I imagine that this article must feel like an icecold shower to BRICS enthusiasts, but the truth is the truth, and that is what journalism is all about (or should be). Thanks!
It wasn't journaloim it was indecipherable bureaucratic googbledygook and the BRICS failures Nothing is a great a certainty than the inpandingcollpase of the fantastical and sick failure that the USA financial system is.
Agreed, he'll either ignore it or dismiss it. The guy's just a lot of hype. He knows what he's doing, which is misleading his audience about this and other subjects too, but he keeps doing it for whatever reason. He's regularly wrong and I don't take him seriously. He's "infotainment" at best, fake news at worst, but usually somewhere in between.
You're right, some people want internet celebrities to confirm their wishful thinking fantasies from their position of (falsely) perceived authority, and many don't even mind being lied to after whatever they're told would happen doesn't unfold.
It's a secular religion for them, basically a cult, and they've formed entire online communities and even very deep friendships after networking with likeminded people who share the same delusions. These views have become a major part of their identity and they can't accept that it's based on falsehoods.
That's why they'll very aggressively attack anyone who shares politically convenient facts proving that things aren't anywhere near what they thought they were and were told by their trusted celebrity influencers. There are underlying psychological problems at play and this is symptomatic of them.
Me too, and BRICS is a stepping stone in that direction, but it's not the great leap forward that Pepe and other enthusiasts pretend that it is. Such progress, no matter how glacial, is still better than no progress though.
"That's why they'll very aggressively attack anyone who shares politically convenient facts proving that things aren't anywhere near what they thought they were and were told by their trusted celebrity influencers."
If only they attacked more on substance. Instead, they hurl insults like enraged monkeys flinging turds.
What is "Equity tock"? And how is sharing the objective facts "partisan" in any way? You sound angry because I comprehensively debunked the false narrative that you and other BRICS enthusiasts believe by relying on official facts from authoritative sources.
Riddle me this: if everything is going so well, then why are the Chinese-based NDB and the SCO Bank complying with sanctions against Russia? Rousseff and Russia's SCO Representative both confirmed that this is the case, albeit using much more diplomatic language as could be expected from people in their position.
Why would I even want him to read it? The guy is consistently wrong, and is infotainment at best and fake news at worst. Remember when he hyped Russia's BRICS presidency up as "The Year of the Great Decision"? Imagine believing him? Literally LOL!
And of course a BRICS fanatic would dismiss official facts from authoritative sources like Rousseff and Russia's SCO Representative as "rambling nonsense" lol
Amuse me by elaborating more on why we shouldn't trust what they said regarding those institutions' compliance with US sanctions against Russia?
I sense that you're another "5D chess master plan" conspiracy theorist like most of Pepe's cultists are so now's your chance to explain your views in full.
Why should anyone take that proven charlatan's (and plagiarist's!) word over Rousseff's and Russia's SCO Representative's among other credible sources?
Creating a blueprint that can, indeed, be changed as the project evolves, is not just "symbolic." At this strange & precarious time, it would be folly to even attempt to unroll some sort of direct "de-dollarization" scheme or comprehensive global trade alternative, even if possible.
Indeed, the "alt-media" seems to think such huge changes are just a matter of willpower & magic.
Serious discussions have taken place for more than a year exploring the system, its drawbacks & possible improvements as well as new avenues. Some of these thoughts made it into the Kazan Declaration as part of a blueprint for possible implementation. The fact is the group agreed on the blueprint. This, in itself is not a small victory, given the group diversity especially now that its members
Unless you’re privy to the discussions which took place behind closed doors and/or are apprised of the content of multiple sideline bilateral meetings between heads of state, you, we, cannot know the strategies/strategising behind the somewhat anodyne final communique.
For instance, a consensus might have been reached that an expanded and expanding BRICS should crawl before it walked before it ran. Or else, or in addition, there might have been fairly widespread agreement that the US, and consequently the world, was about to implode under the weight of unsustainable debt, leading to a depression, which would alter the global balance of power, America and the West being the primary victims.
In short, participants in the summit may well have agreed to play for time, kick the can down the road, before setting out a more substantive plan of action. That, in Deng-like fashion, BRICS, should hide its capacities and bide its time.
