russia-India-China).

Growing Signs of US Desperation

The leak was, once again, shadow play: an extra layer of fog of war – and related to an ongoing war. It’s quite intriguing the “secret” gambit took place right before the green light from the usual suspects for Kiev to bomb the Kakhovskaya dam, and the de facto start of the spun-to-death Ukrainian “counter offensive.”

To have DNI head Avril Haines and her Beijing counterpart Chen Wixin discussing this on the same table is as far-fetched as it comes.

A more realistic scenario would have China and India on the same table discussing their intractable border issues. But they don’t need to go to Singapore to do that; they do it in the framework of the SCO, of which both are members, with Russia playing a mediator role.

US Think Tankland/MICIMATT spinning, predictably masquerading as political analysis, never reaches beyond the level of guesswork: they assume that China was discussing security with the superpower that really matters – the US – while ditching their comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia.

Nonsense strikes again: top security issues concerning both are discussed at the highest level, for instance during the recent visit to Moscow by China’s Minister of Defense Li Shangfu, complete with a personal encounter with Putin.

Even without any input on the substance of the meeting, it’s fair to consider all about the leak that points to Ukraine.

The American intel narrative would go something like this: we need an exit strategy, badly, immediately. So let’s get Chinese intel to convince the Russians to freeze the battlefield as it stands – a ceasefire of sorts. Then we can re-weaponize Kiev and have another go at it later on.

Anyone following Russia-China high-level interaction these past few months knows this is – once again - nonsense. Beijing may have its 12-point plan for peace – which Moscow respects. But facts on the ground, imposed by US/NATO hubris, have engineered a major game-changer.

And then there’s the really fundamental question: when and how Russia will decide to cross the Dnepr. Only after that Moscow will be willing to discuss any possible “peace”, and only under its own terms.

At the same time, both Moscow and Beijing are fully aware that the proxy US/NATO war in Ukraine against Russia is a rehearsal inbuilt in the ongoing Chronicle of a War Announced: the real one, up next, against China, with Taiwan as pretext.

To believe that Chinese intel would willingly bend to the whims of the Five Eyes because they feel China is in a precarious geopolitical position does not even qualify as laughable. And yet that’s also inbuilt in US Think Thankland spin.

It’s as laughable as the Beltway narrative, imposed 24/7, of “China threatening war over Taiwan” when it’s the Hegemon that is using Taiwan as a remixed Ukraine, forcing Beijing to lose its Taoist patience.

So in the end what really stands out in this spy vs. spy saga? Not much. Except yet another whiff of Hegemon desperation.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230612/pepe-escobar-us-attempts-divide-and-conquer-strategy-against-brics-1111073623.html

Further details:

How Egypt will strengthen the BRICS, by Evgeny Pozdnyakov and Alena Zadorozhnaya for VZGLYAD. 06.14.2023.

Experts explain the importance of Egypt joining BRICS.

There are more and more people wishing to join the BRICS. The corresponding application was received from Egypt, one of the most influential states in the Arab world. And Russia supported this initiative. What is Cairo's motive and what benefits will Egypt's entry into BRICS bring to other members of the association?

Egypt applied  to  join the BRICS.  Georgy Borisenko, Russian Ambassador to Cairo, told TASS about this  . According to the diplomat, the country made such a decision because one of the initiatives that the organization is currently engaged in is the maximum transfer of trade to alternative currencies.

Borisenko noted that Egypt is showing a great desire to develop trade and other types of economic cooperation with Russia. “Now there is a process of building new mechanisms for mutual settlements in these trade operations,” the ambassador said. Borisenko later added that Russia supports Cairo's initiative to join the BRICS.

At the moment, the members of the organization are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Recently, however, more and more countries want to join the association. In March, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov noted that the number of applicants is increasing every month. At that time, 16 states were already in line.

One of these countries is Venezuela. President Nicolas Maduro  said that the BRICS is formed from five powerful countries and is transforming into a great magnet for those who want a different world. According to him, if an offer is made to join this association, then Venezuela will say yes. Earlier, the VZGLYAD newspaper  wrote in detail why states want to become part of the organization.

In turn, the head of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, admitted that  he dreams  of creating a common BRICS currency, which will get rid of dependence on the dollar. Recall that the possibility of introducing a single currency will be the subject of discussion at the BRICS summit in August 2023,  said  Naledi Pandor, Foreign Minister of South Africa, the host country of the summit.

The expert community believes that Egypt's accession to the organization will be beneficial both to the state itself and to the participants in the association. “Now BRICS is the mouthpiece of the voices of Asia, Africa and Latin America. However, adding Egypt to this list will make it possible to take into account the opinion of the Arab-Muslim world. Cooperation with Cairo will make the format of the organization more comprehensive and universal,”  said  Valdai Club Program Director Timofei Bordachev.

