The five stages of grief.
There is an enormous anti-Washington bloc. So what, it isn't perfectly encapsulated in a single organization yet. That's natural due to its rapid growth.
There is an enormous anti-Washington bloc. So what, it isn't perfectly encapsulated in a single organization yet. That's natural due to its rapid growth.
You're right but not in the way you think. Russia is desperate to prove they aren't isolated internationally.
BRICS make up 40% of the world's population.
grouping the R in with the BICS doesn't seem appropriate anymore
On the import side - you can buy fresh Mexican avocados from any grocery chain anywhere in Russia (the logistics behind that are not trivial). As can you Japanese whiskey, Korean appliances, Chinese cars and a whole other host of products that Soviet citizens could have never even dreamed of. And of course, all the western stuff just he labels are in various foreign languages.
On the export side - oil products to India, China and others are up big time. As are high tech heavy industry products (machines of various types) but you don't hear about much but what do you think powers Chinese aircraft? Nuclear reactors, rockets (hello, NASA). They produce as much steel as the US (with half the population) as well as very important agricultural inputs.
And there's more than BRICS going on right now. There's also:
- International North South Transportation Corridor (INSTC)
- Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
- Northern Sea Route (Russia's been busy building nuclear icebreakers)
- Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
- Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU)
And I'm sure there are others I'm missing.
seems they failed to prove they aren't isolated
Remember when Biden triumphantly announced that the ruble was reduced to "rubble"? That was the objective, and it failed catastrophically.
2022: -2.9% decline
2023: hoping for slight growth, possibility of slight decline
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IMF observed/predicts (January 2023) [2]:
2022: -2.2% decline
2023: slight growth
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[1] - https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/russian-economy-contr...
Binary thinkers forget there are 3 states, with us, against us, and independent.
BRICS countries aren't anti anyone, they are just asserting their independence in a world where Western countries have historically been hostile to that position.
Non aligned movement has existed for a long time, but in the context here India is not completely non aligned. They have been the target of aggression by China which has resulted in the deaths of Indian soldiers. And the US has supported them against this aggression[1].
[1]: https://www.usnews.com/news/world-report/articles/2023-03-20...
Russia's list of allies:
1. Belarus (maybe, on a good day)
China's list of allies:
Countries that want war right now: USA, Israel, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Azerbaijan, few others.
Countries that don't want war: >90% of human population.
Who knew?
The position of the countries that want "peace" is bizarre in the media: "you should just stop fighting the invader and then it's no longer war. You don't want war do you?"
It’s not “bizarre” just calculated. Most of the world doesn’t give a shit about Ukraine and would be perfectly happy for Russia to annex it so long as the economic disruption from the sanctions and oil price increases stop. They can’t outright say it because western countries are big trade partners but that’s what they mean reading between the lines.
[1]: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/xi-jinping-says...
Stage 1: Denial.