There's no "5D chess master plan" at play about "hiding BRICS' capabilities and biding its time". The expectations that many had of BRICS in general and this summit in particular were always false and therefore never going to be met in reality. It's time to correct perceptions.
We know for a fact that no tangible outcome followed the summit. None of its grand geo-economic initiatives were rolled out, all that came after was a bunch of spin. You're also ignoring what I proved about the NDB and China complying with US sanctions on Russia.
You know sometimes I don't necessarily agree with your negative outlook. I appreciate the multi-vectored approach at analysis but I also think sometimes you tend to be to quick to give analysis on issues that are so broad in terms of big picture. It almost seems you are secretly wishing for the failure of the BRICS efforts.
As such this is an accurate assessment of the Kazan meeting. As well as your assessment of NDB currently. However, we must consider the position of the Western liberal order and the non-western non-liberal order. The head nations of the latter are all influx. Brazil is well compromised, Russia is mired in SMO, China is still calibrating all over the world. The Western led institions are entrenched. So what did you expect from Kazan in terms of rolling out alternatives when neither of those leading NAM nations are in a much needed peace-time position. Remember the conditions and geopolitics that enabled the US created institutions to take root.
In conclusion, the West led order although buckling and reeling, with it's power waning, Empire hasn't fallen yet. It's institutions still play a significant role. If they recalibrated from their full spectrum domination of other countries, respect sovereignty and aspirations of other nations, show cooperation rather than conducting regime change, terrorism and basically Satanic ritualistic murder worldwide (Palestine), then the Global South, would have blissfully complied. As such they haven't, can't and systemically are heading towards a crash and burn, and will take down a lot of vassals with them. When it's time for those nations to reach for a raft to stay afloat, they will thank their lucky stars, BRICS was in ascendancy.
I actually wrote this analysis on Monday but waited till today to publish it in order to give top Alt-Media influencers enough time to fully discredit themselves about this.
I also don't "secretly wish" anything: I'm a cold, hard realist in outlook, and I'm morally opposed to my "peers" deliberately misleading people.
BRICS and this summit were so overhyped, I've never seen anything like this from Alt-Media, and the ultimate outcome was nothing of tangible significance.
That doesn't mean that the summit failed, as I argued, but just that it's time for everyone to correct their perceptions and call out the charlatans among us.
Like you, I'm a realist. In another comment, I said that I had planned to attend the BRICS summit as a citizen reporter, but decided not to for a number of reasons. One of those reason was that I figured that Kazan would not be a Big Bang event like Bretton Woods because the BRICS process will be more incremental.
In fact, a very smart friend of mine in Sankt-Peterburg who supports the SMO and generally supports the Putin government told me some things that cemented my decision. He also didn't think it would be a Big Bang event.
Yes, Escobar is not serious, and that's why I don't listen to him. Similarly, I decided that Gonzalo Lira was an opportunist not worth listening to long before he was arrested. However, my negative view of Lira doesn't mean that I'm not disgusted that my government, the US government, let Lira be mistreated and die in a Ukrainian prison.
And that brings me to why I no longer support my own government. The US had become a money-printing, free speech suppressing, pipeline-demolishing, MIC-controlled evil that is controlled by about 8,000 unelected and unacccountable people. It certainly isn't "we the people" in charge anymore.
This state of affairs wouldn't be so much of a problem if the US didn't stick its nose in every facet of our lives. But it isn't just he US, it also is local government, and in many cases: state governments.
It also wouldn't be so much of a problem if they made good decisions, as opposed to dumb decisions. But they make dumb decisions, like thinking they could make Ukraine a member of NATO.
As long as the US makes CLEARLY self-serving decisions and uses the dollar as a weapon, there will be BRICS. In fact, I think it is too late for the US to reverse course in that regard. Other nations will believe it's temporary and just for show.
Although there were economic sanctions against countries like Cuba and the Soviet Union in the 1970's, a big change came after the 1979 Iranian Revolution when the U.S. froze Iranian assets and imposed comprehensive sanctions. This marked a clear strategy of using the dollar and the U.S. financial system as tools of foreign policy.
The practice has increased over the years, with the U.S. increasingly leveraging its currency to impose sanctions and exert economic pressure on various nations, such as Iraq in the 1990s and more recently against Russia and Iran.