“The problems of possible accession lie in the fact that the criteria for participation in the organization have not yet been clarified. At the same time, BRICS is radically different from the same G7, which has become a format for dialogue among allied countries, the interlocutor recalls. -

Membership does not impose any restrictions on the sovereignty of the foreign policy of Brazil, India, Russia, China and South Africa.”

“Against this background, problems may arise in introducing a new position into the general rhetoric of the organization. I see no economic barriers to Egypt's entry into the BRICS. Ultimately, the financial sector has never been decisive within this format. It is much more important to give a large non-Western country the opportunity to be heard,” emphasizes Bordachev.

“This decision by Egypt confirms the strengthening of the BRICS. The Organization is beginning to be perceived as a powerful actor in international politics, with the help of which one can clearly state one's own view of the current state of affairs in the world. Let me remind you that Algeria and Saudi Arabia had previously reported a similar desire,” said orientalist Kirill Semenov, an expert at the Russian International Affairs Council.

“After the start of the NWO, the geopolitical landscape began to change. Many large countries have seen that Western states are ready to abandon the proclaimed principles of the rule of law and the free market if they begin to conflict with their personal interests. There was a need to search for alternatives,” the interlocutor emphasizes.

“That is why the Middle East is starting to look towards the BRICS. In the future, this will make the position of the organization on global issues more comprehensive, because it will also reflect the opinion of the Arab-Muslim world,” the expert notes.

“For Egypt, BRICS membership will strengthen a multi-vector foreign policy. It is also beneficial for us.

Cairo wants to develop trade ties not only with Western countries, but also with other important players in international markets. Such a desire must be encouraged and supported in every possible way, ”the orientalist argues.

“Egypt is a major regional power with colossal authority, as well as economic and social potential. The country's accession to the BRICS will once again emphasize the growing importance of this format of cooperation,” Semyonov sums up.

https://vz.ru/politics/2023/6/14/1216563.html

The Hegemon Will Go Full Hybrid War Against BRICS+, by Pepe Escobar for Strategic Culture Foundation. 06.14.2023.

U.S. Think Tank Land hacks are not exactly familiar with Montaigne: “On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.”

Hubris leads these specimens to presume their flaccid bottoms are placed high above anyone else’s. The result is that a trademark mix of arrogance and ignorance always ends up unmasking the predictability of their forecasts.

U.S. Think Tank Land – inebriated by their self-created aura of power – always telegraphs in advance what they’re up to. That was the case with Project 9/11 (“We need a new Pearl Harbor”). That was the case with the RAND report on over-extending and unbalancing Russia. And now that’s the case with the incoming American War on BRICS as outlined by the chairman of the New York-based Eurasia Group.

It’s always painful to suffer through the intellectually shallow Think Thank Land wet dreams masquerading as “analyses” but in this particular case key Global South players need to be firmly aware of what awaits them.

Predictably, the whole “analysis” revolves around the imminent, devastating humiliation to the Hegemon and its vassals: what happens next in country 404, also known – for now – as Ukraine.

Brazil, India, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are dismissed as “four major fence-sitters” when it comes to the U.S./NATO proxy war against Russia. It’s the same old “you’re with us or against us” trope.

But then we are presented with the six major Global South culprits: Brazil, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey.

In yet another crude, parochial remix of a catch phrase referring to the American elections, these are qualified as the key swing states the Hegemon will need to seduce, cajole, intimidate and threaten to assure its dominance of the “rules-based international order”.

Saudi Arabia and South Africa are added to a previous report focused on the “four major fence sitters”.

The swing state manifesto notes that all of them are G-20 members and “active in both geopolitics and geoeconomics” (Oh really? Now that’s some breaking news). What it does not say is that three of them are BRICS members (Brazil, India, South Africa) and the other three are serious candidates to join BRICS+: deliberations will be turbo-charged in the upcoming BRICS summit in South Africa in August.

So it’s clear what the swing state manifesto is all about: a call to arms for the American war against the BRICS.

So BRICS packs no punch

The swing state manifesto harbors wet dreams of near-shoring and friend-shoring moving away from China. Nonsense: enhanced intra-BRICS+ trade will be the order of the day from now on, especially with the expanded practice of trade in national currencies (see Brazil-China or within ASEAN), the first step towards widespread de-dollarization.

The swing states are characterized as “not a new incarnation” of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), or “other groupings dominated by the Global South, such as the G-77 and BRICS.”

Talk about exponential nonsense. This is all about BRICS+ – which now has the tools (including the NDB, the BRICS bank) to do what NAM could never accomplish during the Cold War: establish the framework of a new system bypassing Bretton Woods and the interlocking coercion mechanisms of the Hegemon.

As for stating that BRICS has not “packed much punch” that only reveals U.S. Think Tank Land’s cosmic ignorance of what BRICS + is all about.

The position of India is only considered in terms of being a Quad member – defined as a “U.S.-led effort to balance China”. Correction: contain China.