But like all other great empires, the US is unlikely to reform itself. It will end with a sharp economic decline, and that will force the reform. When will that happen? I don't know.
First, completely agree that Escobar is a clown. I can no longer read him.
Second, from the perspective of those not buried in the details of the BRiCS framework, Kazan was actually a very symbolic victory, with meat on the bones, in terms of a collection of countries standing together and declaring, "We refuse to be bullied."
In looking at the scope of what these people are trying to do, it is a very impressive undertaking. And it is unsurprising that China cannot ignore sanctions, with their economy in its present state.
If the US had any sense, it would view BRICS as a long term threat to its own interests and prosperity, which makes me wonder what the practical downside is to providing a reserve currency. The advantage is obvious in terms of sustaining wasteful govt spending. If the disadvantages are not great, it's unclear why the US wouldn't just end all sanctions to subvert BRICS.
You might want to check out the foremost expert on the subject, Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy Report. The NDB is headed by Dilma Rousseff, and you should know better than to expect her to be inconsequential.
I don't consider him to be an expert, let alone a foremost one. He seems to be more of a pundit in my opinion. As I explained, it was none other than Dilma who confirmed in summer 2023 that the BRICS Bank is complying with the US' sanctions against Russia.
This fact cannot be denied, nor can it be denied that nothing of tangible significance at all was achieved at the summit. That doesn't mean that it wasn't a success, but just that all honest observers should accept this fact and manage their expectations about BRICS going forward.
Thanks for an accurate article, IMO. I had planned to attend the BRICS summit as a citizen reporter, but decided not to for a number of reasons. One of those reason was that I figured that Kazan would not be a Big Bang event like Bretton Woods because the BRICS process will be more incremental.
BRICS did not achieve anything for the Western powers. America was left out. BRICS summit is the biggest geopolitical event of the 21st century and it does not include America. It was the failure of the American century to bring prosperity to the Developing world that resulted in BRICS
-Strategically the BRI railways provide an alternative to maritime routes that are plagued by Weston naval blockades
-If Russia, China, and the CSTO members slap a no fly zone over that vast territory no Western -transcontinental flight can take off. All would be grounded, So would NATO jets across the ME
If India, China and Russia form an alliance it would be he most powerful triumvirate in modern times. they could control all of Eurasia
It would have been amazing if anything meaningful had come out of the summit. But I don't think the lesson is lost on Russia. When it comes right down to it, it's every many for himself. At the same time, that same interest-seeking is what ultimately undermines the whole sanction regime.
Maybe this firming realization within Russian policy circles is why lifting of sanctions is now explicitly on the Russian negotiation terms list. The West is pre-empting all non-military solutions for Russia.
While the war continues, there is little incentive for the Russian state to turn Rouble into a hard currency by linking it explicitly to Gold. After the war is resolved, assuming Russian terms win out, perhaps those incentives change and Russia might act unilaterally to promote a gold backed settlement currency. It remains to be seen. There are many possibilities.
Unspoken is the reality of US fiscal deficits of 7% of GDP for as far as the eye can see and the apparent loss of control by the FED of the long end of the curve in Treasuries. As US government debt increases by trillions per year, there will be constant second looks by everyone on just what their selfish interests are in exposure to USD.
Andrew will recognise reality and start byuying Gold when the USA FRD debt crisis collpases the Nation and the Civil war tnrows him out of his comfortable but verbose office.
From Kortunov>“BRICS cannot become a global economic integration project”; BRICS will not turn into a multilateral political or security alliance of an anti-Western nature" > If anyone can tell me what this verbose claptrap means I will read the rest of the bureaucratic goobledygook this man came out with ,and tha article by the author made even more dense
I imagine that this article must feel like an icecold shower to BRICS enthusiasts, but the truth is the truth, and that is what journalism is all about (or should be). Thanks!
It wasn't journaloim it was indecipherable bureaucratic googbledygook and the BRICS failures Nothing is a great a certainty than the inpandingcollpase of the fantastical and sick failure that the USA financial system is.
Another national "debt" doomsayer?
I hope that Pepe Escobar reads this.
Triumphalists only read triupmhalist screeds.
Agreed, he'll either ignore it or dismiss it. The guy's just a lot of hype. He knows what he's doing, which is misleading his audience about this and other subjects too, but he keeps doing it for whatever reason. He's regularly wrong and I don't take him seriously. He's "infotainment" at best, fake news at worst, but usually somewhere in between.
He represents a perspective that a sizable audience craves.
You're right, some people want internet celebrities to confirm their wishful thinking fantasies from their position of (falsely) perceived authority, and many don't even mind being lied to after whatever they're told would happen doesn't unfold.
It's a secular religion for them, basically a cult, and they've formed entire online communities and even very deep friendships after networking with likeminded people who share the same delusions. These views have become a major part of their identity and they can't accept that it's based on falsehoods.
That's why they'll very aggressively attack anyone who shares politically convenient facts proving that things aren't anywhere near what they thought they were and were told by their trusted celebrity influencers. There are underlying psychological problems at play and this is symptomatic of them.
I am sympathetic to the idea of the Global South being treated fairly.
Me too, and BRICS is a stepping stone in that direction, but it's not the great leap forward that Pepe and other enthusiasts pretend that it is. Such progress, no matter how glacial, is still better than no progress though.
"That's why they'll very aggressively attack anyone who shares politically convenient facts proving that things aren't anywhere near what they thought they were and were told by their trusted celebrity influencers."
If only they attacked more on substance. Instead, they hurl insults like enraged monkeys flinging turds.
You still hiolding Equity tock Andrew ?? keeping on believing and come back when you can write clearly and in a non partisan way that induces interest
What is "Equity tock"? And how is sharing the objective facts "partisan" in any way? You sound angry because I comprehensively debunked the false narrative that you and other BRICS enthusiasts believe by relying on official facts from authoritative sources.
Riddle me this: if everything is going so well, then why are the Chinese-based NDB and the SCO Bank complying with sanctions against Russia? Rousseff and Russia's SCO Representative both confirmed that this is the case, albeit using much more diplomatic language as could be expected from people in their position.
Why would Pepe readi it, Its rambling nonsense.
Why would I even want him to read it? The guy is consistently wrong, and is infotainment at best and fake news at worst. Remember when he hyped Russia's BRICS presidency up as "The Year of the Great Decision"? Imagine believing him? Literally LOL!
And of course a BRICS fanatic would dismiss official facts from authoritative sources like Rousseff and Russia's SCO Representative as "rambling nonsense" lol
Amuse me by elaborating more on why we shouldn't trust what they said regarding those institutions' compliance with US sanctions against Russia?
I sense that you're another "5D chess master plan" conspiracy theorist like most of Pepe's cultists are so now's your chance to explain your views in full.
Why should anyone take that proven charlatan's (and plagiarist's!) word over Rousseff's and Russia's SCO Representative's among other credible sources?
They’re okay with the IMF. That’s an achievement - for IMF cheerleaders.
Creating a blueprint that can, indeed, be changed as the project evolves, is not just "symbolic." At this strange & precarious time, it would be folly to even attempt to unroll some sort of direct "de-dollarization" scheme or comprehensive global trade alternative, even if possible.
Indeed, the "alt-media" seems to think such huge changes are just a matter of willpower & magic.
Serious discussions have taken place for more than a year exploring the system, its drawbacks & possible improvements as well as new avenues. Some of these thoughts made it into the Kazan Declaration as part of a blueprint for possible implementation. The fact is the group agreed on the blueprint. This, in itself is not a small victory, given the group diversity especially now that its members
have increased to nine.
Unless you’re privy to the discussions which took place behind closed doors and/or are apprised of the content of multiple sideline bilateral meetings between heads of state, you, we, cannot know the strategies/strategising behind the somewhat anodyne final communique.
For instance, a consensus might have been reached that an expanded and expanding BRICS should crawl before it walked before it ran. Or else, or in addition, there might have been fairly widespread agreement that the US, and consequently the world, was about to implode under the weight of unsustainable debt, leading to a depression, which would alter the global balance of power, America and the West being the primary victims.
In short, participants in the summit may well have agreed to play for time, kick the can down the road, before setting out a more substantive plan of action. That, in Deng-like fashion, BRICS, should hide its capacities and bide its time.