As for the “choice” of swing states of choosing between the U.S. and China on semiconductors, AI, quantum technology, 5G and biotechnology, that’s not about “choice”, but to what level they are able to sustain Hegemon pressure to demonize Chinese technology.

Pressure on Brazil, for instance, is much heavier than on Saudi Arabia or Indonesia.

In the end though, it all comes back to the Straussian neocon obsession: Ukraine. The swing states, in varying degrees, are guilty of opposing and/or undermining the sanctions dementia. Turkey, for instance, is accused of channeling “dual-use” items to Russia. Not a word on the U.S. financial system viciously forcing Turkish banks to stop accepting Russian MIR payment cards.

On the wishful thinking front, this pearl stands out among many: “The Kremlin seems to believe it can make a living by turning its trade south and east.”

Well, Russia is already making excellent living all across Eurasia and a vast expanse of the Global South.

The economy has re-started (drivers are domestic tourism, machine building and the metals industry); inflation is at only 2.5% (lower than anywhere in the EU); unemployment is at only 3.5%; and head of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina said that by 2024 growth will be back to pre-SMO levels.

U.S. Think Tankland is congenitally incapable of understanding that even if BRICS+ nations may still have some serious trade credit issues to iron out, Moscow has already shown how even an implied hard backing of a currency can turn out to be an instant game changer. Russia is at the same time backing not only the ruble but also the yuan.

Meanwhile, the Global South de-dollarization caravan moves on relentlessly – as much as the proxy war hyenas may keep howling in the dark. When the full – staggering – scale of NATO’s humiliation in Ukraine unfolds, arguably by mid-summer, the de-dollarization high-speed train will be fully booked, non-stop.

"Offer you can’t refuse” rides again

If all of the above was not already silly enough, the swing state manifesto doubles down on the nuclear front, accusing them of “future (nuclear) proliferation risks”: especially – who else – Iran.

By the way, Russia is defined as a “middle power, but one in decline”. And “hyper-revisionist” to boot. Oh dear: with “experts” like this, the Americans don’t even need enemies.

And yes, by now you may be excused to roar with laughter: China is accused of attempting to direct and co-opt BRICS. The “suggestion” – or “offer you can’t refuse”, Mafia-style – to the swing states is that you cannot join a “Chinese-directed, Russian-assisted body actively opposing the United States.”

The message is unmistakable: “The threat of a Sino-Russian co-optation of an expanded BRICS—and through it, of the global south—is real, and it needs to be addressed.”

And here are the recipes to address it. Invite most swing states to the G-7 (that was a miserable failure). “More high-level visits by key U.S. diplomats” (welcome to cookie distributor Vicky Nuland). And last but not least, Mafia tactics, as in a “nimbler trade strategy that begins to crack the nut of access to the U.S. market.”

The swing state manifesto could not but let the Top Cat out of the bag, predicting, rather praying that “U.S.-China tensions rise dramatically and turn into a Cold War-style confrontation.” That’s already happening – unleashed by the Hegemon.

So what would be the follow-up? The much sought after and spun-to-death “decoupling”, forcing the swing states to “align more closely with one side or the other”. It’s “you’re with us or against us” all over again.

So there you go. Raw, in the flesh – with inbuilt veiled threats. The Hybrid War 2.0 against the Global South has not even started. Swing states, you have all been warned.

https://www.unz.com/pescobar/the-hegemon-will-go-full-hybrid-war-against-brics/

During the next BRICS summit in South Africa, a strategic decision should be made to include Mexico and Argentina for neutralising Celso Amorim's Brazil in the group.
Lopez Obrador's Mexico has been a truly leader in spearheading Spanish speaking Latin American countries towards a united front against Western hegimony. Argentina is mostly regarded in the region as an offset to Portuguese speaking under-imperialistic ambitions of neighboring Brazil at the service of US and EU.
Lula da Silva has embarked on  sweetheart relationships with the main EU NATO countries.with the aim of obtaining economic advantages for Mercosur in  FTA deal with Europe.

It really heartens me that Mexico is pursuing an independent policy of the USA. It has been abused so much by the f*cking gringos like
many other countries. I hope one day the exceptionalist f*cks north of the border will be put in their place.

Global South external indebted countries could begin to pay off their debts to IMF and World Bank in yuan (as Argentina is proceeding with now) if China's Central Bank agrees to reach a deal with BRICS New Development Bank and Global South indebted countries' central banks.

Scorpius wrote:Let's try to assume:
First of all, it will be a single currency issuance center, represented by the investment development Bank, which will replace the IMF. As a result, investments within BRICS++ should become more accessible and generate an alternative to the Bretton Woods system of capital reproduction, which will be based not on financial capital, but on industrial capital. Due to the industrialization of the BRICS++ block, it is possible to maintain sustainable economic growth in the range of about 15% per year for a period of more than 50 years for all BRICS++ participants.

As it happens, came across a good video on this topic