There's no "5D chess master plan" at play about "hiding BRICS' capabilities and biding its time". The expectations that many had of BRICS in general and this summit in particular were always false and therefore never going to be met in reality. It's time to correct perceptions.
We know for a fact that no tangible outcome followed the summit. None of its grand geo-economic initiatives were rolled out, all that came after was a bunch of spin. You're also ignoring what I proved about the NDB and China complying with US sanctions on Russia.
You know sometimes I don't necessarily agree with your negative outlook. I appreciate the multi-vectored approach at analysis but I also think sometimes you tend to be to quick to give analysis on issues that are so broad in terms of big picture. It almost seems you are secretly wishing for the failure of the BRICS efforts.
As such this is an accurate assessment of the Kazan meeting. As well as your assessment of NDB currently. However, we must consider the position of the Western liberal order and the non-western non-liberal order. The head nations of the latter are all influx. Brazil is well compromised, Russia is mired in SMO, China is still calibrating all over the world. The Western led institions are entrenched. So what did you expect from Kazan in terms of rolling out alternatives when neither of those leading NAM nations are in a much needed peace-time position. Remember the conditions and geopolitics that enabled the US created institutions to take root.
In conclusion, the West led order although buckling and reeling, with it's power waning, Empire hasn't fallen yet. It's institutions still play a significant role. If they recalibrated from their full spectrum domination of other countries, respect sovereignty and aspirations of other nations, show cooperation rather than conducting regime change, terrorism and basically Satanic ritualistic murder worldwide (Palestine), then the Global South, would have blissfully complied. As such they haven't, can't and systemically are heading towards a crash and burn, and will take down a lot of vassals with them. When it's time for those nations to reach for a raft to stay afloat, they will thank their lucky stars, BRICS was in ascendancy.
I actually wrote this analysis on Monday but waited till today to publish it in order to give top Alt-Media influencers enough time to fully discredit themselves about this.
I also don't "secretly wish" anything: I'm a cold, hard realist in outlook, and I'm morally opposed to my "peers" deliberately misleading people.
BRICS and this summit were so overhyped, I've never seen anything like this from Alt-Media, and the ultimate outcome was nothing of tangible significance.
That doesn't mean that the summit failed, as I argued, but just that it's time for everyone to correct their perceptions and call out the charlatans among us.
Like you, I'm a realist. In another comment, I said that I had planned to attend the BRICS summit as a citizen reporter, but decided not to for a number of reasons. One of those reason was that I figured that Kazan would not be a Big Bang event like Bretton Woods because the BRICS process will be more incremental.
In fact, a very smart friend of mine in Sankt-Peterburg who supports the SMO and generally supports the Putin government told me some things that cemented my decision. He also didn't think it would be a Big Bang event.
Yes, Escobar is not serious, and that's why I don't listen to him. Similarly, I decided that Gonzalo Lira was an opportunist not worth listening to long before he was arrested. However, my negative view of Lira doesn't mean that I'm not disgusted that my government, the US government, let Lira be mistreated and die in a Ukrainian prison.
And that brings me to why I no longer support my own government. The US had become a money-printing, free speech suppressing, pipeline-demolishing, MIC-controlled evil that is controlled by about 8,000 unelected and unacccountable people. It certainly isn't "we the people" in charge anymore.
This state of affairs wouldn't be so much of a problem if the US didn't stick its nose in every facet of our lives. But it isn't just he US, it also is local government, and in many cases: state governments.
It also wouldn't be so much of a problem if they made good decisions, as opposed to dumb decisions. But they make dumb decisions, like thinking they could make Ukraine a member of NATO.
As long as the US makes CLEARLY self-serving decisions and uses the dollar as a weapon, there will be BRICS. In fact, I think it is too late for the US to reverse course in that regard. Other nations will believe it's temporary and just for show.
Although there were economic sanctions against countries like Cuba and the Soviet Union in the 1970's, a big change came after the 1979 Iranian Revolution when the U.S. froze Iranian assets and imposed comprehensive sanctions. This marked a clear strategy of using the dollar and the U.S. financial system as tools of foreign policy.
The practice has increased over the years, with the U.S. increasingly leveraging its currency to impose sanctions and exert economic pressure on various nations, such as Iraq in the 1990s and more recently against Russia and Iran.
But like all other great empires, the US is unlikely to reform itself. It will end with a sharp economic decline, and that will force the reform. When will that happen? I don't know.
That sounds like an argument from ignorance.
First, completely agree that Escobar is a clown. I can no longer read him.
Second, from the perspective of those not buried in the details of the BRiCS framework, Kazan was actually a very symbolic victory, with meat on the bones, in terms of a collection of countries standing together and declaring, "We refuse to be bullied."
In looking at the scope of what these people are trying to do, it is a very impressive undertaking. And it is unsurprising that China cannot ignore sanctions, with their economy in its present state.
If the US had any sense, it would view BRICS as a long term threat to its own interests and prosperity, which makes me wonder what the practical downside is to providing a reserve currency. The advantage is obvious in terms of sustaining wasteful govt spending. If the disadvantages are not great, it's unclear why the US wouldn't just end all sanctions to subvert BRICS.
Those who run trade surpluses are ill-positioned to provide a reserve currency.
Basically, the diplomatic equivalent of a dorm room bull session.
You might want to check out the foremost expert on the subject, Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy Report. The NDB is headed by Dilma Rousseff, and you should know better than to expect her to be inconsequential.
I don't consider him to be an expert, let alone a foremost one. He seems to be more of a pundit in my opinion. As I explained, it was none other than Dilma who confirmed in summer 2023 that the BRICS Bank is complying with the US' sanctions against Russia.
This fact cannot be denied, nor can it be denied that nothing of tangible significance at all was achieved at the summit. That doesn't mean that it wasn't a success, but just that all honest observers should accept this fact and manage their expectations about BRICS going forward.
Thanks for an accurate article, IMO. I had planned to attend the BRICS summit as a citizen reporter, but decided not to for a number of reasons. One of those reason was that I figured that Kazan would not be a Big Bang event like Bretton Woods because the BRICS process will be more incremental.
BRICS did not achieve anything for the Western powers. America was left out. BRICS summit is the biggest geopolitical event of the 21st century and it does not include America. It was the failure of the American century to bring prosperity to the Developing world that resulted in BRICS
-Strategically the BRI railways provide an alternative to maritime routes that are plagued by Weston naval blockades
-If Russia, China, and the CSTO members slap a no fly zone over that vast territory no Western -transcontinental flight can take off. All would be grounded, So would NATO jets across the ME
If India, China and Russia form an alliance it would be he most powerful triumvirate in modern times. they could control all of Eurasia
Empire building, eh?
I dont see that
It would have been amazing if anything meaningful had come out of the summit. But I don't think the lesson is lost on Russia. When it comes right down to it, it's every many for himself. At the same time, that same interest-seeking is what ultimately undermines the whole sanction regime.
Maybe this firming realization within Russian policy circles is why lifting of sanctions is now explicitly on the Russian negotiation terms list. The West is pre-empting all non-military solutions for Russia.
While the war continues, there is little incentive for the Russian state to turn Rouble into a hard currency by linking it explicitly to Gold. After the war is resolved, assuming Russian terms win out, perhaps those incentives change and Russia might act unilaterally to promote a gold backed settlement currency. It remains to be seen. There are many possibilities.
Unspoken is the reality of US fiscal deficits of 7% of GDP for as far as the eye can see and the apparent loss of control by the FED of the long end of the curve in Treasuries. As US government debt increases by trillions per year, there will be constant second looks by everyone on just what their selfish interests are in exposure to USD.
US: net imports of 1 trillion worth of goods and services per year.
Rest of the world: accumulating 1 trillion USDs per year.
Who is receiving the better deal here?
Andrew will recognise reality and start byuying Gold when the USA FRD debt crisis collpases the Nation and the Civil war tnrows him out of his comfortable but verbose office.
From Kortunov>“BRICS cannot become a global economic integration project”; BRICS will not turn into a multilateral political or security alliance of an anti-Western nature" > If anyone can tell me what this verbose claptrap means I will read the rest of the bureaucratic goobledygook this man came out with ,and tha article by the author made even more dense
Trade agreement, defense agreement. Political alliance might refer to an alternative to the UN.